Former Wofford star Waring hacking away

A year ago on this Southern Conference baseball championship day, Brandon Waring was leading Wofford to a title and writing his ticket out of town.

Waring’s five home runs in the five days at Joe Riley Park in Charleston made it perfectly clear that he would not be back with the Terriers as a senior to defend their crown. He was named the league’s player of the year after batting .401 with 27 home runs, the second-best total in the country.

Two weeks later, Waring was drafted in the seventh round by the Cincinnati Reds and reported almost immediately to rookie camp in Billings, Mont. He’s now at Class A Dayton (Ohio), where he hits cleanup and ranks second in the Midwest League with 10 home runs.

“You never know for sure what scouts are thinking and how they really feel about you,” Waring said by phone from the Dragons’ dugout before a recent game. “But I had a feeling I had done enough at Wofford to get my chance.”

Terriers head coach Todd Interdonato, an assistant under Steve Traylor last season, said they knew Waring would not come back if the numbers (draft round, signing bonus) were right. During the tournament, those numbers became pretty much guaranteed.

“About mid-season, when Brandon was up to about 15 homers, we got more than a few phone calls from cross-checkers and decision-makers,” Interdonato said.

“Toward the end of the season, you hoped he would stay around. But the way he played down the stretch, not just in the tournament but the last 20 games, you saw the writing on the wall. You knew somebody would take him in a good enough round for him to sign.

“There was a cut-off. We talked about it in the weight room one day. I knew he was a draft pick, but I didn’t know if he was above that line he had set. The last two weeks, I figured he was above it. After the tournament, there was no way anybody in their right mind was going to let him go lower.”

Waring hit .560 in the tournament and set records with his five homers (he was inches away from a sixth on a ball hit high off the wall for a triple) and 16 runs batted in. Even when he made an out, he showed something by getting down the line in 4.2 seconds. He also played tremendous defense, snaring hot shots and scooping soft bunts.

As a senior at Airport High School in West Columbia, he batted .560 with a school-record 11 home runs and was named all-state. As a junior, he had just one homer. Waring came to Wofford as a shortstop and as a freshman he hit .263 with 10 homers and 41 RBIs. He was injured most of his sophomore season for the Terriers and played in just 22 games, batting .266 with four home runs. There was really nothing to indicate he would have such a huge junior season that he would leave school early for the pros.

“When he got here, nobody knew what to expect,” Interdonato said. “He was kind of an unknown in high school and unknown in his first two years here at Wofford — outside of the coaching circles. I was fortunate to watch him practice every day and I knew he had pro ability. He was a step ahead of everybody in athleticism, strength and knowledge of the game. I think when he went to pro ball, people kind of looked at him like, ‘OK, are you the real deal?’ I was just hoping he was justified in the round he went and the money he got. He was able to prove immediately not only that he belonged, but that he is a superior player.”

At Billings, Waring was named most valuable player after hitting .311 with 20 home runs and 61 RBIs in 68 games. That gave him an incredible 47 homers in one spring/summer between college and the minor leagues. At the end of the season, he was called up for a few games with Dayton.

This year with the Dragons, he is hitting .273 with 10 home runs, nine doubles and 28 runs batted in. Waring played for a while on the same side of the diamond as shortstop Todd Frazier, a first-round pick. After just 30 games for Dayton with a .321 average and seven homers, Frazier was recently called up to Sarasota (Fla.), a high-A team.

“You never know what’s in store for you,” Waring said. “It depends on what everybody else does, too. We have a lot of good players and it’s going to be tough to move up. But I have similar numbers to what he had. If he can move up, I can move up. I just have to keep playing well and be patient.”

Sarasota has another highly regarded prospect at third base, Juan Francisco, who hit 25 home runs in a full season at Dayton last year and is batting .290 with seven home runs so far on the next rung of the ladder.

Waring, like Francisco, is striking out too much and that might make for an entire season with Dayton. Waring has fanned more times (61) than anybody else in the Midwest League and has nine walks. Francisco had a strikeout-to-walk ratio of 161-23 at Dayton and it’s 43-3 at Sarasota.

“I check him out once or twice a week to see how he’s doing,” Waring said. “But I can’t worry about him. I can’t put pressure on myself like that. I just have to play my game and see what happens.”

BRANDON WARING FILE Team: Dayton (Ohio) Dragons Position: Third base Size: 6-foot-4, 195 pounds Drafted: Seventh round (2007) by Cincinnati Hometown: West Columbia High School: Set the single-season home run record (11) as a senior at Airport High School. Batted .560 with 11 doubles and 33 RBIs. Named to South Carolina Select all-star team. Area player of the year. Selected for Sandlapper Classic all-star game. Member of the 2002 Dixie Boys state runner-up team. College: Set the single-season home run record (27) as a junior at Wofford. Batted .401 and was named Southern Conference player of the year. Set single-season school records as well for RBIs (74), runs scored (73). In three years, hit 41 home runs. Hit five in the league tournament with 16 RBIs to set records. Professional: Spent last season with Billings (Mont.) in rookie ball and was named team most valuable player after batting .311 with 20 home runs in 68 games. Pioneer League and Reds’ minor league player of the month in August after hitting 12 home runs. Called up to Dayton at the end of last season. Currently is batting .273 with 10 home runs.