It’s amazing what two little contact lenses can do.
“Yeah,” Cameron Cane said with a laugh. “Put 200 points on your batting average.”
That’s a slight exaggeration, for as Cane spoke, his average was “only” 188 points higher than 2016.
Heading into the Mercer County Tournament semifinals on May 15, the senior first baseman/outfielder led Hopewell Valley with a .558 average after hitting .370 as a junior. He also paced the Bulldogs in RBI (31) and hits (29) and was tied with Liam Cleary for the team lead with nine doubles and six triples.
Much of Cane’s improved hitting has come from cutting down his strikeouts. He fanned 20 times as a sophomore, went down to 11 last year was on a pace to get below that this season. Some of that had to do with his approach at the plate.
“It’s understanding not to swing at bad pitches early in the count,” said Cane, whose rangy frame provides a big strike zone. “It’s looking for certain pitches in certain spots. You have to be able to hit outside pitches because with high school pitchers, everything is outside. No one is going to throw you inside, especially at 6-4. They like to go outside with two strikes. It’s hard outside fastballs, change-ups away, curveballs away.”
Thus, Cameron focused on “staying on those pitches” and hitting them the other way for hits, rather than striking out like he once did. That’s also where the lenses came in handy.
“Last year I had a huge problem swinging at curveballs in the dirt,” Cane said. I couldn’t see the spin on the ball. It wasn’t horrific vision, it was like, 30-20. But I was missing detail like that. I got contacts so I can see a lot better and see the spin on the ball. I don’t swing at those balls in the dirt anymore.”
Cane’s improvement is due to more than just eyesight, however. He is one of those guys who just kept working to improve throughout his career.
“Each year he keeps getting better and has a better understanding of the game,” Bulldogs coach Ken Harrison said. “We expect a lot of our seniors in general, and he’s living up to the bill. I hope he can keep it going now that we’re in the fun (tournament) part of the year.”
Cane began baseball in the HVBSA at age 8 and made the A travel team at age 11. When he turned 13, he played with the Big Leagues Academy team in Pennsylvania and remained there for three years.
“That was a huge character builder,” he said. “Nobody knows you, you go out there and all you have is your baseball talent. It helped me to make new friends, getting with more guys that really loved the game who are really competitive baseball players outside of Hopewell.”
Cane felt that when he played in HVBSA he was good, “but I wasn’t the best of the best.” While in Pennsylvania, his focus was on baseball and his confidence grew.
“I brought that back to Hopewell and I honed my talent,” he said.
Due to back issues—Cane has fought injuries throughout his career—he shuffled between the freshman and JV teams throughout ninth grade. He made varsity as a sophomore and hit .288 with nine RBI. That summer, Cane was named Mercer American Legion Rookie of the Year playing for Hopewell Post 339.
Cane jumped to .370 with 25 RBI last season, and has been on fire throughout his senior campaign.
“We were counting on him this year to be a big part of our offense,” Harrison said. “He started playing really well at the end of last year, I know he had a pretty good summer season. We were just hoping it would carry over to this year and it has.”
The coach feels it has been a matter of confidence mixed with hard work that led to Cane’s jump this year.
“As a sophomore, he was getting his feet wet,” Harrison said. “Last year we had to count on him a little bit more. This year he needed to be a really big part of our offense. He’s been playing a lot. He’s starting to understand pitching and how pitchers might be trying to get him out a little better now. I think he’s basically just maturing as a ballplayer.”
Cane’s next stop will be just up Route 31 as he and teammate Josh deDufour will join a growing number of Colonial Valley Conference players in The College of New Jersey program. Cameron was recruited by and visited Misericordia, Philadelphia University, Arcadia and West Chester, but in his mind none compared to TCNJ in terms of campus, academics and baseball.
Plus, the Lions got involved with Cane early when assistant coach Brett Miller, who also coaches Allentown legion, was one of the first to approach Cane after he won Rookie of the Year.
“He talked to me about the TCNJ program, and it really stuck with me,” Cane said. “It will be nice to go over there and see some familiar faces and some real talent.”
And with those new lenses, he will see them better than ever.
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