And he certainly isn’t as flashy as his friend and mentor, former Wright State star Seth Gray.
But as coach Alex Sogard will tell you, every team needs a Patrick Fultz, who is a three-year starter at third base because of his all-around tools and dependability, setting an example for younger players to try to emulate.
“You just know what you’re getting from Pat. He’s going to play good defense. At the end of the year, he’s going to be right around .300. He’s a good natural hitter. And he’s the same guy every day,” Sogard said.
“You wouldn’t know in the dugout after a game if he’s 0-for-4 or 4-for-4. There’s a lot of value to that because it’s such an emotional game. He’s really good in the clubhouse.”
And at the plate. In three games at Purdue Fort Wayne to end the regular season, he went 9 for 12 to hike his average to .306.
He batted .320 last season.
But he’s never been too stat-conscious.
If you want him to light up, talk about the Raiders’ three straight Horizon League regular-season titles.
“Sogard does a cool thing. Each guy, at the beginning of the year, picks what we call our one word. You pick one word that you’re going to hold close to you. It’s kind of your goal for the year,” the 6-foot, 200-pound junior said.
“My goal was simply to win. I talked to the guys and said, ‘I don’t care who we do it with or how we do it. I just want to win ball games.’ This game’s going to offer a lot of highs and lows (individually). I try not to ride that wave. As long as we’re winning, even if I’m not out there, that’s all that matters.”
Not obsessing about his play leaves room for Fultz to care about how others are doing.
“Sogard and I talked about taking more of a leadership role. We made it an emphasis to build a better culture, to get guys to buy in. We wanted to be more team-first,” said Fultz, who was a second-team all-league pick last year and made the all-freshman team in 2023.
“I’ve taken more of a role to bring guys together — a glue guy might be a good word for it.”
That’s how he was as a basketball player at Springfield Shawnee, setting the Braves’ career records for assists and steals.
“We get up and down a little bit here in the fall, and I will say, as much as I loved high school basketball — I had a ton of fun playing — I’m not super athletic and skilled. But I can definitely make plays for guys, which is kind of the role I have with our team,” he said.
Fultz, who plans to return for his senior year, can handle a bat, but fellow Shawnee alum Gray — who also played third base — was a masher. He batted .351 in his final season as a Raider in 2019 with 11 homers and 70 RBIs in 59 games.
A fourth-round draft pick by the Minnesota Twins, he’s out baseball now after a four-year stint in the minors.
“I have a great relationship with Seth. I just got invited to his wedding. He’s getting married this summer. My older brother (Drew) and Seth were best friends growing up. I had a batting cage in my yard. Seth was over all the time,” Fultz said.
“He’s just a really happy-go-lucky guy, doesn’t take himself too seriously.”
If not for Gray, Fultz probably wouldn’t have ended up at Wright State.
“For guys around Springfield, playing at the next level isn’t necessarily a guarantee. There’s not a huge pool of guys (to get direction from) about the college experience,” Fultz said.
“More than anything, Seth was kind of a North Star for me, someone I could go to for advice when it comes to recruiting.”
The Raider coaches didn’t have to put much effort into landing Fultz. Gray did most of the work for them.
“Ultimately, he was a huge help in getting my foot in the door here … and also getting me to buy into what this program has accomplished and what it will continue to accomplish,” Fultz said.
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