It was as if Duke were saving a spot in the lineup for Chris Marconcini when he arrived in 2010.
Left fielder Jeremy Gould had graduated the year before, taking with him most of the raw power in the Blue Devils’ lineup. Gould, Duke’s cleanup hitter, hit .340 in his senior season with 37 RBIs and a .510 slugging percentage. The Blue Devils knew Marconcini was capable of duplicating Gould’s production—their recruit had been an offensive force at Battle Ground Academy in Franklin, Tenn., hitting .490 his senior year—but they were unsure if a freshman could immediately fill such an important role.
Marconcini, however, rose to the challenge and soon established himself as a fixture in Duke’s lineup. As a freshman, he started all but one game for the Blue Devils and led the team in home runs, RBIs, runs scored and slugging percentage. Marconcini’s 39 RBIs were the most by a Duke freshman in more than a decade—and two more than Gould in his senior campaign.
Even at 6-foot-5, the second-tallest player on the Duke baseball team, there was nowhere for Marconcini to go but up. Despite being named a Louisville Slugger Freshman All-American and to the All-ACC Second Team, Marconcini was ready to build on his performance going into his sophomore season.
“For a freshman, I guess I did well,” Marconcini said. “I was happy with the way I played, but not as happy as I could’ve been. I was looking forward to sophomore year.”
But on Feb. 12, 2012, sophomore year became an impossibility for Marconcini. During an intra-squad scrimmage at practice, catcher Reed Anthes ran after an easy popup down the first-base line. Marconcini, who was playing first base, also ran to make the catch but was too late to hear Anthes’ call for the ball. While jumping out of Anthes’ path, Marconcini landed unsteadily on his right leg.
“He called me off, and I tried to get out of the way,” Marconcini recalled. “And then there was a big, old, loud pop.”
Only six days before Duke was set to open its season against Texas, it lost its slugger to a torn ACL.
“[When it happened], it was hard to be happy,” Marconcini said. “And it’s a slow, slow process [to recover]. For the first month or so I was on crutches and wasn’t really allowed to do anything. It was tough.”
What made matters worse for Marconcini was that his teammates were struggling on the field. The 2012 season was one of the Blue Devils’ worst in recent memory. The team compiled a 21-34 overall record, while going 9-21 in the ACC, good for last place in the conference. Offensively, catcher Mike Rosenfeld was the only player to hit over .300.
On the mound, only three pitchers out of Duke’s 15 on the roster posted ERAs under 4.00. The season ended with the resignation of head coach Sean McNally after seven seasons, and star pitcher Marcus Stroman left for Major League Baseball as Duke’s first ever first-round draft pick.
“It was incredibly frustrating [watching from the sidelines],” Marconcini said. “You always want to be out there helping the team out, and it’s just hard to watch guys going out, working their butts off and not seeing good results.”
At the same time, Duke’s troubles only motivated Marconcini to work harder. After he got off his crutches, Marconcini began rehabilitation, steadily transitioning from a workout filled with slow movements and stretches to conditioning and running on the field. Marconcini was finally cleared to play 11 months after his initial injury, in early January 2013.
“It’s a great feeling for all the work you put into it, to finally get to be running and hitting and everything,” Marconcini said. “And then finally getting to step back on that field, in Florida that Friday night [to open the 2013 season]. I was a little nervous, but it was so good to be out there.”
Marconcini, however, was not completely back in shape by the start of the season. Both he and head coach Chris Pollard are not hesitant to admit that the redshirt sophomore needed to return to form before the Blue Devils could depend on him to consistently produce again.
“Sometimes there’s an expectation, even as a coach, when a guy gets cleared to play and he should be right back to where he was before the injury,” Pollard said. “But the reality is that it takes time.”
Despite his ongoing recovery, Marconcini’s raw power was as clear as ever. In Duke’s second game against the Gators, Marconcini mashed his first home run of the season. Now, one-third of the way through the season, Marconcini has five home runs, already one more than his entire freshman campaign.
“My year started slow, but it’s starting to pick up now,” Marconcini said. “I’m starting to get more and more comfortable at the plate, so hopefully better things will come as the year progresses. It’s just like freshman year again.”
On paper, Marconcini’s performance thus far is uncannily similar to 2011. Once again, Marconcini leads the Blue Devils in home runs, RBIs, runs scored and slugging percentage. But, in reality, Marconcini’s goal—and expectation—is to be better than the 19-year-old version of himself and to keep improving during his second chance at a sophomore season.
“He’s still working himself back to game shape, but you can tell that he’s playing with more confidence,” Pollard said. “Each day that goes by, Chris is more comfortable with what he can do. He’s just building up. He’s just getting back to where he expects he can be and beyond that.”
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