Ezra McNaughton is the kind of player every team dreams of having. The sophomore infielder from Mesa, Arizona, is soft-spoken, kind-hearted, and a returned missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. But once he steps into the left side of the batter's box, something shifts. At 5-foot-11 and 200 pounds, he transforms into a disciplined bully with a bat—a gentle giant who loves to hit.

"I'm not trying to hit a home run," McNaughton says with characteristic humility. "I just want to put the bat on the ball and move it forward."

But don't let that modesty fool you. McNaughton has a singular focus at the plate: hitting a line drive straight back at the pitcher. Every single time.

"He tries to hit a line drive off the pitcher no matter what pitch is being thrown," says BYU pitching coach Brycen Campbell. "In his head, he's thinking 'line drive off the pitcher.'"

That approach is easier said than done. Hitting a line drive requires perfect balance and rhythm—two things that don't come naturally to every player. "If you are not on time, it doesn't matter how good your swing is," McNaughton explains.

Timing and repetition are the secret ingredients, and they're something McNaughton didn't get much of during his freshman season. But a summer stint in the Appalachian League in Greenville, Tennessee, changed everything. "It helped me get in the groove of baseball," he says.

The results have been nothing short of spectacular. McNaughton currently leads the Cougars (25-25, 13-14 in conference play) in batting average (.346), hits (72), home runs (14), doubles (14), and RBIs (48)—all while striking out fewer times (32) than any other starter in the lineup.

"He does such a good job of staying on top of the baseball," Campbell notes. "Hitting line drives to shortstop and the opposite field builds his confidence. It helps him stay on more pitches. He's more a hitter, not just a straight power hitter."

For the McNaughton family, hitting is more than a skill—it's a legacy. Ezra's father, Troy, played for BYU from 1994-95 and again in 1998 before being drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals. His uncle, Sean McNaughton, starred for the Cougars from 2005-2010 and was drafted by the Chicago Cubs.

"We love hitting," Troy McNaughton says. "We spent so much time in the batting cage growing up. It's fun to us. It's not work. We are thick and strong. We've been blessed with some pop."

That pop is now on full display in Provo, where Ezra McNaughton is carving out his own chapter in the family baseball story—one line drive at a time.