Knudson: Cron a Cut Above

By Mark Knudson, The Mtn. Insider
April 8, 2011

This whole father-son thing has been done a bunch in Mountain West baseball. The Gwynns, of course, and Vance Law has his sons with him at BYU as well. But there’s another father-son combination that’s paying big dividends for the surprising Utah Utes.

Although born in Albuquerque, Chris Cron didn’t play baseball for a MWC school. Instead, he was drafted and signed out of high school in California. The elder Cron had a couple of brief stops as a first basemen in the big leagues before starting a managerial career that has seen him manage at every level of the minor leagues. This season - his 16th as a minor league skipper - Cron is managing the Erie (PA) Seawolves in the Detroit Tigers organization.

My guess is that around draft time in early June, the Tigers’ brass may call on Cron for a scouting report. There’s this kid at the University of Utah they might want some additional info on in his son, C.J.

He might be someone they want to take a chance on.

Actually, a lot of teams hope they are in a position to draft C.J. All he’s done to this point in his collegiate career is post career hitting stats that would make George Brett envious. Going into this weekend’s series against San Diego State, the younger Cron is hitting a robust .476 with an on-base percentage of well over .500. He’s got 25 RBI but just five homers so far. Something to work on, right?

On top of it all, he’s riding a 30-game hitting streak.

This shouldn’t come as a shock to anyone. C.J. Cron was an All-America selection last season as a sophomore and would’ve been a part of Team USA last summer had he not suffered a minor knee injury during summer ball in the Cape Cod League. He was coming off a sophomore year that saw him earn MWC Player of the Year while leading the nation in RBI per game. He belted 20 home runs and drove in 81 while splitting time between catcher and first base. This season, he’s going to improve on his career batting average of .379.

The shocking thing is that opposing pitchers are still pitching to this guy. If ever anyone warranted the Barry Bonds “take four and head to first base” treatment, it’s C.J.

He’s the real deal.

Some scouts question his ability to play catcher as a professional and that’s probably fair. While he’s done a fine job behind the plate for head coach Bill Kinneberg’s team, the younger Cron is 6’ 4” and tips the scales at 230 lbs. That’s a lot of body to have squat for nine innings.

With Cron’s hitting ability, he projects as a first baseman at the next level. The best thing about him is that he’s not a typical young power hitter, trying to pull everything and striking out a lot. Cron is already adept at using the entire field, which makes pitching to him much more difficult. He’s just as likely to take you deep to right center as left. It’s pretty easy to see that he’s gotten some pretty darn good hitting advice from the old man.

Cron is part of a Utah team that has gotten off to a surprising 5-2 start in Conference play. Not much was expected of the Utes this season, but led by Cron, they have the second best RPI in the MWC and if they can keep things going as they head out on a long road trip that starts this weekend, a return trip to the NCAA tournament could be in the cards.

Even after this season, when Utah leaves for the Pac 12 and C.J. leaves for the pros, we will not have heard the end of the Cron family.

Younger brother, Kevin, has committed to play at TCU.

See all of Mark Knudson's blog entries HERE.