Mr. Energy

Stephen Ventimilia doesn’t mind being called irritating.

After all, it’s his job.

The University of Hawaii freshman is the kind of player who drives opposing pitchers crazy with his approach at the plate.

Because of it, Ventimilia has blossomed into the type of leadoff hitter the Rainbows haven’t seen in a long time.

Heading into tonight’s game against Fresno State, Ventimilia ranks 12th in the country with 27 walks. He’s also tied for tops in the Western Athletic Conference with eight stolen bases and leads the Rainbows with a .323 average and .465 on-base percentage.

“He brings an energy to the game and is fun to watch,” Hawaii coach Mike Trapasso said.

All of that energy was evident in high school in Monterey, Calif., where Ventimilia earned 13 different letters in a total of seven sports.

He played baseball all four years at Monterey and was named player of the year in 2011 by the Monterey Herald.

He also dabbled in football, tennis, track, cross country, basketball and volleyball.

“The numbers are kind of low in a lot of the sports we have, so they needed (help),” Ventimilia said.

Trapasso didn’t need much help securing the commitment of Ventimilia, who was the first of the 2012 class.

Ventimilia’s mom was born and raised in Hawaii and graduated from Kamehameha. Most of his relatives on her side of the family still live here, which piqued Ventimilia’s interest.

“It was one of the main reasons,” Ventimilia said about committing to Hawaii. “I wanted to get away from home too, but with her family here it was kind of a home away from home.”

He checked out the campus after committing for the first time as a junior and made his official visit a year later, when he was hosted by current junior Pi‘ikea Kitamura.

Now, the two provide Hawaii’s double-play combo up the middle, helping to turn 34 double plays this season — fourth most in the country.

“I knew he played a bunch of sports and all that, but I didn’t know he had the hands he has and first impressions of him coming out here was he was the perfect second baseman,” Kitamura said. “His swing is a little weird, but it works for him and pitchers can’t seem to figure it out.”

Maybe it’s coincidence that Ventimilia says Ichiro Suzuki is his favorite player, but the two share a similar approach at the plate.

With an open stance where his right foot sits nearly behind his left, Ventimilia puts a similar swing on the ball as Ichiro, which allows him to get to first base in record time.

He’s been clocked in less than 4 seconds routinely and is the fastest player from home to first Trapasso has ever had.

“A lot of people want to make something of his stance, but don’t look at his stance, look at when that front foot is down and everything is controlled,” Trapasso said. “He’s able to hit the ball on the ground and to the left side of the infield because he knows that’s what makes him successful.”

Ventimilia says his swing isn’t complete just yet. Suzuki’s teammate in Seattle, Dustin Ackley, is a young left-handed hitter with a bit more power that he wants to incorporate into his game.

“Ichiro is my favorite player and I grew up watching him and now that Dustin Ackley is up I’ve integrated his stance with Ichiro’s swing and it’s working so far so I’m going to stick with it,” said Ventimilia, who also has a team-leading 23 runs and trails only Kitamura in hits with 32.

The Rainbows begin their 33rd and final season in the WAC with the first of three games against Fresno State tonight at 6:35. UH is the only team other than Fresno to win the WAC tournament in the past six years, beating the Bulldogs in 2010.