Days after his 2024 season with the San Francisco Giants ended, former Maryland outfielder LaMonte Wade Jr. came back to College Park. He sat in his old dugout and chatted with current Terps as the team played one of their first scrimmages.

His main reason for the visit, however, was catching up with Maryland baseball head coach Matt Swope.

The two text nearly every day throughout the MLB season. Swope watches every at-bat he takes. Wade, who just finished his sixth season in the majors, credits Swope for turning his career around.

The big-leaguer contacted his former assistant coach in 2020 looking for help. He wasn’t hitting at a high level and couldn’t carve out a significant role with the Minnesota Twins, who traded him to San Francisco that offseason.

Wade recorded career-highs in home runs, RBIs and on-base plus slugging percentage following his work with Swope that winter. His offseason training with the Maryland coach is now routine.

“He’s not a robot. Everybody is different and he realizes that,” Wade said. “He doesn’t try to coach everybody to swing the same.”

The pair convened in Swope’s basement at the beginning of the winter to discuss their offseason plans. For two hours, Swope displayed a PowerPoint presentation detailing how he’d tweak the struggling swing.

Swope wanted to ensure Wade was committed to the work before they began. And he bought in.

Wade drove to College Park three to four days a week to meet with Swope in Maryland’s previous hitting facility. Kerosene fumes fought sharp winter air in the Terps’ dimly-lit space, also known as “the shell.”

[Maryland baseball offseason notebook: MLB Draft hopefuls, transfer additions]

Swope wanted to understand Wade’s mental approach at the plate. The Giant found that he wasn’t swinging at the pitches he should, and whiffing on pitches out of the strike zone.

“Some of it was approach and some of it was more mental,” Swope said. “[It was] getting back to ‘You are this type of hitter. You can do this.’”

Swope found that Wade’s swing was off-balance and he wanted to make him more anchored. They aimed to straighten his batting stance and eliminate any extra movement.

They used a series of constraint drills to integrate these new mechanics.

Wade swung with different bat lengths. He tucked baseballs underneath his armpit while batting. They re-tooled his stride by setting PVC pipes under his legs. Resistance bands wrapped around his legs and arms while swinging.

His improvements were immediate. He increased every batting statistic and earned the moniker “Late Night LaMonte” after drilling six game-tying or go-ahead hits in the ninth inning in 2021.

Wade has returned to College Park every offseason since, but Swope’s approach has changed since he first worked with Wade in 2020.

“I just got lucky in the fact that what I was doing back then matched the majority of his profile,” Swope said.

Maryland’s head coach now targets unique tweaks since incorporating motor preferences. By studying a player’s profile, Swope breaks down the batter’s movement and how their brain produces the movement — revealing how they’d best respond to coaching. Each batter is different even if their swing looks identical, Swope said.

[‘He’s a psycho’: Chris Hacopian’s drive has him ready to be the face of Maryland baseball]

“The thing that I appreciate about motor preferences is that it allows for me and Swope to communicate in the way that we did this offseason,” Wade said. “Just knowing how your body moves and wants to move, it can help not only on the field with hitting, but in the weight room as well to strengthen up the muscles you need.”

Swope’s work with hitters like Wade has since attracted talent to College Park.

After multiple schools told Sam Hojnar they wouldn’t alter his swing, he transferred to Maryland last season because the Terps’ staff said the opposite.

Hojnar noticed his swing felt easier following his work with Swope. He began “accidentally” hitting home runs on lighter hits during the fall, leading to a career-high 16 last season.

Swope’s work fixing swings led another transfer to Maryland this offseason. Top junior college prospect Hollis Porter noted motor preferences was a big factor.

“Swope is a really big player’s coach and [is always] trying to make you better,” Porter said.

The coach’s ability to work with hitters like Wade is helping him build the program. With a new facility filled with improved technology expected to be completed by 2025, he hopes to produce more major-leaguers.

Swope imagines his coaching will continue progressing. He still wants to learn more about baseball’s science and how it can help maximize his coaching abilities. The amount of knowledge left to obtain is “never-ending”, he said.

“A medical student trying to get their doctorate is exactly what I would compare it to,” Swope said. “This is a full commitment for a growth mindset and to get better.”