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At first glance, you might think J.D. Payne is one tough dude.
“He looks like a grizzly bear,” said C of O head baseball coach Byron Richardson. “He looks like someone you wouldn’t want to meet after dark.”
There’s no doubt, the Bobcat senior 1st baseman is tough, but beneath that big beard and 255 pound muscular frame he’s just a great guy at heart.
“We call him our gentile giant,” said Richardson.
“He’s definitely got a big heart and he’s a good friend, said teammate Jacob Karlson, who’s been friends with Payne since their time playing together at Nixa.
And while his look may intimidate opposing pitchers…
“Once they get to know me and start talking to me they realize I’m not really mean,” said Payne. “First impressions go a little awkward for me.”
Payne is having a standout senior season, hitting .340 and driving in 36 runs (top 3 on the team). And he’s doing that despite a couple of major life changes; marriage to his wife Jade and the birth of the couple’s first child, Brix Gregor Neal Payne back in late February.
“When my hearts here, my hearts also at home now,” said Payne prior to Friday’s double header sweep of Central Christian College. “Once you have him (Brix) your priorities change quite a bit, instantly over night.”
In addition to his rigorous college schedule, marriage, fatherhood and of course baseball, Payne also works in the “Hard Work U” daycare center; a good fit for the new dad.
“It’s weird how these little small kids take to him so easy, because I think I’d be scared to go up to a guy like that, but a lot of the younger girls in his class really take to him, they love him,” said J.D.’s wife Jade.
“Those little kids love him, his teammates love him, anyone who knows JD loves him,” said Richardson. He’s just the most-kind person I think I know.”
Payne has earned the nickname “big bruiser” among his teammates, but it turns out he wouldn’t hurt a fly…literally.
“He won’t hurt a bug or anything,” said Richardson. “We had a mouse in our indoor one day and the kids were after it with a bat and he liked to come unglued, saying we’re not going to kill a mouse. He’s that guy, that’s the way he is, a protector of all.”
Eventually the Payne’s would like to have more kids, but for now they’ll focus all their attention on Brix, and what J.D. and the Bobcats hope is a long playoff run as they enter next week’s A.I.I. Conference tournament on a 12-game winning streak.
