What in the world is Duke's first-team All-Atlantic Coast Conference shooting guard doing in Idaho this summer-digging up potatoes?
No, Trajan Langdon is playing rookie league baseball in a state nearly as remote as his homeland, Alaska.
And aside from leading his team, the Idaho Falls Braves, in strikeouts, he's having a great time.
"It's been fun; it's a real challenge going out there every day and facing some of the best pitchers that have just come out of college," Langdon said. "It is frustrating at times, but that's what makes it a challenge."
Langdon headed out to the San Diego Padres' minor-league affiliate in Idaho Falls in June and played there through July 17.
After he was drafted out of high school by the Padres, Langdon signed a deal for $230,000 to play summers for the Padres. The deal pays for Langdon's education at Duke, technically making him a walk-on with the basketball team.
After playing the summers before and after his freshman year, Langdon stayed away from the diamond last summer to rest his ailing left knee. The time away has certainly shown up in Langdon's numbers this summer-a .198 batting average and just 16 hits in 81 at bats.
"With any sport, if you don't do it for two years, it's tough to get your skills and your timing back," Langdon said. "Especially hitting a baseball, which is one of the hardest skills in sports I think. Hitting is timing. You can have all the correct fundamentals, but if you don't have the timing, you're not going to hit the ball. And timing just comes with at-bats, which I just haven't had over this two-year period."
Playing approximately three out of every four games, Langdon managed to rack up six doubles, good for second on the team. His biggest downside at the plate was the strikeouts-33 through July 15, which placed him third in the Pioneer League.
"I started off all right and then got into a little funk, although it seems I'm back into one right now," Langdon said. "Although I've hit some balls hard, it's just that I'm hitting 'em right at people. I'm struggling a little bit, but the last couple of games I've been feeling a little bit better at the plate. Earlier I was getting fooled by a lot of breaking balls and off-speed pitches, and that still happens some."
In the field, Langdon returned to third base, where he played in high school and in his previous two minor league stints. As with hitting, the feel for the position returned slowly.
"I was booting the ball around a little bit earlier, but I've made some good plays and I've been getting more comfortable with the routine plays down there," Langdon said.
Along with the excitement of playing minor league baseball comes the joy of minor league style travel. Five to 10 hour road trips to Montana, Utah and even Medicine Hat, Alberta are the norm.
"It's all out of a hotel, all out of a bag," Langdon said. "Eating out every meal. It's tough, but that's minor league baseball. Travel isn't Duke basketball travel. We're in buses, sometimes for five-hour road trips. And we play every night, regardless of how far we've traveled that day. It's a little bit different, but once you get used to it, it's not too bad."
'Home' is much the same-a room in the Idaho Falls Holiday Inn.
With his third summer in the minors under his belt, Langdon has learned a lot about his future in his second sport.
"With the future, basketball is obviously in the forefront," Langdon said. "But as my thoughts have always been, if basketball doesn't work out I feel I can still come back and give baseball a shot. And I think if that happens, then I really find out if baseball is in my future or not. Now it's really tough to say because I haven't really given it a full season just to see what I can do if I'm in the lineup day in and day out and concentrating on it."
With all of Langdon's success on the basketball court and having already missed his entire sophomore season with that injured knee, playing baseball seems like an unnecessary risk to many.
"A lot of people question my knee and playing baseball," Langdon said. "I just said that if my knee, on limited recovery time, could handle the strenuous Duke basketball schedule and the ACC season, I think it can handle half a summer of minor league baseball. That was my attitude heading in, and it's held up great."
Langdon is wrapping up his baseball adventure early (the Braves season runs through August) to return to Duke and get back onto the basketball court. He has registered to play in a summer league at St. Augustine's college in Raleigh.
"I think it will just get me back into basketball," Langdon said. "I think it will be pretty good competition, but whatever level of competition it is, I think it will benefit me since I haven't played competitively since I left Duke."
No matter what, Langdon returns to Duke unscathed by injury, having proven the critics wrong. Now it's time to put away the cleats, lace up the hightops and return to the basketball court, where, if nothing else, he can't strike out.
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