CONCORD — To be a dominant force in one sport is hard – being elite at two is rare air.
That’s where you’ll find De La Salle standout Alec Blair.
The 6-foot-6 senior is a star basketball player and a blue-chip baseball talent.
Blair is set to play both sports at the University of Oklahoma starting next school year, no matter what happens in the MLB draft this summer.
On Friday, Blair made it clear: He is going to Oklahoma.
“I’m going to school. That’s my mentality right now,” Blair told the Bay Area News Group. “I’m just prepping for Oklahoma and I’m getting ready for hoops. I have to report June 1 for basketball to learn some plays and get ready for that. So, that’s all I’m thinking about right now.”
Blair is coming off a stellar basketball season that saw him lead the Spartans to East Bay Athletic League and North Coast Section Open Division championships. He averaged 19 points, six rebounds and four assists per game while shooting 54% from the field, earning first-team all-Bay Area News Group honors.
The left-handed point forward led De La Salle’s basketball team to deep playoff runs since in each of his four seasons, delaying his start with the school’s baseball team.
Blair suffered a bad ankle sprain during the NCS Open Division title game against Salesian on March 1. He hobbled through the Spartans’ season-ending NorCal title game loss to Riordan 10 days later, but is now 100% after returning to De La Salle’s baseball lineup last week.
“The ankle feels really good,” Blair said. “I took a little breather for a second and made sure I really rehabbed and I’m feeling fantastic.”
Blair made his season debut last Wednesday against Dublin. The rangy center fielder has been a force since returning to baseball — 8 for 14 with seven RBIs, two home runs and six extra-base hits across five games.
Against Monte Vista on Friday, Blair was 4 for 4 with two doubles and a triple and knocked in three runs.
MLB.com currently has Blair listed as the 85th-best baseball prospect in the country. De La Salle coach David Jeans said Blair is a surefire pro.
“The moment he can slow down and get in the weight room and put on 30 pounds, I can’t imagine what he’ll be like at 6-6, 235 pounds,” Jeans said. “He has the potential to be a pro and a really good one.”
Blair has mapped out what playing two sports at Oklahoma is going to look like.
Unlike at De La Salle where misses the first few weeks of the baseball season, Blair is planning to play both sports simultaneously. Should a conflict occur, he said basketball will take priority as the Sooners would be playing in their postseason stretch while the baseball season would just get started.
“If I have a basketball game on Monday in Norman and a baseball game in Baton Rouge on Tuesday, I’d play in Norman and then I’d hop on a jet to fly down to Baton Rouge and play in a baseball game,” Blair said. “It’s a pretty unique opportunity and I’m super excited.”
But for the rest of this season, Blair is focused on getting De La Salle back into the postseason title mix. Last year, the Spartans lost to Granada in the NCS Division I title game, then lost to the Livermore school again in the NorCal playoffs.
“I just want to win everything,” Blair said. “I want to go as far as we can. I have a blast playing with these guys. It’d be nice to win a couple of awards along the way, but most importantly, we got to win.”
