After my interview with UCF’s star baseball player D.J. Hicks, he asked me why I chose to interview him. I was a little surprised because usually top athletes are very full of themselves. I told him that it was because I had gone to baseball games and had seen him play and noticed that there was something different about him. Every time he stepped up to the plate to bat or even had his name mentioned, the crowd went absolutely wild. How the UCF baseball fans respond to D.J. on the field was inspiring to me because he plays like a leader and has a very strong demeanor. He was humble, which made him stand out from other athletes. Most people have no idea of the struggles he has prevailed through to get to where he is today.
Q: Where are you from? How old are you? What is your major?
A: Altamonte Springs, 22, and Interpersonal Communications.
Q: When did you start playing baseball?
A: I was four and a half.
Q: When did you realize that you were good enough to play college baseball and have it potentially as a career?
A: Sophomore year in high school.
Q: How did it feel to be drafted in 2008 by the Giants?
A: I felt good; I mean, right out of high school is a big accomplishment. For me, it wasn’t my time because I felt that I needed to come to college and mature, work out, and other things like that in order for me to get ready for that level.
Q:Why did you turn down the major leagues and choose to come to college?
A: I needed school and needed to grow up a bit more. I’m a big momma’s boy, so I needed to get away from home for a little bit.
Q: What were some of your reasons for choosing UCF over other universities?
A: My dad played tennis here, and my grandfather worked here for like 30 years and he worked on the baseball field.
Q: How does it feel to be named the pre-season C-USA player of the year, named to the NCBWA All-American Third Team, and have received the NCBWA Dick Howser Trophy?
A: Those are all great, but I don’t think too much into that sort of stuff. I don’t let that affect the way I play. But they are obviously great awards, and I am honored and blessed to have received them.
Q: Why did you redshirt during your sophomore year?
A: My lung collapsed after my freshman year when I went to Blue Ray, Virginia and played summer ball.
Q: What exactly happened?
A: Near the end of the year, I believe, I dove and the grass and something hit my lung weird. I don’t really know what it was that I hit. I kept playing the next inning; I hit a double and was breathing really hard. I knew something was up, but to be honest, I was not really concerned about it.
The next morning when I rolled over I could not really breathe; I was reaching for air and that is when I talked to someone about it. They said it was something in my ribs, so I took a week off and finished up there. When I came back home it felt a little better. The initial pain was when I would walk upstairs and it was almost like a dropping in my chest, so I came back here and that initial dropping went away.
Of course the first day of classes start and the moment I stepped out of my car I felt it again, and so I saw a rib doctor. Then I saw the regular doctor on campus and they took an x-ray. They obviously saw it and rushed me to the hospital that day, and I had a couple of surgeries.
Q: How long of a recovery was it?
A: A long time. I was in the hospital for 16 days. The first operation didn’t work, so I had to get another doctor to do something else, which prolonged the recovery time. It took a year, year-and-a-half, to get full strength.
I can still feel it today, but they said it’s like a rubber band on your wrist. You know it is always there but it does not bother you. And when I would walk in for rehab and check-ups, it would be like all 80 year olds. I was the youngest one the doctor has done the procedure on. The doctor said that it was just bad luck.
Q: Who/ what are your inspirations?
A: Growing up it was always my brother, who is ten years older than me. He taught me everything I know up to this point. He probably thought I was an annoying kid because I always wanted to be like him. My family says that we are twins ten years apart. He has probably been the biggest role model for my baseball career.
Q:What have you had to give up to get where you are now?
A:Life outside of baseball, just life in general. With baseball, you are there from 11 to 7 everyday. I still stay close to my family and friends, but there is not much after that.
Q: What has been your most memorable moment at UCF?
A: It would have to be regional’s last year because UCF hasn’t gone to a regional in years. So getting back to that point was big for UCF baseball.
Q: Your team has an all-time high ranking right now. What is the difference between this season and last?
A: We have a lot of older guys this year, a lot of returners. We lost some key guys from last year to this year, but I think that the overall team is older and more mature, which is huge for college baseball.
Q: What are your aspirations for the rest of the season?
A: Just to keep doing what we’re doing. We are slowly working down on the poll numbers; you want to get in the top 15. We have already been in the top 25 since day one, which is big for baseball. So we have to keep working on things day to day that we can keep getting better at and hopefully break into the top 15 here soon. If you are in the top 15 you can host a regional, which we have never done. Our goal this year is to host it.
Q: What do you do in your spare time, outside of practice, games, and school?
A: I am still a kid, so video games, I love basketball, and I go home and play tennis. I like to play tennis with my dad, and one of my good friends back home’s mom is a pro so we used to play doubles all the time. You have to get away to really appreciate baseball.
Q: If you played a sport other than baseball, what would it be?
A: It would definitely be basketball or ping pong.
Q: What are your plans for after college?
A: I plan to graduate hopefully this summer. Then I will see how the draft goes, but if I don’t get drafted I probably won’t graduate until the fall. Hopefully, after this year it will be a good draft and I will get drafted again and go that way through baseball to see how far that takes me.