By Olivia Sayer
Junior catcher Henry Hunter stands at the plate. Head baseball coach Wes Johnson said Hunter has a “Navy SEAL work ethic.” (Photo Courtesy/Kari Hodges/UGAAA)
Henry Hunter stands near the steps of Georgia baseball’s dugout. Oftentimes, he is the first one out of the dugout to congratulate a teammate after making a game-changing play. According to head coach Wes Johnson, Hunter is also one of the hardest working athletes on the team.
“He’s got a Navy SEAL work ethic,” Johnson said. “It’s very impressive.”
The UAB transfer is finding success in his first season with the Bulldogs. Going into Georgia’s series at South Carolina, Hunter was batting .262 with a .903 OPS and was two long balls shy of his career-high for home runs in 20 less games.
More importantly, Hunter’s pitchers thrive when he is behind the plate.
“When Henry goes out there and does a mound visit, we call it the ‘Henry effect,” Corey Collins said. “Usually something good happens after it, so he must be saying something good.”
The catcher, who has also seen time in the outfield, had mixed results during his two seasons at UAB. His freshman campaign ended with him batting .286 with 38 hits in 46 games. However, in his sophomore season, Hunter batted a mere .175 in the same number of games. The decrease in production left him questioning his ability coming into Athens.
Luckily for Hunter, Johnson juices confidence into his players.
“I don’t have a lot of rules,” Johnson said shortly after Georgia hired him. “My No. 1 rule, and I’m a stickler on this, is that you’ve got to believe in yourself. We’re going to coach off the positive. We have to show [players] what they’ve done right and expand on that. That’s how they’re going to get a positive self-image. The higher I can get that, the better I can make that player.”
Hunter has also benefited from working with hitting coach Will Coggin, who oversees an offense that as of the South Carolina series, ranks third in home runs, on-base percentage and slugging. Along with Johnson, Coggin also emphasizes instilling confidence in his players.
“Just making me feel like I can do it,” Hunter said when asked where Coggin has impacted him the most. “Just believing in myself again. I think that was the biggest rabbit hole I fell in last year of just forgetting that I’m a good player. He’s really helped me get to that point, just through the process and through the work.”
Hunter’s time behind the plate has been limited this season, but it’s to no fault of his own. Senior Fernando Gonzalez returned for his final year in Athens, and Hunter has cherished the opportunity to learn from someone he called a “Georgia legend.”
“[Gonzalez] was awesome,” Hunter said. “It was the easiest transition I could ask for. We definitely competed, but it was the healthiest competition we could have had. Fernando is just an awesome teammate, an awesome human being, and I’m just super thankful to share the backstop with him. And he’s a Georgia legend, so it’s cool.”
Working with Gonzalez and assistant coach Brock Bennett has allowed Hunter to improve his ability to receive and frame pitches, which Hunter said dates back to when he first arrived in Athens.
“That has definitely been the part of the game that I feel like I’ve matured and developed the most in,” Hunter said. “[Gonzalez and Bennett] are always there to help me work, and they put up with me asking for one more [rep] every day. Especially early on, when I was just trying to figure it out, and it was just all about reps.”
Hunter asking for more reps is just a small illustration of his incomparable work ethic, which
can be attributed to his family. Hunter’s parents and two older sisters set an expectation of hard work that has turned into a priority for him.
“I just never want to be able to look back and say I regret something that I didn’t do,” Hunter said. “And that’s part of the reason why I work so hard every day.”
Despite limited time on the field, Hunter’s contributions are still felt within a Georgia team that is in the mix to host a Regional. His leadership is evident to his teammates.
“He’s really the vocal guy,” Corey Collins said. “That guy comes in, and he brings energy every day. He attacks everything. He works himself, I think, harder than he should sometimes. We have to tell him to slow down, but he loves it, and he wants to get better every single day.”
Hunter’s presence within the locker room has paid dividends for the Bulldogs, who welcomed 28 newcomers last offseason. Hunter headlines a group that prioritizes team success over that of the individual. The result of this mentality is illustrated within Georgia’s current 35-12 overall record.
“When you put winning first, most of the time you win.”
Hunter’s personality is something that Johnson discovered when completing his “non-baseball investigating” of the Georgia-native. Given everything he has observed with Hunter, the Georgia coach is not surprised by his success.
“When you get guys who you hear have that kind of work ethic, and they have at least a little bit of a track record to go off of, you feel really good that you might be able to get them to another level,” Johnson said. “And I think that’s where Henry is right now.”