Haverhill's Billy Mottram is as surprised as anyone with his new-found power.
He's pleasantly surprised, after all, anything that helps get him another chance with a major league club is fine with him.
A 36th-round pick by the Chicago Cubs in 2007, Mottram, 24, was released the next spring. Now he's putting up some big numbers in his second season for the Florence (Ky.) Freedom of the independent Frontier League.
Although he enjoyed a fine rookie season with the Freedom last year, hitting .300 with 10 home runs and 53 RBIs in 82 games en route to All-Star honors, those numbers pale to this season's.
After 33 games, Mottram is hitting .310. More impressively, he leads the league in home runs with 14, is fourth in RBIs with 34 and third in runs scored with 30.
"I don't know what's going on (with the homers), but I'll take them," said Mottram, who had only four homers in 151 at-bats as a senior in college. "I've changed a few things with my swing, getting my hands back and not moving my head, and I worked out pretty hard over the winter, but I don't know if that's it."
His success at the plate is quite a contrast to how he fared his first and only year with the Cubs organization. He hit just .171 with Boise and .138 with Daytona. He went to spring training last year with a shoulder that need some rehab. Unfortunately, he was released shortly after it finally started feeling better.
Contacted by the Freedom, Mottram signed on — after a couple of weeks of reflection. He started hitting the ball more like he did when he was a standout third baseman at Dowling (N.Y.) College.
Of course, when Mottram left the Cubs' organization, he also went back to using the same batting form that had gotten him drafted in the first place.
"When I was with the Cubs, they tried to change my swing and I never felt comfortable with what they were trying to do," said Mottram, who isn't being cheated at the plate as evidenced by his 37 strikeouts in 35 games. "I tried to get back to the way things were before and I started hitting again."
The Cubs also had Mottram playing third base. That was the position he played at Dowling, but it's not where he expected to play as a professional.
"With the teams I talked to before the draft, most thought I was more suited for second base, because of the way I field and because third base is more of a power (hitting) position," said the 6-foot, 200-pound Mottram, who is off to a slow start in the field with 11 errors. "That does seem ironic now, but I still think of myself as more of a singles and doubles hitter."
Mottram's ultimate goal, of course, is to get picked up by another major league organization. That's always a long shot, but the Freedom has had four or five players picked up in the last couple of years and the Frontier League has a history of attracting major league interest.
"Obviously, that's what I want, but I try not to think about it," said Mottram. "I try to just go out and do my best every game."
But Josh Anderson, the Freedom's Director of Broadcasting and Media Relations, says that he'll be "surprised if someone doesn't pick him up the way he's playing."
Until that happens, Mottram is happy with playing for Florence, which is just across the river from Cincinnati and gets good fan support.
"We get two to three thousand fans a night (home average this season is 2,241), which is better than almost every other team, and they treat us really well," said Mottram. "It's a good place to play."
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