A Shortstop Long on Talent

Shortstop Chris Paul prepares himself during Laguna’s season and home opener against Cerritos on March 5. Breakers won 5-1. Photo by Robert Campbell Almost anyone who follows Laguna high school sports will tell you that junior Chris Paul is a natural. Whether he’s draining a jumper, snagging a long pass or driving one into the gap, Paul has an uncanny ability to make the spectacular look ordinary.

From the moment Paul’s father, a high school volleyball and soccer player, and his mother, a tennis player and distance runner, signed him up for T-ball, the four-year-old began to develop the swing he would later use to drive in runs as starting shortstop for the Breakers.

Even though Paul has been swinging a bat for 13 years now, he knows that a hitter will often spend an entire career perfecting his art. “Hitting’s pretty challenging,” he said, “but that’s what makes it fun.”

Between T-ball and today, Paul rose through the ranks of Little League and club. He also spent several summers attending Mark Cresse School of Baseball, where he met Coach Jeff Sears, who is now the camp’s executive director and head coach of the Break- ers. Sears saw in a young Paul a self-motivating competitive spirit. “He used to be so hard on himself,” Sears said.

Although age hasn’t dampened Paul’s competitive drive, he has learned to relax and let the game come to him. “He knows the process now,” Sears said. “Once you learn the process, then all of the sudden things start to slow down a little bit for you.”

In life, things rarely slow down for Paul. If he’s not playing one sport or training for the next, he’s either studying to keep up his GPA or performing community service. Of course, even when he’s giving back to the community, he has sports on his mind.

Paul volunteers with Dana Point-based Sports Gift, which distributes donated sports equipment to underprivileged children around the world and promotes sports-related community service among local youth.

While baseball is Paul’s first love, his gridiron accomplishments are no less dazzling than his deeds on the diamond. He set Laguna single-season and career records for touchdown catches while leading the Breakers to a title and 4-0 record in Orange Coast league play this past season. He was named league MVP and earned all CIF honors for the second straight year in the process.

By the time he hangs up his cleats, he will probably own every receiving record in Laguna history. Not bad for a baseball player who had never worn shoulder pads and a helmet until high school.

Paul also has the makings of a pretty good basketball player. As a sophomore, he averaged nearly five points a game coming off the bench for the varsity team. He scored 16 and 10 points in backto back games against Estancia and Costa Mesa for a Breakers team that went undefeated in league play last year.

He didn’t play hoops this year, choosing instead to spend the time working out in preparation for baseball season. “Once he got in the weight room, the ball started jumping off his bat a little bit,” Sears said.

Even before he started strength training, Paul had been known to muscle up on a pitch from time to time. He led the Breakers in homers last year and got his first this year in the team’s third game. “I don’t call myself a power hitter,” he said. “I’m more of an average guy, but if it happens, I’ll take it.”

As a 160 lb freshman, Paul got his first homer in front of his family and friends at Skipper Carrillo Field. “I was kind of in a slump and wasn’t hitting the ball that well,” he said, recalling the moment. “I just got a pitch, and I hit it pretty well. It was very exciting for me.”

Although his talents are formidable, Paul knows he needs to improve every aspect of his game if he wants to realize his dream of playing for a top Division I college program. So far he has garnered interest from UCI, Stanford, Cal, UCLA and Oregon. “I need to progress everywhere,” he said, “but I feel like overall I have a pretty good skill set.”

Those skills enabled him to hit .318 his rookie season while driving in 14 runs. Last year as a sophomore, he helped the Breakers reach the CIF post season tournament for only the second time since 1963, leading all starters in seven offensive categories: average (.440), RBI (32) doubles (13) triples (2) homers (5) slugging percentage (.821) and on-base percentage (.489). In addition, he was second in total hits (37) and third in runs scored (24). Paul was rewarded for his gaudy numbers when he was named league MVP and first team all CIF.

Paul said that with each baseball season, “I keep setting higher goals for myself and pushing myself to get better.” Last year’s goal? To be the best player in the league. Mission accomplished.

So how does he hope to top that? “A league title would be great,” he said, knowing that it has been nearly half a century since a Laguna baseball team has hoisted a banner. “That would be pretty big for us.”