Utah Utes baseball: C.J. Cron talks softly and carries a big stick for Utes

SALT LAKE CITY — It's not often the University of Utah — not exactly a college baseball powerhouse — features an all-American baseball player who leads the nation in hitting.

That's what the Utes have this year in C.J. Cron, who not only leads the nation in batting average, but is also one of the leaders in home runs, slugging percentage and RBIs. He's one of the top baseball prospects ever to come out of the state's college ranks and is almost a sure-fire first-round draft choice in next month's major-league draft.

Utah coach Bill Kinneberg minces no words when he says of the Arizona native, "He's the best hitter in the country."

Kinneberg isn't talking about just the fact that Cron literally leads the nation in batting average at .469, but that he also hits for power, something that doesn't always go hand-in-hand with a great batting average.

"He's a combination you don't find very often any more," says Kinnberg. "He hits for a great average, but he has tremendous power as well. He's hitting .460 because he's such a great hitter — he has great hands — and he's driving in so many runs because he has so much power."

Cron has 46 runs batted in and 11 home runs, ranking him ninth in the nation in RBIs per game and 23rd in home runs per game. He also ranks third in slugging percentage and fifth in on-base percentage and has a 54-game reached-base streak dating back to last year.

So how did the best hitter in the country end up at Utah instead of one of college baseball's traditional powers such as Texas, Miami or Arizona State?

Actually, Arizona State was one of a handful of schools that offered Cron a scholarship. However, Cron wanted to get away from home, rather than play 15 minutes from his house, so he chose to go north to play.

Another big reason he chose Utah was because his father Chris, who played briefly in the major leagues, was good friends with Kinneberg, who he coached with in the Chicago White Sox organization.

It also helped that the day he made his recruiting trip to Utah in September 2007, the Utah football team crushed No. 12 UCLA in football 44-6.

"That was a pretty fun experience," Cron said. "I liked the campus, the coaching staff, and it just seemed like a pretty good fit for me."

On the recent afternoon when Cron was being interviewed, as rain fell outside and temperatures were in the 40s, he was asked if he lamented that he could be playing in the sunshine and warmth of Arizona instead.