By Catherine Laroche
Louisville’s senior shortstop Chris Cates has quite a record under his belt.
He set a new single season record with 16 sac bunts, for the Cards.
He set a new U of L single season record with 213 assists.
And he’s the shortest player in NCAA Division I baseball.
At just 5’3″ in height, Cates is well aware that the first thing people notice about him is his height. By now, he has learned to use his height as an advantage. He uses it as motivation and tries to key that into his game.
“I guess in a way, I like it because it’s kind of an underdog thing,” he said. “Even though I’ve gotten publicity out of it, I still like it because when we go to stadiums to play teams, they look at me and think ‘What’s this guy going to do?’. It motivates me and gets me going when players or even fans say it.”
It seems to be working for him, quite well.
Coming off a great junior season, the senior from Brandon, Florida was named to the 2007 Preseason Third-Team All-Big East. Last season, Cates led the team with a .332 average and 47 runs scored.
He started all 60 games during his junior season, playing every inning, extending his streak to 163 consecutive games in his career- missing just one his freshman year.
“He’s an outstanding baseball player,” Louisville baseball head coach, Dan McDonnell said. “He has genuine love for the game. He’s very consistent and he makes kids around him better just by his work ethic and his attitude on and off the field.”
Cates has come a long way throughout his baseball journey.
In high school, Cates excelled at baseball. He was good enough to catch the eye of former U of L baseball coach, Lelo Prado. When Cates met Prado, he instantly liked him as a person and a coach. He made his decision to play baseball for the Cards, over the opportunity of playing for all the local Florida schools.
“I was pretty amazed with the facilities and the way things were being built up here and the way Louisville was becoming a big name,” Cates said. “I think, overall, the way Mr. [Tom] Jurich has built up Louisville made me decide to come here.”
As a freshman, he started all but one game in the middle infield, with 44 starts at short and 11 at second. He finished his freshman season with an 11-game hit streak.
During his sophomore year, he hit .305, while starting every game at shortstop.
He was featured in the April 18, 2005 issue of Sports Illustrated, named defensive Player of the Year and All Star Game M.V.P. in the NECBL over the summer.
Since stepping foot on the field as a Cardinal, Cates biggest accomplishment dates all the way back to his freshman season, when he was in the starting line-up.
“Pretty much every college said different things,” he said. “Like, that I wouldn’t get to play my first year or that I was too small to do this or that. I came here and got a fair opportunity to start.”
As for his senior season, the co-captain for the Cardinals wants to take the next step.
“I think we can [go to regionals and win the Big East],” he said. “I’m not so much worried about my personal stats. I’ll take hitting .250 any day to go to the Big East Championship, because I’ve never been.”
Senior Logan Johnson, co-captain, plans on helping Cates get the team to regionals and the Big East Championship.
However, he knows that Cates has the ability to do whatever he wants to do.
“It doesn’t matter how big you are or how big the dog is in the fight, but how big the fight is in the dog,”Johnson said. “It’s never more true than it is with him.”
