Tallahassee, Fla. -- Florida State’s Matheu Nelson has always been able to hit, even going back to his days at Calvary Christian.

“As a 15-year-old freshman, he stepped into the three or four hole and I’m not sure if he ever left there,” said Calvary Christian head baseball coach Greg Olsen.

But the Seminoles catcher could never have imagined he’d have a season quite like this.

“It’s funny, we were in the training room and I was talking to Clay and he said I never thought I’d see someone hit 20 home runs and I looked at him and said to be honest with you I never thought I would either, let alone it be myself.”

Nelson has been on a tear this year. After hitting seven home runs his first two seasons at FSU, he’s cranked out a nation-leading 20 homers to go along 54 RBI which also leads the country. And he’s doing all of this while hitting better than .300

“Freshman year I was trying to guess pitches, I was trying to think like a catcher,” said Nelson. “Where now I just tell myself 400, hit to the middle of the field. That doesn’t necessarily mean home run, it just means get the barrel to the ball.”

Nelson’s sudden surge at the plate didn’t happen overnight. When COVID-19 cut his 2020 season short, he took the opportunity to make some changes.

“Last year when COVID hit, I was 210 lbs. and kind of dumpy looking. When everyone went back home, I got into Diesel Fitness which is a company down in Tampa. They taught me how to eat right, train right and really just live a healthy lifestyle. I came back in, I was 185 lbs. We were doing deadlifts and I picked up 510 lbs. which I’ve never done in my life. I got back up to 200 lbs. but it was a muscular 200 and I had more speed, agility and just more athletic.”

But fitness was just one part of Nelson’s offseason transformation.

“I read a book by David Ross called “Teammate” and that really opened my eyes on how I should take care of my teammates, how to interact with them, my coaches, people in the facility and just being that guy and doing the little things right. Then I opened a book called “Relentless Optimism” after that. Everything that’s happened so far this year just goes to show that it works. If you buy in, it really works.”

“Matt is a worker. Matt loves the game and the big separater for him as a player, his passion for the game, his love for the game is few like our staff has ever coached,” said Olsen.

Three catchers were named to the Golden Spikes Award Midseason Watch List. Nelson was surprisingly left off. But he doesn’t need anyone to tell him how great he is, he firmly believes he’s one of the best. And that mentality is what’s helped him develop into one of top players in all of college baseball.

“That’s part of the positive mindset,” said Nelson. “I go out there and tell myself I’m the best catcher in the country, I tell myself I’m the best hitter in the country, I tell myself I’m the best everything. It’s something I believe in, something I buy in. It’s not a cocky aspect, it’s a confidence aspect.”