Kansas University junior shortstop Justin Protacio ranks second in the Big 12 in runs, third in walks and has more walks than strikeouts.

Kansas University junior shortstop Justin Protacio ranks second in the Big 12 in runs, third in walks and has more walks than strikeouts.

Teammates call Kansas University junior shortstop Justin Protacio by his nickname: Proto. It does not stand for Div. I prototype. At 5-foot-5, nothing about him screams prototype. Everything screamed at him by student hecklers from opposing teams references his height.

Protacio didn’t remember the exact wording used by the hecklers, but remembered key words. The taunts went something like this:

“Call off the Amber Alert. The kid’s right here.”

“What are you doing here? You should be playing Little League!”

“Your bat’s taller than you are!”

“Hey, stand up in the box!”

And so it goes every road game. Kansas opens the Big 12 conference tournament as a No. 3 seed, best in school history, at 9 a.m. today against No. 6 seed West Virginia in Oklahoma City. Protacio bats leadoff for the Jayhawks, so the insults should start flying at about 9:10.

“At the moment you don’t want to focus on it, let it get to your head, but after the game it’s something fun to joke about with your fellow players and coaches,” Protacio said.

Besides, giving opposing pitchers a smaller strike zone to hit isn’t necessarily the worst thing in the world for a leadoff hitter. A native of Pearl City, Hawaii, Protacio has a respectable .387 on-base percentage. No number is available to illustrate how his approach at the plate benefits the entire lineup.

“Top of the order, I have to be a scrapper,” Protacio said. “Take the bean. If you can get a hit, get a hit. Definitely wear out the pitcher, just get on base because we’ve got some guys behind me who can really swing it. My job is to get the pitch count up, let my teammates see as many pitches as they can.”

Protacio ranks second in the Big 12 in runs, third in walks and has more walks than strikeouts.

After a number of early-season errors at shortstop, he smoothed out his transition from the other side of the bag, where he played last season. He doesn’t view his stature as a disadvantage in the field either.

“It doesn’t matter if you’re 6-3 or 5-5 if you get a good jump off the bat, get to the ball, take good routes, set up your feet and make good throws,” Protacio said.

The man teammates call Proto makes it a point to get good jumps on defense, give his team a jumpstart on offense and take a bat to prototypes every time he takes the field.