By Marcus D. Smith–
Last year, the Citrus Heights City Council proclaimed Feb. 25, 2020, as Hogan Weaver Day, in recognition of athletic accomplishments by Hogan Weaver, who graduated last year from San Juan High School.
Although previously receiving recognition during the June 13, 2019 City Council meeting, this year was the first chance the honor was actualized by family, friends, and fans. The date of recognition was chosen to correspond with his birthday, which falls on Feb. 25.
The Sentinel had an opportunity to catch up with Weaver this week to discuss his playing days and plans for the future.
The former Spartan graduated in 2019 with an offer to play at Sonoma State University. Weaver was a standout student-athlete at San Juan High School. He graduated with a 3.5 GPA that year. On the diamond, he played all four years of varsity and overall smashed 17 homers and added 129 RBIs, according to MaxPreps.com.
As a pitcher, he compiled an ERA of 1.77 and led the team to 25 wins.
“Now just being able to be recognized for that after playing with all these different guys, all the different coaches…from little league to high school, it’s just great to be recognized for all [of] this,” Weaver said.
In his stint at San Juan High School, he was awarded a plethora of honors, like being named the Sierra Delta League All-League team for all four years. He was named Most Valuable Player for two years and named to the Sacramento Bee’s All-Metro Team for three years. He was also nominated for the River Cats All-City Team for two years.
Councilman Bret Daniels, in reading from an official proclamation during last year’s council meeting, said the city wanted to recognize Hogan for “a phenomenal varsity baseball career at San Juan High School.”
Weaver credits his some of his prior coaches, exclusively naming Dustin Rickey, as an individual that played a vital role to his growth and development in the game of baseball. Rickey was Weaver’s pitching coach since tee-ball.
Now at Sonoma State, Weaver said he is redshirting to get in shape and come out next year ready to dominate the scenes.
“I’ve been working harder and harder, getting in with our strength and conditioning coach,” said Weaver. “Just getting to the cage on extra time, trying to get as many reps as I possibly could.”
Weaver is majoring in kinesiology and wants to pursue sports medicine or physical therapy and hopes to stay within the sport of baseball. He’s hoping to get drafted to Major League Baseball (MLB) and play for as long as he can.
Weaver also enjoys helping in his community and working with younger athletes in little league to help them develop their skills and harness their potential through coaching or motivational dialogue. He was also known to umpire baseball games during the spring and summer in the Sunrise Little League.
Coaching is also in his plans, taking after his father. He looks to coach little league for his son.
