Trevor Oaks’ homer bright spot as he does away with frustrations

Trevor Oaks couldn’t believe it.

As he rounded the bases on May 29 in New Orleans, he made sure to find Oklahoma City manager Bill Haselman in the dugout. They exchanged bewildered glances.

Oaks had hit a home run.

It’s a rarity for an OKC pitcher, not having happened possibly 1982. It’s almost nearly impossible for Oaks.

“I suck at hitting, I’ll be honest,” Oaks said. “I take it seriously. I’ll try to work on it. Like, I’ve struck out nine out of 11 times, so I was trying to put the ball in play. The ball just hit my bat. It wasn’t anything I was doing in particular.”

As Oaks prepares to take the mound in the next few days in Iowa, he’s not giving his homer more importance than just a crazy moment of luck. But there’s the glimmer that it could be part of two promising starts on the mound.

Oaks had been frustrated coming into that start. But he found life on his sinker, which led to seven shutout innings to go along with his threerun blast.

“Better tempo,” Haselman said. “He’s pitching like last year when he was getting the ball and throwing. He’s just in a good rhythm right now, and he feels good.”

Oaks, who started opening day, said he put too much pressure on himself. He feels he could be called up to the majors this season if things work out.

He tried too hard to speed the process. That led to a four-start span in May in which he allowed four or more runs three times.

Oaks credited a conversation with OKC pitching coach Matt Herges while in Albuquerque for the turnaround. The past two starts he’s allowed two earned runs in 13 innings.

“I think I was pitching to make sure guys didn’t hit the ball instead of throwing the ball in the zone like I normally do and getting the ground balls,” Oaks said. “Now that I’ve got the focus back I feel way more in sync with my mechanics and also the conviction behind everything has been a lot better.”

Including just the second homer in his life.

He had homered in his first high school varsity at bat. But last Monday was even more special.

After the homer, Oaks even asked hitting coach Shawn Wooten if that earned some mentoring.

Wooten declined. Oaks laughed.

“I think the home run is totally an anomaly,” Oak said. “But I think the last two outings have been much better. I’m hoping to continue that moving forward.”