Former Maryland outfielder LaMonte Wade Jr. knew a change needed to be made after the conclusion of his second season in the major leagues.
Wade, who played for the Terps from 2013-2015, made his major league debut for the Minnesota Twins in 2019 after being drafted in the ninth round of the 2015 MLB Draft. His first two years in the majors were a struggle as the outfielder batted .211 in just 113 plate appearances. The following offseason, Wade was traded to the San Francisco Giants for pitcher Shaun Anderson.
That’s when Wade enlisted the help of Matt Swope, his college hitting coach and the new head coach of Maryland baseball. Wade and Swope worked together to tweak his swing, something Swope has done with plenty of players.
The work resulted in a breakout season for Wade in 2021 with the Giants. Wade slashed .253/.326/.482 while fans adopted the nickname “Late Night LaMonte” for his late-game heroics that season. Wade had six game-tying or go-ahead hits in the ninth inning or later that year.
“I owe Matt Swope almost everything,” Wade said on Glenn Clark Radio June 22. “… [I was] just really lost at the plate and all it took was reaching out back to Swope and he got me back on track. … We hit all offseason together. We were able to fix some things and just talk about the game. I attribute that whole [2022] season and my success right there to Matt Swope.”
Swope, a New Carrollton, Md., native, played for the Terps from 1999-2002. The four-year starting outfielder set multiple records in his time at Maryland, including the career runs mark that was broken the past season. Swope has been a part of the Terps coaching staff since 2013, spending the past two seasons as an associate head coach under Rob Vaughn.
“He’s like the perfect example of representation of Maryland, the University of Maryland, and what it means to play for the University of Maryland baseball team,” Wade said. “… He could be in the big leagues as a hitting coach right now, or in a pro system right now. But he turned it all down because he knew where he wants to be and that’s at the University of Maryland.”
Swope will be taking over a program that has reached the NCAA regionals six times in the past 10 years. Maryland hasn’t advanced to the super regionals since 2015, however. Maryland exited the Winston-Salem regional the past season after falling to No. 1 seed Wake Forest and No. 4 seed George Mason.
The Terps have seen an offensive explosion the past two years with Swope as associate head coach. The Terps smashed a program-record 137 home runs in 2022 and a school-record 552 RBIs and 578 runs in 2023. The career home run and RBI records were broken the past season as well.
“The program is only going up since I left,” Wade said. “They had another good run this year. They had another great team. They shattered all the records. … We’re definitely on the right path, and with Coach Swope at the head now, we’re only going to keep getting better and better.”
Wade believes that Swope’s passion for Maryland will lead to homegrown talent staying and playing for the Terps. That desire to keep homegrown talent aligns with the recent hires of Maryland natives Jimmy Jackson and John Poss to the coaching staff. Jackson will serve as pitching coach while Poss takes on the recruiting coordinator role.
“I feel like with the Swope hire, like all the homegrown talent is going to stay home,” Wade said. “He’s so passionate about the DMV, from the DMV, lives in the DMV, has his family there. I feel like that’s going to be a great thing for the University of Maryland as well.”
Wade himself is a Maryland native, growing up in Baltimore and attending St. Paul’s School in Brooklandville. This season, Wade is playing mostly first base and batting .283/.416/.465 for the Giants in the leadoff spot.
Despite Swope’s new role and added responsibilities, the coach still plans to train with his former player in the offseason.
“When I called Swope to congratulate him about the head coaching job the first thing he said was ‘Nothing changed, nothing changed,'” Wade said. “He’s a loyal man. And I’m just very excited for him. And now I’m just excited for the University of Maryland program.”
For more from Wade, listen to the full interview here:
Photo Credit: Chris Lyons/Maryland Terrapins