Arizona State baseball commit Dante Turgeon’s mental game matches his on-field play
QUEEN CREEK, Ariz. (BVM) – Positive affirmations, goals, daily tasks and more.
That’s what’s on the mind of Dante Turgeon when he wakes up, so he writes it all down. The Benjamin Franklin High School senior begins every morning, even gamedays, with a journal entry into a composition notebook. It helps one of the best high school baseball players in Arizona with the mental side of his elite game.
“Something that’s a really big part of baseball especially is the mental side of the game,” Turgeon said. “I like to write goals for the day and push myself to reach those goals every day to get 1% better. In the morning, I set my goals and then at night, I write about what went positive during my workouts and practice.”
Turgeon picked the idea up last summer at the 2021 New Balance Baseball Future Stars Series National Combine from Jeremy Booth, the president of baseball operations for the event. Booth used a similar notebook that he called a “hitter’s log” during his playing days where he would document the pitches thrown his way so that the next time he saw a certain pitcher, he would have a great idea of their pitching pattern.
Turgeon adopted this method, tailored it to his own needs and has seen it pay off.
“Especially during high school, it helped a little bit with seeing the same guys and then I just added the daily journal just to set goals and get better every day,” Turgeon said.
After batting .500 with 36 hits, eight home runs (second-most in the state behind Wes Kath who was selected by the Chicago White Sox in the second round of the 2021 MLB Draft) and 22 RBIs as a junior, Turgeon improved in nearly every statistical category during his senior campaign.
His batting average jumped to .615, he notched 12 more hits (48), knocked in 10 more runs (32) and once again hit eight dingers. The 6-foot-3, 210-pound senior even stole 20 bases after stealing a combined four bases through his first three seasons of high school. Although the Chargers’ season ended with an early playoff exit at the hands of Thatcher on Tuesday, Turgeon made the most of his final moments at the high school level.
He went 2-for-3 with two home runs, three RBIs and two intentional walks in the 11-10, season-ending loss, his second multi-home run game of the season.
Last HS Varsity game for @DanteT_2022
Why shouldn't his last 2 swings be bombs 🤣
Finished season .615avg -1.879ops -48hits -28xbh -8HR, and 20SB… who said big guys can't 🏃♀️ 😁
What a ride! Proud of him! @ftrstarsseries @fss_southwest @_JeremyBooth @bsbscout @nextlevelbb pic.twitter.com/v234RSiyMq— AZbaseball_life (@AzbaseballL) May 4, 2022
But one week in late April is the best evidence of Turgeon’s special senior season and incredible talent. While the Chargers went 3-0, he went 10-for-10 with three doubles, a pair of home runs, seven RBIs, 10 runs scored and hit safely in 12 consecutive at-bats. Despite the strong finish to the season, sky-high expectations following his junior campaign led to some early-season disappointment for Turgeon.
“This kind of plays into the mental side, I was kind of getting down on myself a little bit and being a little too hard on myself because I wasn’t reaching the expectations that I had, but they were still great numbers,” Turgeon said.
It’s easy for an elite athlete to sometimes get too wrapped up in their personal development, but sometimes all it takes is a moment of clarity to center things. Turgeon had one of those moments on his Senior Night, and it’s a night that no one involved will ever forget.
Benjamin Franklin hosted Coolidge on April 21 and one of the Bears’ players, Devin Mathis, has autism. At the plate meeting before the game, Coolidge’s head coach introduced an idea to give Mathis a special moment, and the Chargers made it happen.
Last night was my son @DanteT_2022 Senior night..he hit his 6 💣 of season. Proud of him…. but what I want to share instead of his video is a "moment" the game gave us ALL last night. If you were on field or in stands, it was special! Watch video, and I explain in follow thread pic.twitter.com/8iutjY1V0r
— AZbaseball_life (@AzbaseballL) April 22, 2022
“Our coach had the idea to allow him to get this base hit and inside the park home run so it was really awesome,” Turgeon said. “It was really awesome just to see everyone’s reaction, especially his reaction to it. It was really great and a memory that’ll last forever; something that’ll never be forgotten.”
Now that Turgeon’s high school baseball chapter is complete, he’ll turn the page and continue the trek toward his dreams.
The journey will keep him close to home as he committed to Arizona State in October. Turgeon said the Sun Devils have been his “No. 1” since he started playing baseball at 3 years old.
“They’ve been my dream school, it’s local and it’s nicknamed MLBU because of how many players come out of Arizona State and go to the pros,” Turgeon said. “It’s just an amazing place to be and it’s close to home; it is home. It was really just an immediate ‘yes’ answer when they offered me because I knew that’s where I wanted to be.”
One hundred and thirteen former Sun Devils have made it to the majors with the likes of Reggie Jackson, Barry Bonds, Dustin Pedroia and others headlining the impressive lineage. Turgeon hopes to follow in their footsteps and his combination of size, skill, work ethic and mental toughness makes that reality likely. In fact, Turgeon could hear his name called as early as July’s 2022 MLB Draft.
The future Sun Devil said he has a pretty busy summer ahead of him with a lot of pre-draft events so his focus has shifted towards that. Now, instead of daily entry journals about how he can be the best Charger possible, Turgeon’s composition notebook will be filled with goals and tasks that’ll make him the best Sun Devil, and pro, he can be.
“That would be an amazing experience; a dream come true really,” Turgeon said of possibly hearing his name called at the MLB Draft. “Now that the season is over, the draft is the goal so I’m going to be working towards that every day. I’ll continue hitting the gym, working on my speed and agility and then go to these pre-draft workouts to show coaches my talents, my abilities and hopefully get my name called.”