Sports

Ben Slanker’s revitalization, fueled by a newfound confidence, is paying major dividends

By: Marc Goldstein
Posted on: Monday, May 5, 2025

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ATHENS, Ohio (WOUB) — Anyone watching Ben Slanker make his way into the left-handed batter’s box can see the confidence that exudes out of his gait. 

However, the conviction that Slanker possesses is not as natural to him as swinging a bat. The latter, he says, is something he has been doing since he would stand on his own two feet. From a young age, baseball is the thing that Slanker excelled in; ironically, one of the hardest things in the world, hitting a baseball, came easily to him. 

Despite his prowess at the plate, Slanker is just a sophomore and getting his first real opportunity to play at the collegiate level. As a freshman, he hit just .179 with a single homer. By the time the first home game this season was over on Feb. 28, Slanker had already surpassed the number of round-trippers from his freshman season. The difference was not something physical; Slanker credits his success to a refined level of confidence in his abilities to do something he is naturally good at: hitting. 

“Confidence is probably the biggest key in the whole game of baseball,” Slanker said. “Going back to last year, I had zero confidence. I’ll say that plain and simple. This year, just having confidence makes the game easier, it makes the game more fun.”

The enhanced confidence at the plate has made Slanker into one of most feared hitters in the MAC. He leads the conference with 17 homers and is tied for 14th nationally in that category. His goal is never to hit the ball out of the park, but the adjustments he made at the plate has allowed him to lift the baseball at a much higher rate. 

“I kind of started from the basics,” Slanker said. “Last year was a struggle for me. I kind of hit the reset button, went down to the basics. I used the tee, front toss. Actually, my high school coach put a spark in my swing. I’m very thankful for that because it worked. I give all props to him. He really told me what to do, gave me confidence.”

Slanker’s ability to flush the entirety of his freshman season is beyond commendable. The going notion in baseball is that the best players must have a short-term memory. That ability ranges from the closer who blew a game one night, but is called upon on the following day to save the game to a batter who struck out in his most recent plate appearance. 

Slanker’s transcendent season already has him rewriting the record books for the Bobcats. If the season ended now, on May 5, he would already have hit the sixth-most home runs in a season in program history. With the season continuing to rage on for a few weeks, Slanker will have the opportunity to become the fifth Bobcat to hit 20 dingers in a season, although it would take a hot streak to do so. Additionally, Slanker’s 60 RBI have placed him in fifth in a single season for the Bobcats with the potential to add more in the coming weeks. However, the fact that he chose to play in Athens was one that has been in the works for years, likely since around the time he first held a bat. 

“Ohio emailed me one day and it put a smile on my face because my whole family went here and my sister still goes here,” Slanker said. “I knew I wanted to come here. I’m very blessed and grateful that I got the opportunity to come here and I love it.”

Although the increased level of confidence in his swing stemmed from a strong offseason of work for Slanker, there was a lot of work done by the Ohio coaching staff to create the slugging version of Slanker that has patrolled right field nearly everyday. A new addition to the staff and a more familiar face have teamed up to make the breakout possible for Slanker. The former, JT Heenan, was hired in September after a year of working for the Texas Rangers as a player development coach. The latter, Canyon McWilliams, is in the midst of his third season as the first-base coach for Ohio. Both Heenan and McWilliams are primarily working with the hitters for Ohio. 

“(Heenan) and (McWilliams) gathered us as an offensive unit and just told us that we need to have confidence,” Slanker said. “It’s easier said than done, but they really worked with us this off season and I couldn’t be more grateful for the time they spent and the work they’ve done to make us better people and baseball players.”

The work extends past just instilling confidence in one of the best offenses in the MAC. Heenan also instituted a new way for players to approach two-strike situations. Ohio players will pound their chests when they reach two strikes because “the at-bat is now for the team.” Additionally, Heenan has emphasized breathing to the players, allowing them to take a step back from the high-pressure situations that might sit in front of them in the batter’s box, something Slanker openly says that he subscribes to. 

The ironic aspect of Slanker’s play is that he dons the same number 10 jersey that was worn by the greatest Ohio baseball player ever: Mike Schmidt. While the two players are vastly different in positions, handedness and play style, it is hard to imagine that Slanker’s performance over the course of the season would not inspire pride in the MLB Hall of Fame member. Not only is Slanker performing well, he is doing it in the shadow of Schmidt’s retired jersey in that same number. 

The prevailing message by Slanker is that using both mental and physical adjustments have allowed him to unlock the best version of himself on the field. In the age of new-fangled analytics and technology ruling the game of baseball, some “throwback” techniques to help players prove to still have effectiveness in 2025. 

As he continues his quest through one of the best offensive seasons in recent memory, Slanker ensures that his success is lasting due to the confidence he gained over the offseason. None of it, he believes, would be possible without the hardships faced in 2024. In a strange way, Slanker can thank the struggles as a freshman for the breakout season as a sophomore.