Minneapolis Southwest Shortstop Making History
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) - He is a shortstop who can hit, and he's making a bit of history.
No one knows for sure, but they believe before Minneapolis Southwest's Jordan Kazicky, a player from Minneapolis hadn't been recruited to play for the Gophers since the early '80s.
Watch him hit, and you can see his gifts come from a love of the game of baseball, even though he was not always the best player on his team.
"I wasn't one of the greatest in fifth or sixth grade, but I started to excel, and I knew I had something going if I kept going for it," he said.
Watch him field, and you can see he has feel for the game: soft hands, accurate arm.
"He's a great, great fielder," Jared Mountain, Minneapolis Southwest's coach, said. "He started actually playing varsity baseball as an eight grader and has progressed since then and dedicated himself in the weight room. He hits for power, hits for average."
Kazicky had a chance this spring to watch one of his favorites up close and learn from Joe Mauer.
"I love watching him hit," he said. "We went down to Fort Myer for spring training. I got to see him in the batting cages. Everything he does is flawless."
Next year he will play for the Gophers, the first player to come from the Minneapolis city conference, they think, in more than 30 years.
"It feels amazing because we have a lot of good players," he said. "I feel honored."
