Jackie Robinson could always hit. Despite Robinson's one poor baseball season at UCLA (roughly just 60 AB's), Robinson was a dominant amateur baseball player. Robinson was a great baseball player in high school (one of the best players in So Cal at the time) and in junior college. In the spring of 1937 Robinson played a game against the Chicago White Sox and was brilliant. White Sox manager Jimmy Dykes was so impressed that he told the press he would sign Robinson on the spot if Robinson was white.
http://books.google.com/books?id=V1FOPvDwZsoC&q=dykes#v=snippet&q=dykes&f=false