Agoura shortstop Farinacci off to another hot start

Four-year varsity player now a grizzled veteran


JANN HENDRY/Acorn Newspapers SWEET SWING-Agoura senior shortstop Nick Farinacci is batting .425 with 17 RBIs and four home runs through the Chargers first 11 games of the season. Farinacci will attend UC Irvine in the fall.

JANN HENDRY/Acorn Newspapers SWEET SWING-Agoura senior shortstop Nick Farinacci is batting .425 with 17 RBIs and four home runs through the Chargers first 11 games of the season. Farinacci will attend UC Irvine in the fall.


If Reggie Jackson is Mr. October, then Agoura senior shortstop Nick Farinacci might be Mr. March.

For the second straight season, Farinacci, a four-year varsity letterman, has gotten off to a blazing start at the plate. Prior to today’s game against Newbury Park, Farinacci was batting .425 with 17 hits, 17 RBIs and four home runs in a team-high 40 at-bats.

“I started off hot, which gave me a lot of confidence,” Farinacci, 17, said. “During the offseason, I worked with (Robert) Stock a lot on hitting. I wanted to get myself in a groove, and it’s paying off this year.”

When the preseason got underway, Farinacci said he was having trouble getting his hands in the proper position while swinging. He went back into the team’s film room to study his swing and noticed a few minor things he could tweak to become more successful at the plate.

“I started to get a little bit uncomfortable,” Farinacci said. “Going back to the videotape, I changed a little bit, softened up my hands. That helped me get through the ball a lot easier. I felt much more comfortable at the plate.”

Farinacci’s breakthrough season comes on the heels of a junior year in which he batted .321 with three home runs and 19 RBIs. His three home runs a season ago came in the first four games of the year.

Those numbers helped Farinacci land a partial scholarship to play at UC Irvine in the fall. His older brother, Paul, graduated from Agoura and went on to play collegiately at Ohio State. Nick Farinacci said his brother has told him playing in college will be much more difficult than high school.

“He just told me to work harder than anyone else, because no matter where you go to play, there’s always going to be someone willing to work harder than everyone else is,” Farinacci said.

Playing for a team that’s been ranked in the top five nationally since the start of the year has brought pressure, Farinacci said. But, he adds, it’s been a welcomed burden that can only help the Chargers improve.

“It’s good pressure because we know we’re always going to see somebody’s No. 1,” he said. “Teams always come at us.

“We played a scrimmage game early in the year when we were ranked forth nationally and the other team scored a run on us and went crazy,” Farinacci said. “We were winning 9-0, but it was a huge thing for them to score on us.”

Agoura head coach Scott Deck said Farinacci has improved as a hitter every year since taking over as the team’s starting shortstop during his sophomore season.

“We knew he had the potential in him,” Deck said. “A lot of it had to do with strength and competing against guys on a high level.”

“This year he’s got the confidence because he’s proven himself,” the coach said. “He knows what to expect.”

Farinacci is currently hitting third in the Charger lineup, where run production is a must. He says it’s a slot in the batting order that really compliments his style of swinging the bat.

“When there’re people on base, I get more excited,” Farinacci said. “I like to drive guys in and spark up the team.”

The night before the season started, Farinacci took a piece of paper, wrote down his individual goals for the year and placed them on a mirror in his bathroom. He said he wanted to hit .450 with about eight home runs, and halfway through Agoura’s season he’s right on schedule to achieve those goals.

“Whenever I brush my teeth and am getting ready for school, the goals are right there in front of me,” Farinacci said.

If there’s one area of Farinacci’s game that must improve, it’s his fielding. Through the first 11 games of the season, Farinacci had committed seven errors and had a fielding percentage of just .816, relatively low for a middle infielder.

Deck said his shortstop needs to work on his footwork so he can get in front of balls and better position himself to make plays.

“It’s just one of those things where he’s not getting a good read on the ball right now,” Deck said. “He’s putting himself in a bad position to field it. But we’ll work on it. He’ll be fine. It’s not one of those things we’re worried about because he’s been solid for us over the last few years.”

Farinacci and senior pitcher/ first baseman Jason Stoffel are serving as Agoura’s co-captains. The two have been friends since preschool and have played together for years.

The players’ close relationship affords Stoffel the luxury of being honest when assessing Farinacci’s skills as a pitcher, a position Farinacci believes he could master if given the opportunity.

“He can’t pitch, just leave it at that,” Stoffel said.

Deck said he loves Farinacci’s leadership, on-field desire and will to win. If push came to shove, Deck said he’d put Farinacci on the mound. Hopefully, he won’t be forced to make that decision, the coach said.

“He thinks he’s a really good pitcher, but he’s not,” Deck said with a grin. “He loves to tell people that he can pitch.”

“He actually throws the ball pretty well up to the plate,” Deck said. “His mechanics are bad though. He’s got a good curveball and everything. Actually, I wouldn’t be afraid to put him in there, because I know he’d compete and do a good job.”

For now, Marmonte League hitters are safe. League pitchers, however, still have much to fear when Farinacci steps up to the plate.

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