It was easy for Mike Salvatore to be a bit of a forgotten man heading into the 2019 season.
He started 62 games as a junior, but he didn't exactly set Dick Howser Stadium on fire with his bat. He hit just .244, slugged less than .300 and had an on-base percentage of .333.
He was just OK. Maybe a little less than that actually, compared to the other guys who have manned the shortstop position in the past for FSU.
While I'm sure both head coach Mike Martin and hitting coach Mike Martin Jr. expected improvement from the junior college transfer in his second year in the program, there is zero chance they expected something like this.
Salvatore has been a revelation in the leadoff spot for the Seminoles. He's been arguably their best hitter all season, and he's coming off an Athens Regional MVP performance in which he had nine hits, reached base 11 times and scored eight runs.
In three games.
"Don't forget, he hit the hardest two-whatever last year," Martin Jr. said of Salvatore’s 2018 batting average. "The poor guy couldn't buy a break. At-em ball after at-em ball. A year older, a year better, he's been really good for us."
Bad luck or not, he wasn't THIS hitter a season ago.
Salvatore had just 10 extra-base hits all year as a junior. He has 33 this season and has turned himself into a doubles machine.
He leads the team with a .341 batting average. His 84 hits are 17 more than anyone else on the club. His 22 doubles are one of the highest totals in the country. He also leads the team in total bases and triples.
Last year, after struggling at the plate, he went undrafted.
This year, after becoming one of the best hitters in the ACC, he was drafted in the ninth round by the Seattle Mariners. It's been a truly remarkable turnaround.
"It's a great feeling," Salvatore said. "You work hard for it. That's what you come to a program like this for."
Salvatore said he thought his dramatic improvement started in the Cape Cod League last summer. He made some adjustments to his swing, to where he could drive the ball with more authority, and since then has just kept getting better.
"Yeah, for sure," Salvatore said. "I definitely worked on some things in the Cape. And definitely made some adjustments and figured some things out.”
He's not much of a talker. At least not to the media. Getting Salvatore to say more than about 12 words about himself is a difficult task.
But others can talk about him!
So I asked sophomore Reese Albert to talk about the senior shortstop a bit.
"When we have a meeting before the game, after we run and stretch, he brings us all together and is like, 'All right, guys. What do you want me to do? Hit a single or a double?'" Albert said. "He's awesome. He's been great all season. He made some adjustments from last year. I think he gets a little lower in his legs now. He got stronger in the offseason, put on some muscle. I couldn't think of anyone else I'd rather have there (in the leadoff spot)."
Mike Martin compared Salvatore's work ethic to that of Jeremy Morris and Buster Posey. He said Salvatore reminded him, in fact, of a number of former Seminole greats in that regard.
"I could go on and on and on and on, but Salvy is just like that," Martin said. "He's the same guy day in and day out. He wants to get better. Never complained when he was moved from short to second. … He's just a guy that loves to play baseball. He loves to play baseball. And those guys are not exactly easy to find these days."
Martin said when the pitchers and catchers were getting in some light throwing on Tuesday, Salvatore showed up to take some extra batting practice. That's just who he is.
"You could see a few of those traits (when he was being recruited)," Martin said. "But you could not see that strong desire to win, to make those around him better. He's a special player."
There haven't been many turnarounds in recent FSU history like the one Salvatore has enjoyed as a senior. He's raised his batting average almost 100 points. He's raised his on-base percentage almost 100 points. And he's raised his slugging percentage a whopping 250 points.
All while being a steadying force in the middle of the Seminoles' infield. He started out the year playing second. But when freshman Nander De Sedas struggled at shortstop early in the season, Salvatore was moved back to short.
And he's excelled there and in the leadoff spot for the Seminoles. So much so that he went from an afterthought in pro scouting circles to a Top 10-round pick. In just one year.
"He deserves it, too," Martin Jr. said. "He's a floater that can go anywhere in the infield. You can keep an extra pitcher on staff. And don't be surprised if he plays in the big leagues. Those guys are valuable."
And it could be argued — correctly, I think — that nobody has been more valuable to the 2019 Florida State baseball team than Mike Salvatore.
Can't imagine anyone expected that when the year began.
Contact senior writer Corey Clark at corey@warchant.com and follow @corey_clark on twitter.
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