This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2011, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

His own father is not even sure how this happened, how University of Utah first baseman C.J. Cron developed the steady personality that serves him so well in the everyday business of baseball.

Where it happened? That's traceable. Well, maybe not the exact location, among nearly a dozen towns where Chris Cron has managed minor-league baseball teams for most of his son's life. Yet the answer certainly could be found in those clubhouses C.J. visited at every level of the game from Colorado to North Carolina.

Along the way, the 6-foot-4, 230-pound Cron learned a powerful, efficient swing that makes him one of college baseball's best hitters. He also observed how minor-leaguers dealt with the stress of playing for their careers.

"There isn't a whole lot that gets him riled up," said Chris Cron, who's now managing Detroit's Double-A team in Erie, Pa. "I have no idea where he got his calm demeanor. He learned by osmosis. … He just knows things that it takes people a long time to figure out."

In the June 6 draft, Cron is projected as a late first-round pick. That's historic for a Ute player, but somehow not a distraction to him at the moment.

"I just know how to handle this kind of stuff," Cron said. "I just don't let it affect me."

So this is a story of an Arizona athlete who has thrived in Utah's spring climate and manages to focus on every pitch that's delivered his way, disregarding what's ahead of him this summer.

"You know it's in the front of his mind," his father said.

That makes his Ute coaches and teammates appreciate Cron even more.

"It's still all about our team," said Jo Jo Sharrar, Cron's roommate for three years. "He doesn't think about [the draft], doesn't talk about it, doesn't really boast about it at all."

Cron never even complains about the weather, which brings us to the natural question: What's this guy doing in Utah? Part of the answer is Cron was not a great high school player in Phoenix — at least not at the level of his younger brother, Kevin. A senior, Kevin Cron will be drafted high enough to have a difficult choice between pro ball and Texas Christian.

C.J. Cron was drafted only in the 44th round in 2009. He could have signed with Arizona State, but he was sufficiently interested in going away to college and concerned about playing time that Utah, coached by family friend Bill Kinneberg, became attractive to him.

"He fell into a gold mine," his father said.

As a catcher or first baseman, Cron has started nearly every game for three seasons. Cron's game is all about consistency, which makes any big moments almost indistinguishable. Certainly, his three hits as a freshman facing San Diego State's Stephen Strasburg, who would become the No. 1 overall draft pick a few weeks later, stamped Cron as a mature, confident player — "a professional hitter," by Kinneberg's description.

College pitchers treat him that way. There could be no better illustration than last weekend, when Utah trailed TCU 8-4 and loaded the bases in the ninth inning. The Horned Frogs intentionally walked Cron, bringing home a run but minimizing the damage.

Cron is aggressive, but not undisciplined. Of his 27 walks, 19 were intentional. Yet he has struck out only 18 times in 180 at-bats, remarkable for someone with 14 home runs. After a 4-for-4 game Tuesday against Utah Valley, Cron is batting .450 — ranking second nationally to Memphis' Chad Zurcher (.458), a singles hitter with no homers.

The challenges will be greater in pro baseball, but Cron's approach is unlikely to change.

"He's not cocky; he's not arrogant," Sharrar said. "He just plays the game the way it should be played. He's going to get far because of that."

kkragthorpe@sltrib.com Twitter: @tribkurt

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C.J. Cron's statistics

Year Games Avg. HR RBI

2009 59 .337 11 58

2010 49 .431 20 81

2011 44 .450 14 56 —

Utes in the draft

The only Ute ever drafted in the first three rounds is Stephen Fife, a pitcher taken by Boston in 2008. Here are the Ute position players drafted in the first 20 rounds over the past 20 years:

Year Player Pos. Rd. Team

2006 Ryan Khoury SS 12 Boston

2004 Matt Ciaramella OF 13 Boston

2002 Donnie Saba OF 17 Arizona

1998 John Summers 1B 13 San Francisco

1997 Casey Child OF 16 L.A. Angels

1991 Mike Edwards 3B 13 Texas What's left

Utah closes the regular season with games Thursday, Friday and Saturday against Alabama-Birmingham at Spring Mobile Ballpark (noon each day). The Utes are the No. 2 seed for next week's Mountain West Conference tournament in San Diego.