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Baseball recruit, state champion Ty Denzer prepares for college
MATT HOFFMANN
@MattHoffmannUDK
Even at its lowest levels, baseball has become an extremely specialized game. With designated hitters, pinch runners and relief pitchers that only pitch to one side of the plate, a wellrounded high school ballplayer can be hard to come by.
That's exactly what the Kansas baseball program has in Ty Denzer — a 6-foot-2 recruit who specializes in winning state championships.
The incoming freshman can hit from both sides of the plate, and while he is most comfortable at shortstop, he can play "all three" infield positions, excluding first base, said coach Ritch Price.
The Minnesota native also has a propensity to come through in
clutch situations. With two on, two out in the top of the third inning during the Class AAA Minnesota state championship game on June 15, Denzer lined a single into right field, scoring the only two runs of the game. That hit secured the first championship in the history of Chanhassen High School baseball.
"I was just looking for something to hit, something to drive," Denzer said. "I knew those runs were going to be big in the end."
Price found out about the title via a text from Denzer's mother and credits the freshman's athleticism as a key part of his success.
"He has really good action. He's athletic and he has a real good feel for playing shortstop," Price said. "He's also a switch hitter, which is intriguing."
Denzer still spoke fondly of the state championship over a spotty cellphone connection two weeks later.
"Looking back and reflecting on the whole entire season, all that hard work we put in the offseason paid off. We're state champions."
TY DENZER Kansas baseball recruit
Denzer will now turn his attention to the Big 12 and the new opportunities it presents for his sport.
"Looking back and reflecting on the whole entire season, all that hard work we put in in the offseason paid off," he said. "We're state champions."
"There's some. good pitchers in Minnesota, obviously, but it's a next-level thing," Denzer said. "It's going to be the next step above that, even at the next level."
Price agreed, saying the speed of the game often serves as a hindrance to transitioning players. Price said Denzer would need "to get stronger, more physical and continue to improve in every phase of the game" in order to succeed at the next level.
And it seems like Denzer is on board with that plan.
Denzer said he plans to do "a lot of conditioning" and "the same lifting [he] did in the winter" to prepare for the rigors of Kansas baseball over the summer before getting down to business in the fall. The Victoria, Minn., native will join a campus that
has more students than citizens in his hometown.
"Before I even talked to the coaching staff or saw the facilities, I would've gone [to Kansas] even if I wasn't playing a sport." Denzer said. "The campus is beautiful and the campus life is great [and] the opportunity to play in the Big 12 is huge for me. It's one of the best conferences in the nation."
Price seems to be thinking along the same lines.
The shortstop will go from being one of the most experienced players on his high school team as a senior to one of the least experienced as a freshman at Kansas, but he still hopes to make an impact just as he did in the state championship.
"At some point in his career I see him being a starting player," he said.