“Don’t try to strike everybody out. Strikeouts are boring! Besides that, they’re fascist.
Throw some ground balls – it’s more democratic.” – Crash Davis to Nuke LaLoosh in Bull Durham
If you’re an old-school baseball fan, would you like to have a player on your favorite team who did this over the course of an entire season: .306 batting average, 24 homers, 135 RBI?
Or maybe you appreciate 21st-century stats more. Would this work: .383 on-base percentage, .515 slugging percentage, for an OPS of .898?
Either way, those numbers describe the Monmouth College career of Raul Guillermo III, who has played roughly a full major-league season during his time with the Fighting Scots. The slugging senior will get to extend his career beyond its current 145 games when he leads the Scots into this weekend’s Midwest Conference playoffs in Appleton, Wisconsin. Monmouth will open play Friday at 9 a.m. against Beloit. Host Lawrence will play Grinnell at 12:30 p.m. in the double-elimination event, which will conclude Saturday.
RG3: The HR/RBI king
When Guillermo was asked which of his many impressive stats was his favorite, he pointed to one of the old-school choices, which is not surprising, given that he was the one who referenced the quotation above from the beloved baseball movie starring Kevin Costner, which hit theaters in 1988, well before Guillermo was born.
“Honestly, my RBIs,” he said. “If you can’t score runs, you can’t win games. The home runs are fun, but it’s like that Bull Durham quote – RBIs are more democratic, because more of your teammates are involved. They get on base and you drive them in.”
Those 135 runs batted in are, by far, the Monmouth career record, and so are his 24 homers. He was asked to pick out a favorite long ball, and he didn’t have to reach very far back in his memory bank to do so.
Entering last weekend’s three-game series at Ripon, the Scots had to take at least one game from the Red Hawks to reach the postseason. The opener didn’t get off to a good start, as the hosts grabbed a 5-1 lead.
That was still the score with two outs and no one on in the top of the seventh inning against Ripon ace Blaine Wahlen. A walk, a double and an error closed the gap to 5-3 and brought Guillermo to the plate. The first pitch was wild, moving baserunner Alexander Dye to second. There was now an open base to put Guillermo.
“They called a pitcher’s time-out, and that’s usually the spot where they’ll walk you intentionally,” said Guillermo. “But they came right after me, and I made them pay for it.”
He knew the ball was gone the second he hit it. The game-tying blast cleared the right field fence, which is not uncommon for the right-handed slugger.
After both teams scored a run in the eighth inning, Monmouth plated six more runs in the ninth to win 12-6. Guillermo started the rally with a single.
After winning that crucial opener, the Scots actually lost the three-game series to Ripon. But Monmouth does own series victories over each of the other three teams at the MWC tourney.
“We beat each of those teams’ No. 1s,” said Guillermo. “I feel we can bring the championship home and make a regional appearance. Really, every game these past few weeks has felt like a playoff game.”
Putting the Scots over the hump this year, he said, has been a day-in, day-out determined approach.
“Consistency,” he replied to a question about Monmouth’s improvement. “We know we can’t take a weekend off. A lot of guys have really buckled down. And we’ve done a lot of prep work with Coach (Alan) Betourne in terms of how our at-bats should go. There’s nothing much more you can ask for than a coach who is locked in, just like you.”
From Florida to Monmouth
A standout at St. Brendan High School in Miami, Guillermo learned about Monmouth through his brother, Christian Centeno ’23, who was a two-year starter for the Scots after Betourne recruited him from the Sunshine State. Guillermo started his college journey at St. Xavier University, where he was the No. 2 catcher as a freshman. But with no spots opening soon due to graduation, he decided to join his brother on campus.
“Monmouth was the perfect choice for me,” he said. “Baseball is fun, yes, but for me, my personal growth has been the big thing. I’ve made a lot of progress, and it’s awesome to see it all come together.”
“He has really grown as a person on and off the field,” said Betourne. “He and I have talked a lot in the past couple of years about being a leader and a good teammate. It took time, but him just being himself helped a lot. He does care about his teammates and the more he got to know them, the more his teammates got to know Raul. He knows there is more to learn, and that’s exciting. Sky is the limit for him – it’s up to him.”
It’s also come together on the diamond, where Guillermo is hitting .354 and leads the team in homers (9), RBI (43) and OPS (1.067). They’re all the best marks of his career.
“I’m just looking to hit hard line drives back at the pitcher,” said Guillermo. “It’s a see-the-ball, hit-the-ball type of thing. Coach Betourne told me that if I keep hitting hard line drives, my power numbers would go up, and it’s really exploded this year. One of my big selling points is that my opposite-field power is equal to my pull.”
Betourne weighed in on Guillermo’s special senior season.
“Raul has put in a lot of work after last year,” he said. “It’s not just his ability, but it’s understanding the game more. He knows – sometimes I have to remind him – but he does have weaknesses and it’s very important to work on those. The same was true with (former Scots standout) Grant Myers. He’s accepted that, and that’s why he’s become a better hitter this year.
What’s next?
Guillermo will look to play upon that strength – and several others – when he begins his post-Monmouth career later this month with the Carolina Yankees in the Southern Shores League. He’s also signed on to be part of the growing Baseball Jobs Overseas platform.
“My childhood dream was to sign a baseball contract, and now that I’ve done that, the rest is just bonus baseball,” said Guillermo, who also owns the total bases record with 281. “Everything else is a free lunch.”
When Carolina’s season ends, Guillermo will play abroad, perhaps in Australia. And when his playing career finally comes to a close, he plans to use his Monmouth degree in Miami’s booming hospitality industry.
***Courtesy of Barry McNamara, Monmouth College***
