Matt Skipper is a high-flying Bomber

With the odds of making the major leagues stacked against them, it’s only logical that every collegiate baseball player have a backup plan.

For Sedalia Bomber Matt Skipper, his career path away from the diamond suits his 6-foot-9, 235-pound frame.

“I’m majoring in Homeland Security,” the Embry-Riddle University product said. “I want to work on a boat somewhere. I’m 65 hours away from getting my Boatmasters capital license on a boat for a 110-foot vessel. Hopefully that leads to either DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration), the (U.S.) Coast Guard, working drug trafficking or ultimately, going back to San Diego to work on a fishing boat.”

 The 21-year-old, however, may not see life on the ocean waters if his bat continues to produce at this rate.

Entering tonight’s road contest against Joplin, Skipper leads the Bombers in nearly every offensive category.

Sporting a Ty-Cobb-esque .391 average in 32 games, which trails only Nevada’s Pete Barrows for the league lead, Skipper leads the team in RBIs (32), runs (28), extra-base hits (14), walks (23), hit by pitches (six), on-base percentage (.518), slugging (.600) and on-base plus slugging (1.118).

The Ruthian numbers deserve further mention considering the first baseman’s recent struggles with injuries.

Skipper, who is also highly regarded as a pitching prospect, had Tommy John surgery on his right elbow in September. Shelved for the entire spring, he first picked up a bat in February. From then on he dedicated himself to the batting cages, gearing up for his summer in Sedalia.

Naturally, opposing pitchers wanted to test him out of the gates.

“Coming in that first week, it was like pitchers said, ‘This kid was hurt. Let’s see what he can do.’ I was ready to play and I started off well,” Skipper said.

In his first week, Skipper lit the Missouri-Iowa-Nebraska-Kansas league on fire. Over the first seven games, the man teammates call “Big Skip” went 17 for 30 with four home runs, 18 RBIs and 12 runs scored.

The hot streak didn’t go unnoticed by his teammates and coaches, who were, and still are, in sheer awe of his talents at the dish.

Bombers manager Jud Kindle calls him a “physical specimen.” Teammates Mike Pritchard, who plays for the University of Nebraska, says he hasn’t seen a hitter like that in a while, and Dylan Mays, a former all-state first baseman for the Smith-Cotton Tigers who now plays for Mineral Area College, says “he’s an on-base machine.”

Opposing pitchers eventually caught on that they’d have to tread lightly around the monstrous first baseman. That meant no more belt-high fastballs and “meaty” pitches to hit.

“After that first week, my mentality at the plate had to change,” Skipper said. “And I struggled for a little bit. It took a little bit to get my mindset right. I said, ‘OK, I’m not going to get that fastball down the middle of the plate.’

“It’s really helped mentally being able to come in and learn how to hit again. It’s not just here’s a fastball, hit it 400 feet. It’s here’s a breaking ball that I have to learn to hit the other way.”

And boy has he ever. Despite being walked 23 times and hit by a pitch on six occasions, Skipper has logged 13 multi-hit games and reached base safely in 31 of the 32 games he’s played.

“He’s been consistent all year long,” Kindle said. “He really doesn’t slump. He just consistently gets his hits, drives in runs and does a great job offensively. He’s our biggest bat.”

Trailing the Nevada Griffons by a half-game in the South Division race with only four games to play, the Bombers aren’t assured of a spot in the MINK League championship or a trip to the prestigious National Baseball Congress.

But regardless of Sedalia’s postseason success, Skipper has a lot to look forward in his collegiate career.

Just a junior after redshirting in 2011, Skipper will return to Daytona Beach, Fla., in a dual role as a potential staff ace and first baseman.

“I’ll be doing both,” Skipper said. That’s what was told to me in my exit meeting. They knew I was going to play summer ball to get some at-bats and some experience and just get back into a flow of things, but they also expect me to be their No. 1 on the mound.

“Preferably I’d rather play first base but I know I have to pitch too. That means I’m going to give it everything I got on the mound as well.”

And he’s hoping that attitude and versatility will draw the eye of Major League scouts.

“I just want an opportunity regardless,” Skipper said. Whether it’s on the mound or whether it’s hitting, I just want to advance to the next level.”

If not, at least he and his sea legs have a career to fall back on.