Jordan Raba was in a high school slump.
Not on the baseball field, where he excelled for three seasons, but in the classroom.
Fortunately for the Mercer County Community College baseball team — and especially Raba himself — the diamond success has continued and he has broken out of his academic doldrums in a big way.
After finding it tough to focus on classes during his freshman year — which was remote learning due to Covid 19 — Raba never got into a groove and struggled academically throughout high school.
College prospects were bleak but JUCO has provided second chances for countless student-athletes like Raba, and the Nottingham High graduate has taken full advantage. He is not only enjoying his second season of torrid hitting and slick fielding for the Mustangs, but he sports a grade point average of 3.32.
“Once I got to college a lot of people were telling me, ‘Hey you got your grades up and you gotta keep going with this.’” Raba said. “I kind of matured too, from high school to where I am now. I take more pride in getting my work done. I know what I have to get done to do what I want to do in the future.”
What he wants is to play at a four-year school, and MCCC coach Russ Stupienski feels he is well on his way.
“As good a player as he is, he’s made himself that good of a student as well, which is what you hope guys take advantage of with this kind of opportunity,” Stupienski said. “He’s gonna graduate the first part of the summer (needing to take one more class) and have any opportunity that comes available to him.”
Stupienski speaks from experience, as he starred at MCCC before going on to lead his St. Peter’s University team in hits his senior season. He returned to Mercer as an assistant and is in his fourth year as head coach, so he understands the work that needs to be put in on and off the field.
“In JUCO yes, you’re gonna play, gain experience, show yourself,” he said. “It’s just different, there’s time management in the classroom, you have to get your stuff done with everything else going on. He’s done great, he’s taken great advantage of this opportunity and if he wants it, he’s possibly got a great, long career ahead of him.”
Raba has proven he can do both learn and play. In the midst of his rising GPA, his batting average has not gone in the opposite direction.
As a freshman, he batted .429, had 82 hits, 66 runs, 40 walks, 19 doubles, five triples and 26 stolen bases in 29 attempts. Raba finished 12th in hits in NJCAA Division II, 18th in batting average, 20th in doubles and 24th in triples.
Through Mercer’s 10-4 start this year, after an early-season slump, he was hitting .404 with 16 runs scored and team highs of 19 hits, nine walks and 10 stolen bases in 11 attempts.
Just one Stupienski wants from his leadoff hitter, who not only gets on base, but sees a lot of pitches to give his teammates an idea of what is being thrown.
“It’s huge to be able to write his name at the top of that lineup and know that most of his at-bats will be a battle,” Stupienski said. “He fights in there; he works his walks. He’s not looking to go dip and jack and hijack balls.
“He’s got a pretty good idea of what he’s trying to do and when he gets something he’ll unload on it and go. But his speed is something special. He can bunt, steal bases, use all fields. Lefty or righty pitcher doesn’t seem to bother him. He doesn’t act flashy; he doesn’t act like a jerk in any way. It’s impressive to watch him go about his business.”
Raba, the son of Nottingham basketball coach Chris “The Baron” Raba, had a .397 career average with the Northstars and hit .455 and .459 his junior and senior seasons.
Despite going against tougher pitching at the JUCO level, it hardly fazed him as Jordan put up numbers that placed him in the running for Region 19 Player of the Year.
“Obviously it was a great year; I wouldn’t say I was surprised,” Raba said. “I know I can hit the ball a little bit. You just kind of go with the flow. I have confidence in myself. I got recruited here for a reason. Coach Russ trusted in me, told me he expects a lot from me. If he has confidence in me I gotta have confidence in myself.
“It was kind of just trusting the process, trusting my grind, I guess. Throughout the off-season I tried to gain some weight so I could get faster, get stronger so I could keep up with higher velo.”
Stupienski knew he was getting a good player; but didn’t realize how good.
“Everybody knew he could really play from the start but you never know how anybody is gonna adjust from high school to this,” the skipper said. “He’s been awesome from day one.”
Raba started last season at his normal shortstop position, where he makes good and great plays look easy with his smoothness. Injuries bumped him to third and then into centerfield, where he excelled despite not playing there since travel baseball.
“He worked at it but with his athleticism; he’s special out there,” Stupienski said. “He freakin’ flies. He covers a lot of ground. My centerfielder had a pulled hamstring so I moved him to right or left to take some wear and tear off him and Jordan took over and was awesome out there. It’s not an easy thing to do but he made it look very easy pretty much all year.”
Raba noted that, “Growing up I was like a utility guy with all my travel teams. I was one of those guys able to move around and play anywhere. I never played outfield in high school but for middle school travel teams I’d play it from time to time. But it’s definitely fun playing shortstop, especially when your favorite player is Derek Jeter.”
Even Jeter had his slumps, however, and so did his admirer. Raba was 4-for-15 with four strikeouts in the Mustangs’ first five games. In the next nine he went 15-for-32 with six walks and four Ks.
“I put some pressure on myself knowing I had a good year and my expectations in my head were ‘Woah, I gotta do that again, if I don’t . . .” he said in mid-March. “Now I just feel more relaxed. I watched videos from last year when I was doing good, seeing what the difference in my swing was from this year to last year. Also talking to Stupe about what he sees is different. It’s a slow process but we’re getting to where I need to be again.”
He has been right where he should be most of his two years at Mercer, both in the classroom and on the field. Playing for a four-year school after high school seemed tenuous unless there was an attitude change, and that is what he has undergone since getting to Mercer.
“I am super happy he ended up coming here,” Stupienski said. “He’s been awesome for us and I’m looking forward to seeing where he ends up going. He’s getting D-2 looks all over the place. The D-1’s wait and see how their roster develops over the year. I think he’s gonna have plenty of options.
“Some of the four-year schools are pretty lazy in terms of how they go about this stuff but whoever ends up putting the effort in and comes to get him is gonna get themselves an unbelievable kid, an unbelievable player. Over the next two years they will be as pleased as I have been over the last two years, I’m sure of that.”
Jordan Raba makes a throw from the outfield for Mercer County Community College baseball.,
