Well, to tell the truth

By Matt Weiner (@MattWeiner20) – BSB Beat Reporter

The Oakley shades shielding Hunter Dorraugh’s eyes puts a necessary distance between us as we sit across from each other on a wooden bench. 

This was not a typical interview where I ask about his recent success and he replies with an earnest stump speech of routine baseball cliches. 

In the coming moments, Dorraugh will be rendered defenseless. He’s no longer able to arm himself with white lies and half truths. 

On May 31, Dorraugh sat with Sacramento State head coach Reggie Christiansen for an end of the season exit meeting. 

“I was going in thinking what I needed to work on, what he [Christiansen] wanted me to make a jump in so I could be ready to go for next year,” Dorraugh said.

This was all done under the assumption that Dorraugh would be in fact returning the following year. 

“Going in I assumed I had a spot … the assistant coaches all told me I had a spot going into that so I was ready to go off and have a good summer,” Dorraugh said. 

Then the life-changing hammer fell out of the sky on Dorraugh’s head like an anvil in an old cartoon. 

“I sat down and it was the exact opposite conversation I was expecting. The head coach made the decision for me. He just said I need to find somewhere else to play because he felt I wasn’t good enough to play there.”

By 5 p.m. Dorraugh’s life as a Sacramento State Hornet was gone with the wind.

Intestine-twisting shock consumed Dorraugh and his inner circle.

When he called his parents, Shawn and Doreen, they didn’t believe him. 

“I also had calls from the assistant coaches on the staff who thought I said something or pissed him off in some way … it was a decision made by him and only him.”

A cyclical, tough end of the year conversation for Christiansen, but cold water clarity for Dorraugh that felt like a “slap in the face.”

One year later, and this raw and intense abandoning of trust between himself and Christiansen, is now a paradigm shift of positivity. 

San Jose State University took a chance on Dorraugh, offering him an opportunity and he cashed in, setting fire to record books through the long ball.

At one point, slugging a home run in six-straight games to kick off 2022 and is now tied for the SJSU single-season home run record with 15. 

Slashing .271/.410/1.018, his individual success correlates with the Spartans upping their win total from six last year to a whopping 27 in 2022 with three games left. 

Through the gift of hindsight, Dorraugh’s odyssey is one to be celebrated, remembered and a story worth sharing with a friend at a ball game. 

For Hunter’s father Shawn, this hindsight knowledge doesn’t come as any form of a surprise.

“It’s not that I blame Reggie [Christiansen] for anything, but I know what he didn’t know. This is what you get when you believe,” Shawn said. 

From the moment he got cut until he started building momentum as a Spartan, belief was a heavily relied upon friend. It was this metaphysical being plus a psychopathic work ethic that got Dorraugh through this season of character building. 

Part of the process of building character was understanding not to hide from the brutal truth that he was cut.

“It was weird … I never told anyone the truth,” Dorraugh said. 

Instead of telling it like it is, Dorraugh used vague work arounds to conceal the truth.

When family friends or relatives mentioned they were excited to watch him play next year, it was as if they were opening up a treasure chest of trauma and hurt.

For months upon months, it was easier to say that it was a “mutual decision” for him to leave. 

“I had to play the part like ‘I’m excited for you guys to come,’” Dorraugh said. “Eventually I got fed up with telling lies because at the end of the day no one is going to get better from it.”

During this time, it was easier to offer a white lie and change the subject to spend as little time thinking about it.

“I lied because I didn’t want any more attention on it,” Dorraugh said. 

Avoidance of admitting reality and being waterboarded with shame for a few months was rough, but it’s not where the story ends. This time period now serves as a lesson for Dorraugh and anyone who has found themselves unwilling to explain difficult situations. 

“The pain comes with the truth … you got to say the truth no matter how painful it is. As time has passed I should’ve said the truth a lot earlier,” Dorraugh said. 

With time, remarkable results and honesty, comes the release of a painful past.