The plan for Cameron Comer was always to be a catcher. That’s where he practiced at Olentangy Liberty High School in Ohio. That’s what Virginia recruited him to play. That’s the position he taught himself to play.
But before he came to Virginia, a catcher he was not. There was a player a year ahead of him in high school that was going to be a college catcher. There was a catcher the year behind him that had the same prospects. Comer had the ability to play shortstop, so that’s where his head coach, Ty Brenning, put him.
The first time Comer ever threw out a base-runner from behind the plate was earlier this season. He now says that he takes stolen bases personally. The learning curve has been quick and steep for the junior this season, but he’s been more than a placeholder at the position — he’s been one of Virginia’s best overall players.
“I think one of the reasons Virginia has been successful is that they recruit great athletes and play them at a lot of different positions,” Brenning said. “We just looked at Cam, and Cam approached it the same way, that the more positions you could play in high school, the greater chance he was going to have at getting on the field at UVa.”
Comer is batting .259 this season and is tied for the team lead with three home runs. He has 11 RBI this season, including a walk-off single in a 4-for-4 game against Virginia Tech a month ago.
Comer, a right-handed fielder and left-handed hitter, barely played his first two seasons. He had just five total hits in his first two years — though he did reach base in his first five career plate appearances.
This year, he was the backup to Caleb Knight, who hasn’t been able to catch recently and has played sparingly through an undisclosed injury. The other backup catcher, Drew Blakely, is out for the season following Tommy John surgery. So in stepped Comer, with an everyday spot for a player who seemed, at one point, on track to never get regular at-bats in his entire Virginia career.
“There was a little bit of a learning curve every day when he first got here of playing this position full-time,” said Virginia head coach Brian O’Connor. “He’s got really good athleticism back there, like an infielder would, and so he played sparingly his first two years. And since he’s been in there every day, I think he’s really, really improved and is doing a tremendous job for not really playing his first two years.”
Comer said the most important thing he had to learn was that there’s importance in every pitch. That might sound cliché, but being behind the plate for every one of them instilled that understanding in him. There is more awareness of all aspects of the game behind the plate.
And the importance of pitches is stressed even more at a place like Virginia. Every pitch is called from the dugout — and UVa has decided not to use electronic communication this season, even though it’s allowed in ACC games. Before games, Comer will be a part of meetings also involving pitching coach Karl Kuhn about pitch selection game plans. He’s a captain of the game now, and his role on the team is reflecting that.
“I think from being a self-taught catcher when I first came here until now, three years later, I’m extremely happy with where I am,” Comer said. “Obviously there’s a lot more I can do in terms of consistency. But in the jumps that I’ve made within each year, I’ve been very happy with them. Just thinking back to my freshman year, the fall when I came in … just the consistency wasn’t there.”
After UVa’s last game against VCU, Comer spoke at length about the difference he’s seen in freshman pitcher Griff McGarry from late March until today. In his previous outing against VCU, McGarry struggled to throw strikes to Comer — walking four and recording five outs. The more recent VCU appearance last week, McGarry struck out four over 2 2/3 innings.
Comer spoke about McGarry’s improvement. He spoke about how he was attacking the zone. He spoke like a catcher with more experience than he has. And that’s not even mentioning Comer was the player who hit the game-winning two-run home run that game.
The Cavaliers came into the season with Knight, Blakely, Comer, Brendan Rivoli and Justin Novak all able to catch. Now, it’s mostly just Comer who catches every inning.
“Certainly he has really improved and gotten some really valuable experience this year,” O’Connor said. “And that will be a plus for next season. But that’s a position, other than pitching, that you need the most depth at.”
That translates to the possibility that Comer’s spot next season will likely not be guaranteed. Knight won’t be back, but Blakely will be there. There could always be another player like Knight — a JUCO transfer brought in to play the position. Maybe Rivoli needs an everyday spot. Maybe it’s someone else entirely.
Or maybe Comer gets taken in the MLB Draft — he’s eligible this summer.
But this isn’t the first time that Comer has had to prove himself. In high school, there was, at the time, a great catcher in the class above him and below him. The catcher above him played one season at Division III Ohio Northern. The catcher in the class below him is at a junior college.
And Comer is at Virginia, starting and starring against ACC competition, showing that he belongs.
“I didn’t really try to think about that too much,” Comer said about the prospects of playing time entering this season. “I was just focusing on getting better every day. I knew that those opportunities would come through whatever the circumstances may be.”