Cam Devanney enjoying huge turnaround season in Biloxi

BILOXI, Miss. (WLOX) - Last year didn’t go as Cam Devanney had hoped. But jumping to Double-A straight from rookie ball, growing pains can be expected.

“Initially, I struggled real bad. I think it took a lot of confidence in myself and reassuring myself that this is a huge jump,” he said. “I couldn’t get too down on myself given the situation.”

Fast forward a year later, and Devanney is on a roll. He tied a franchise-record 15-game hitting streak after Wednesday’s win, and has a 21-game on-base streak.

His batting average is over .280, and is top-three on the team in most hitting categories. All after an important off-season, when Devanney made some tweaks to his swing, but really dedicated himself to getting in the right headspace.

“There were a couple mechanical changes where I place my hands and my preset before I swing. A lot of it, actually has been mental,” he said. “Whether that be visualizing success, trying to do that a little bit every day. Trying to feel like I’ve done the work already before I get in the box.”

After opening the season hitting .154 through eight games, Devanney was able to stay upbeat. He knew he was making good contact, the ball just wasn’t finding the gaps. But hey, that’s just the nature of the game.

“I feel like that’s the thing with baseball, and being a good hitter, you have to control the things you can control,” he said. “Typically if I hit a ball hard or put a good swing on a pitch I want to swing at, I try to be happy with that, and then a lot of it is just luck when it comes to hits. If I’m hitting it hard and swinging at the right pitches, I’m usually pretty happy with myself.”

There’s a calmness to Cam’s confidence. So even with his dominant month of June, he’s still taking it one pitch at a time.

“Compared to last year, I’ve made a lot of strides in terms of my mental side, and little things like looking for the right pitches,” he said. “I’ve done this long enough that you realize it’s a really long season, you can’t live off past success. Every day, you have to come back and still have that same mentality. Foot on the gas, and try to succeed today.”

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