It’s not often you find a guy who can solve differential
equations and hit a baseball 400 feet.
It’s not often you see a 6-foot-1, 202-pound, well-built
athlete in a math class.
But Chris Denove isn’t your stereotypical jock.
He isn’t your stereotypical math student either.
Denove plays one of the most physically and mentally demanding
positions in sports ““Â catcher ““ while taking one
of the most mentally demanding majors at UCLA ““ mathematics
of computation.
There may be other sports that are more physically demanding
than baseball, but catchers take a beating behind the plate, and
baseball plays four games a week.
And I don’t want to hear any students with North Campus
majors complaining to me that their major is tough. My fellow math
students and I head north to boost our GPAs. How many of you go
south?
Denove has.
He’s often arrived back in Westwood exhausted from a
Tuesday night road game at midnight, only to have math homework due
the next morning.
“It’s tough,” he says. “I don’t
get to do a lot of the fun stuff people traditionally do in
college.”
Being a catcher isn’t easy either ““Â especially
in UCLA coach Gary Adams’ system.
On top of pouncing on wild pitches, enduring the barrage of foul
balls coming at you, and crouching down uncomfortably for a
four-hour game, Denove must know his pitching staff.
Adams is one of the few college coaches that lets his catchers
call their own pitches.
Denove must know what all of his pitchers throw and he must be
aware of the strengths and weaknesses of the other hitters at all
times.
“Coach puts a lot of trust in me,” Denove said.
Adams has put the same trust in Denove he has put in some of his
great past catchers.
Don Slaught, Todd Zeile (yes, he used to be a catcher), Adam
Melhuse and Bill Haselman all called their own pitchers.
“These guys have to learn how to think,” Adams said.
“They’re not taking pitching coach (Tim Leary) with
them through the minors.”
But Denove already knows how to think. The long hours he spends
perusing matrices and triple integrals must make calling pitches
seem like eighth-grade algebra.
Adams attributes having his catchers call the pitches to their
quick progression through the minor leagues ““ even though he
admits it has probably lost him a few games in his career.
“I’m not saying it’s the best way to win
games,” he said, “but it’s the best way to
teach.”
Denove has to learn off the field as well. Math classes are
cruel. There are always a few geniuses that ruin the curve.
“The smartest people in the school are in math,”
Denove said. “I have to study extra to overcome
that.”
Then again, Denove’s pretty intelligent himself. He knew
off the top of his head that it was 126 feet between home plate and
second base.
Verify that, history majors.
Here’s a hint: Think 45-45-90 triangles. The length of
the triangle legs are 90 feet each. E-mail Quiñonez at
gquinonez@media.ucla.edu.