Most of the youthful Chattanooga Lookouts this season have struggled in their adjustment to Double-A pitching.
Not Dalton Hicks.
The 6-foot-5, 247-pound first baseman hit a team-high .333 in April, and he also led the Lookouts in hits (22), walks (12) and total bases (38). Hicks shared the team lead in RBIs with 11.
"I've been off to a hot start, but anything can change," Hicks said. "It's still early. Hopefully I can stay close to this, but I try to stay away from looking at numbers."
Hicks has been the most consistent producer on a Lookouts team that is loaded with prospects but has been mostly erratic in an 11-11 start following Saturday night's 6-3 win over Jacksonville at AT&T Field. Touted center fielder Byron Buxton tripled twice and doubled in a 3-for-5 evening against the Suns that raised his season average to .284.
A 25-year-old from Altamonte Springs, Fla., Hicks was a 17th-round selection of the Minnesota Twins in 2012 and has yet to experience a bad year professionally. His start this season has not surprised Lookouts manager Doug Mientkiewicz, who had Hicks last season at Fort Myers in the Florida State League.
In 118 games a year ago with the Miracle, Hicks hit .262 with 76 RBIs.
"If you're hitting .260, .270 or .280 in the Florida State League, you can hit," Mientkiewicz said. "The year before, when he played in the Midwest League and the Florida State League, he hit a ton of RBIs. When you hit 110 RBIs in 130 or 140 games, you're doing something. He hangs in there tough against left-handed pitchers. He sprays the ball around the field. He's got pull power.
"He doesn't get a lot of hype and as many accolades as he deserves compared to the other guys he's around, but he's one of our better hitters in our system."
After getting drafted, Hicks played 31 games with Elizabethton (Tenn.) in Rookie ball, hitting .270 with 25 RBIs. He then hit a combined .289 in 131 games in 2013 with Cedar Rapids (Iowa) and Fort Myers, with his 110 RBIs leading the Twins organization.
Playing first base is a perk for Hicks, given that his manager was the American League Gold Glove first baseman with the Twins in 2001.
"When you've got a guy like Doug, you've got to take advantage of it," Hicks said. "I try to pick his brain the best I can, and it's nice to have someone like him that I can go to when I have questions."
Hicks has gone by "Dalton" and "D.J." in his pro career. He figures "Dalton" is easier this year since the Lookouts have pitchers D.J. Baxendale and D.J. Johnson.
Whatever he's called, Hicks just wants to keep a good start going, as do those around him.
"He's been the same guy all along since we've signed him," Mientkiewicz said. "Numbers can be misleading, because he hit a lot of balls early last year that were caught. He's done some of that this year, too, but the difference is that he's had a clear head about it. Early numbers are the worst thing these kids can look at, and he's learned to keep his approach and his daily work the same."
Said catcher Stuart Turner: "I played with him all last year and heard about his numbers the year before. To me, he's as consistent as any guy on our team. He goes out and puts in his work, and he's just a guy you like to see succeed. He is a good teammate and a good buddy."
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.