At Dos Pueblos High in Goleta, baseball coach George Hedricks needed no excuses to start freshman Mattias Di Maggio, considering last name of DiMaggio is one of the best baseball names in the history of the sport. Think of the legendary Joe DiMaggio.
Well, it turns out Mattias is pretty good and also a distant relative to Joe DiMaggio. He’s his great grandfather’s cousin.
As a player this season, Mattias has 34 hits, is batting .515 and has hit nine home runs. He’s also a left-handed pitcher with four saves so beware of him on the mound in the coming years. He’s 6 feet 3 and 191 pounds.
“The most impressive thing hitting is he has over 20 walks and one strikeout,” Hedricks said. “He’s a pretty physical kid who can hit to all fields.”
He also leads the team in stolen bases. His brother was a standout at Dos Pueblos and plays junior college baseball.
One college coach said, “He’s good good.”
Hedricks can’t wait to see Mattias develop over the next three years.
“He can beat you 100 different ways,” Hedricks said.
This is a daily look at the positive happenings in high school sports. To submit any news, please email eric.sondheimer@latimes.com