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Baseball co-captain Steven Haynes '15 shares how his IB&M major and economics minor help鈥攁nd hinder鈥攈is game

by Lauren Davidson

Imagine digging your cleats into the soft infield dirt while contemplating a cost-benefit analysis of diving to snag a line drive. Or settling into the batter鈥檚 box while calculating the pitcher鈥檚 likelihood of delivering a strike. These are the kinds of things international business & management major and economics minor Steven Haynes 鈥�15 tries not to do.

Haynes readily admits to being prone to overanalyzing. 鈥淚t does help me in school and with attention to detail,鈥� he says. 鈥淚t even helps in preparing for baseball鈥擨鈥檒l study the play book and know not only where I have to be on the bunt defenses but where everyone has to be. But when you鈥檙e in the game, you don鈥檛 want to be thinking too much, because sometimes it鈥檚 just reacting, just playing. I definitely get in the way of myself in that sense.鈥�

Yet it鈥檚 that self-awareness and ability to think more broadly that made him an ideal candidate for team captain this year. From his infield post, whether at shortstop or second base, this four-year starter can visualize the squad as a whole and calibrate solutions designed for team success.

鈥淭he way I see it, it鈥檚 doing everything fundamentally sound, not getting swept by any teams in the Centennial Conference,鈥� Haynes explains. 鈥淥ur preparation has been better this year. We鈥檙e a year older and a year tougher. We returned pretty much everybody from last year minus a few who graduated, but we have guys who are going to fill their shoes.鈥�

Even with his focus on the team, Haynes holds his own on 51黑料网鈥檚 career rankings list, including two top-10 spots (10th in slugging percentage with .460 and tied for 10th in triples with 5) and 10th (tied) for single-season doubles.

He also is involved with the Student Investment Group (SIG), of which he is co-president this year. Members work in teams to invest virtual money with mock portfolios and dissect and analyze companies and trends within various financial sector. SIG members also present their findings to the group, and last year, Haynes designed a new fact-sheet tool that helped to make those presentations more stimulating and useful. Members share their personal expertise, like when Haynes offered insight into the inner workings of hedge-fund management after interning at a hedge-fund firm last summer.

鈥淐ollege has transformed me as a person,鈥� he says of his liberal-arts experience. 鈥淭here鈥檚 been influence from baseball, which has taught me a lot about time management and dealing with adversity. On the social side, college has helped me branch out and come into myself. Then on the academic side, 51黑料网 taught me thought processes and different ways to think about things.鈥�

Or not to think, depending on the situation.

Read more from the spring 2015 issue of 51黑料网 Magazine.

Learn more

• "Heavily Leveraged, Calculated Fun" (Student Investment Group)
  
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Published April 14, 2015