4th season
Virginia Tech '09
A former Los Angeles Dodgers prospect and Bay Area native, Domecus attended Marin Catholic High School (Kentfield, CA), where he was a three-sport star, playing baseball, football and basketball. He was named as an all-state defensive end and set the Marin Catholic career record in sacks.
After hitting .370 with 10 home runs and 42 RBI for Moorpark College (Moorpark, CA), the Chicago White Sox selected Domecus in the 38th round of the 2008 MLB Draft, but he chose to pursue college baseball at Virginia Tech.
The Dodgers later picked Domecus in the ninth round of the 2010 draft after he hit .365 with 60 RBI, 13 homers and a school-record 27 doubles for Virginia Tech. Domecus led the ACC in regular season batting in 2009 with a .406 average and graduated with a BS in economics. In addition to his 2010 All-American and 2009 All-ACC performer selctions, Domecus holds the Virginia Tech record for most hits in a season (92) and assists by a catcher.
Domecus played three years of professional baseball in the Dodgers' farm system, before joining the Independent League in 2013 to play for the Sioux Falls Canaries.
Coach Giarratano on Domecus: "We are very fortunate to have Coach Domecus join our program. Steve brings a great background in playing the game of baseball as an elite catcher. Steve has played at every level and brings a great deal of experience to our catchers and position players. We're very excited for the future of the Dons program."
Domecus' work with the USF catchers helped the Dons get two catchers drafted in 2016 - the first time since 1990 USF has had a pair of backstops selected in the same year. Junior Dominic Miroglio was a 16th-round pick of the Tampa Bay Rays, while senior Ryan Matranga was selected by the San Francisco Giants in the 36th round. Under Domecus' tutelage, Matranga developed into one of the best defensive catchers in the WCC, ranking third in the conference with 22 runners caught stealing while throwing out 49% of would-be basestealers during his senior season in 2016.
In 2017, Miroglio was drafted in the 20th round by the Arizona Diamondbacks after leading the WCC with 25 runners caught stealing while throwing out 56 percent of base stealers on the year. Miroglio, who boasted a .998 fielding percentage in 2017, was named a semifinalist for the Johnny Bench Award, which is given annually to the top catcher at the Division I level.
