By Chris GentilvisoThe Daily Northwestern
Fifteen minutes prior to the start of the final practice of his college career, Northwestern senior catcher Geoff Dietz kept himself loose, taking ground balls at shortstop.
With 135 college games in the books, he saw no end in sight to his time with the Wildcats.
“It’s really weird,” Dietz said. “I don’t even know what to think right now. It’ll probably hit me afterwards, but it just went by so fast.”
After a career-high 41 starts behind the plate his junior season, Dietz battled injuries at the start of this season. Along with the early adversity, his future replacement waited in the wings: freshman Chad Noble.
But rather than drawing battle lines, the senior formed a unit with the freshman. While Dietz recorded 11 starts as a freshman, Noble has gotten the nod in 31 games, aided by the presence of the experienced veteran.
“He went from the main catcher to coaching me through everything,” Noble said. “I’ve learned so much from Geoff all year, from receiving to blocking balls. He’s taught me more than anyone has.”
Dietz’s role as teacher grew off his own freshman experience. In 2004, then-senior Dan Pohlman was an offensive star for NU, hitting .350 with eight home runs and 42 RBIs. The strong offensive play led the Barrington, Ill., native to the Major League Baseball draft, where the Arizona Diamondbacks selected him in the 15th round.
Despite his strength hitting at the plate, working behind the plate was as new for Pohlman as it was for Dietz. As the former outfielder switched over to the new position in his final season, Dietz relished in learning the ropes of college catching with Pohlman by his side.
“It was a great experience,” Dietz said. “We were both going through it together. The opportunity to ask each other questions was fantastic.”
Those benefits have extended to 2007 for coach Paul Stevens. While he described Noble as a tremendous receiver prior to Big Ten play, the catcher’s skills have sharpened under Dietz’s guidance. He is second on the team in fielding percentage, committing only one passed ball this season.
“You’re always looking for that scenario,” Stevens said. “It’s really important for (freshmen) to get a feel for what happens at this level. Eighteen-year-olds have an idea, but they don’t understand the speed of the game, strength of hitters and movement on the baseball.”
As he cultivates a pitching staff that currently sports five freshmen, coupled with new recruits on the way to help replace three senior starters, Noble’s parallel growth will be an expected constant for the Cats over the next three years.
But after filling a huge role for his team faster than he had anticipated, the freshman exuded confidence in his skills.
“I didn’t expect to start at all,” Noble said. “Coming in and playing a lot of games, I didn’t think about things. I just transferred my play over from high-school ball.”
For now, the two catchers will continue to split duties in the Cats’ final series against Purdue (22-28, 11-16 Big Ten) this weekend. While Dietz’s thoughts were focused heavily on a positive outcome to his last four games for NU (14-36, 5-23), he spared a moment to look toward Noble’s future.
“It’s been good for him to learn how to handle pitchers,” Dietz said. “That’s a huge aspect of catching not paid attention to. He’s coming around very well and is going to be a good catcher.”
Reach Chris Gentilviso at [email protected].
