It’s hard to specifically label a position for West Virginia’s Armani Guzman. The do-it-all defender can play almost anywhere on the diamond and that consistency and desire to play has helped him produce recently.
As West Virginia has gone on a seven-game winning streak over the last two weeks, a quiet part of their success has been Armani Guzman. Guzman, who has started 18 of WVU’s 31 games this season, has started each of those seven and it’s paying off for the Mountaineers.
One of Guzman’s strengths as a player is his athleticism and speed, two things that have helped pave the way for him to move all over the field. Originally an infielder, Guzman wanted to find a way to play this season for WVU, and that has meant, he is playing the outfield.
“Before the last three weeks, Guzman wasn’t an everyday player. So, he was basically finding an opportunity to get in the lineup by being extremely versatile. And so, got to commend the guy who’s just willing to do anything and outwork people because when that opportunity came up, I’ll be a second baseman, I’ll be a third baseman, I’ll be an outfielder… He just wanted to get in there, so he’s trying to make himself good at everything,” West Virginia head coach Steve Sabins said.
After being inserted into the lineup, Guzman has flashed defensively, robbing home runs and making acrobatic catches, but his offense has caught up to his defense.
Over the last seven games, Guzman is hitting .292 with nine RBIs, seven runs scored, and three stolen bases.
“There’s been some games when he wasn’t out there that it was noticeable. And if you watch closely, Armani affects the game positively almost every game, whether it’s robbing a home run and throwing a guy out at first or even late in [game two versus Utah], their best hitter, robbing that foul ball over the fence, stealing a base. He impacts the game so much without getting a hit,” Sabins said.
Now that he’s gotten more hits recently, that has added to the impact of him being in the West Virginia lineup.
“When he does get a few knocks, it’s like, wow, that’s the best player on the field. So, he’s always two or three hits away from being clearly the best player on the field because he’s the best runner, and he covers the most ground defensively, and he gets some of the best reads in the outfield, and his jumps on the bases are insane. So, very, very, dynamic player that’s turning into a star,” Sabins said.
Part of the development for Guzman as a sophomore had as much to do with what he does off the field as it does with what he does on it. Sabins said Guzman is one of the smartest players on his team, allowing him to adapt to the game in different roles.
“The cool part about Guzman that people don’t know quite yet is he is one of the baseball IQ guys on our team,” Sabins said.
Sabins said when they’re reviewing film as a team, Guzman always has an answer, and it’s almost always the correct answer.
“Whenever you ask Guzman a question about anything, why did you do this, or why should we do that, or what’s the team doing, Guzman has an answer,” Sabins said.
