“Hardest-nosed player I’ve ever played with. No doubt. Toughest kid I’ve ever coached,” said assistant baseball coach Nick Black.
“One adjective for A.J.: Quiet,” said head coach Gene Baker.
They’re both talking about A.J. McCauley, a senior business major at Guilford and star baseball player.
They’re both right.
You’d never guess from his slow smile and murmuring voice that A.J. McCauley boasted a .420 batting average last season, a 20 game hitting streak, and played in the prestigious invite-only Cape Cod Baseball League this past summer.
“I just like to hang out, play cards, watch T.V. Not really too much with the going to Guilford parties, I just kinda keep to myself,” said McCauley about how he enjoys his free time. “Even when I was in high school, I mainly stayed with a small group of friends.”
His teammates value his friendship.
“He’s a great ballplayer, great friend, and he’ll do anything for you. He’s going to be missed when we graduate this year,” said teammate Michael Idol.
Besides being a, talented ballplayer and loyal friend, McCauley dedicates himself to his team.
“He’s the guy that’s looked to by other players, not really as a coach, but he’s sort of set above by everybody else. That’s because of what he’s done here for three years, what he can do his fourth year, what he may do after that. It’s also because of his work ethic; he just comes out here and works hard,” said Baker.
“A.J. was brought up in a tough, competitive environment,” said Baker, “He and his dad are like peanut butter and jelly; they’re really close.”
Speaking about how McCauley has overcome everything from adjusting to school to a recent torn cartilage in his knee, Baker said, “Whatever it is, he just gets it done. I credit his dad for that.”
Baker isn’t the only one who believes McCauley’s father helped form his work ethic.
“My brother and dad were best friends, always,” said McCauley’s younger sister Kelly, a high school senior.
“He was always committed to whatever A.J. wanted to be when he got older. He brought him up to be really hardworking.”
It’s not surprising that A.J. learned dedication and competition from his father. His father manages, among other boxers, the former lightweight champion of the world Paul Spadafora.
A smile plays crosses his face when McCauley talks about his family.
“It was really me and my dad. It was kinda tough growing up with two sisters, ’cause when I was younger, well, my older sister is five years older than me, and she’d pick on me a little bit. And then my younger sister, she’s five years younger than me, so I was always getting in trouble if me and her got in an argument, I was always the one that was wrong.”
Perhaps his close tie to his family is the reason he says the hardest thing he’s dealt with at Guilford was the transition to here from Pittsburgh.
“I’d never been any further south than Maryland before I came down here, so that was something to get used to,” McCauley said.
In the end, though, it comes back to the game he has been playing since he was seven.
“Why do I play baseball? Because I love it. It’s what I like to do.