Rifkin Regains Eye for Hitting

When Aaron Rifkin tumbled into a long, agonizing slump at the start of the college baseball season, Cal State Fullerton’s coaches knew he would eventually snap out of it.

Rifkin was among the top hitters in the Big West last season, when he batted .378 and earned all-conference first-team honors as a designated hitter.

The year before, he batted .416 as a freshman at Chapman, and in two seasons at Etiwanda High, he batted .493 and .511.

Rifkin had only five hits in his next 32 at-bats after going three for five in the Titans’ season opener at Stanford. His average dipped to a season-low .216 after an 0-for-3 game against Pepperdine in late February.

Suddenly, Rifkin was struggling for answers.

His father, Howard, offered a suggestion: “Why don’t you get your eyes checked?”

Rifkin did, and learned that he had 20-30 vision in each eye, with an astigmatism in his right eye.

He started wearing contact lenses about a month ago, and said they’ve helped him see pitches better at night.

“The big difference is that I can see the spin on the curveball better, and I pick it up a lot quicker,” Rifkin said. “I had always thought my eyes were perfect, but I guess they weren’t.”

Rifkin recently switched to wearing the contacts only at night. “I wore them during the day for a while, but they seemed to irritate my eyes, so I decided to just wear them for night games for now,” he said.

The contacts have helped, but Rifkin maintains the biggest difference is a more relaxed approach at the plate.

Rifkin hammered out 19 hits in 45 at-bats during one recent stretch, raising his average to .327. He’s batting .314 heading into the Titans’ weekend series at home against Long Beach State beginning tonight.

Rifkin has five home runs and 11 RBIs in his last 12 games. He delivered the game-winning hit during Fullerton’s five-run, ninth-inning rally to beat USC, 5-4, on April 5.

“The big thing bothering me early in the season was that I was striking out so much,” Rifkin said. “I wouldn’t have felt as bad about the slump if I was hitting the ball hard. But I think I was pressing, trying to do too much.”

Titan Coach George Horton said the slow start hurt Rifkin’s confidence and magnified his problems.

“Aaron is very conscientious, and because he is such a good hitter, it really bothered him when he wasn’t doing as well as he has in the past,” Horton said. “We’ve been working with him on dealing with failure, and how to take a positive approach to things when that happens. We want him to be thinking about the next pitch, not the last one.”

Rifkin suffered through a slump late last season, too. He was six for 30 in the last nine regular-season games, and his average dropped from a high of .427. However, he came back to bat .346 during the NCAA playoffs, hitting three homers and driving in 11 runs in eight games.

Rifkin has been playing first base this season, instead of being the designated hitter, but he doesn’t think the position change has affected his hitting.

“I’ve always hit well before when I played in the field,” Rifkin said.

Horton said he has been especially pleased with Rifkin’s play at first. “It’s been outstanding,” Horton said. “In fact, I never dreamed he would be as good there as he has been.”

Horton said he has encouraged Rifkin to become more of a team leader.

“I think he’s taken some big steps forward,” Horton said. “And now he seems to be back on track with his hitting.”