Jackson High's Danny Oh rates as one of state's top baseball players

Danny Oh stands upright, with just a slight bend in the knees, flexing nearly his entire 6-foot frame.

Chin against right shoulder, the Jackson High School slugger brings his hands back and smoothly guides the bat to the ball, which jumps off the aluminum like a kid off a trampoline.

"Effortless," says Timberwolves coach Kirk Nicholson. "It doesn't look like he's putting anything into it, but the ball jumps off the bat."

Indeed. While many things come naturally to the University of California, Berkeley recruit, his hard work and drive to always get better have made Oh, 18, into one of the state's best players.

First playing baseball as an 8-year-old, Oh didn't realize his potential in the sport until he was 11. Playing on the Mill Creek Little League team that would eventually make it to the regionals of the Little League World Series, Oh hit his first career home run — off current teammate Greg Cranson.

"That's always special," Oh said of his first career blast.

Of course, in the next inning, with Oh pitching, Cranson returned the favor, hitting a homer himself.

While a first home run is a memorable accomplishment, Oh said it was a car ride with a teammate that made him the standout he is today and the player that he could become in college and beyond.

As a freshman, Oh took a ride with former teammate and now Toronto Blue Jays prospect Travis Snider, to the team's gym.

Snider, Oh recalls, recognized the freshman's natural ability and gave him some advice: Never think of yourself as good enough. That motto has Oh always pushing to get better.

"It was just one of those experiences that I humble myself with," said Oh. "I just work harder and harder each day."

"Danny was a kid who always had his ears open," recalls Snider, now in the Toronto Blue Jays farm system after being selected in the first round of the 2006 Major League Baseball (MLB) draft.

"I think the biggest thing about Danny, he's not only one of the best kids I've played with, he went about his business in the right way. You could tell by the way the kid swings the bat. You could tell he could be something good."

Oh, who primarily plays center field but also is the team's closer, says he models his game after major-leaguers like Grady Sizemore (who graduated from Cascade High School) and Ken Griffey Jr.

Nicholson, who has seen Oh mature the last four years, compares Oh's swing to Will Clark, a six-time MLB All-Star.

Besides his sweet swing, speed on the bases and solid fielding, Oh's best trait might be his baseball knowledge.

"He knows the game," says Nicholson. "He really works at the game. He is thinking what the guy is going to throw to him. He just knows a lot."

Like, for example, his role as a leadoff hitter.

"I'm not looking to hit home runs," says Oh. "I'm just looking to get on base because you can't score runs unless there are guys on base."

And Oh is on base, well, about 60 percent of the time. He has a .561 batting average, has scored a team-high 16 runs, has four doubles, a home run, nine stolen bases and nine RBIs through the weekend. On the mound he has a 0.78 earned-run average, with two wins and two saves for the first-place Timberwolves (10-1 overall, 7-1 WesCo South through the weekend).

Oh, who has been helped along the way by many coaches, acknowledges being easy to coach and willing to learn.

"Whatever I listen to, I try to put in the game," Oh says. "And it's been working so far."

With Snider the leader of Jackson's 2006 Class 4A state-title team and UW pitcher Geoff Brown the leader of last year's squad that was upset in the district playoffs, this is now Oh's team. He's not a vocal leader, but his style rubs off on the younger Timberwolves.

"I just want to be a good role model for these guys," he says. "If it's just to play the game hard every time or just to have fun outside of baseball, I just want to be sure whatever I leave behind will be positive."