Skip to main content

Reply to "Comparison Between Minor Leagues and Major D1"

Here's a nice article about transition from juco to D1 and the "adjustment"

Byrns making smooth transition from junior college to Division I
by george watson | AVALANCHE-JOURNAL

Past rosters of the Texas Tech baseball program are lined with junior college players who failed to make the adjustment to Division I baseball. They're also full of players who not only made the adjustment but flourished.

Junior outfielder Geoff Byrns appears, at least early in the 2007 season, to be moving toward the latter. By doing so, he's providing even more potential to a Tech lineup already laced with power hitters.

"I've just been looking forward to this season as a learning experience for me," said Byrns, who transferred to Tech from Chabot (Calif.) Junior College. "My job is to get on base and expand the lineup and create some frustration for the pitchers, and be just one more tough (at-bat)."
And perhaps one of the most impressive aspects of Byrns' adjustment is that he's also having to get used to a new position. He played first base at Chabot, where as a sophomore he hit 17 home runs and drove in 72 runs, earning him the All-Coast Conference Player of the Year and Northern California Player of the Year honors as well as the Rawlings "Big Stick" award.

Only seven games into the season, junior college transfer Geoff Byrns is one of the most potent hitters in the Texas Tech Lineup.

But with sophomore James Leverton established at first and sophomore all-American Roger Kieschnick moving from left field to right, the coaching staff decided to give him a shot at left, and he adjusted well enough to earn the start on opening day.

Those junior college numbers, however, didn't distinguish him from hundreds of other junior college transfers who put up big numbers only to come to Tech and struggle in Division I baseball.

His play on the field, however, has.
Heading into this weekend's Midland College Classic, Byrns is the only Red Raider to hit safely in all seven games this season, and he is currently second on the team with a .393 batting average. During the four games of the Red Raider Classic last weekend, he hit .467 (7-for-15).

With those kind of numbers, he could fall into a third category - players who put up good numbers as juniors and left for the major leagues after just one season.

"So far, he's done OK," Tech head coach Larry Hays said. "It's a little adjustment period and some handle it better than others. You look at a guy like Joe Dillon who came here and hit six home runs his first year and 33 the next, so there is an adjustment there. The upside to junior college kids is they're older and they've been knocked around enough to where it's easier for them to adjust. But you may only have them for one year, so that's the downside."

Right now, however, Byrns is having too much fun. He credits this past summer's experience in the Alaska League with the Alaska Goldpanners, as well as the increase in level of coaching between junior college and Division I, as two reasons his adjustment has been, to this point, fairly pain-free.

"Only a handful of junior college guys were up there and the guys we saw were from Arizona State, Stanford and Nebraska," Byrns said of the Alaska League. "That really prepared me for this season and just built my confidence up a little bit knowing I could play with these guys. The main reason you go to Division I is the good coaching and we get a little bit better coaching up here, and that's prepared me to play in the outfield before."

And as long as he keeps going, he'll definitely end up on the list of more memorable players to wear the scarlet and black.
To comment on this story:
george.watson@lubbockonline.com 766-2166
patrick.gonzales@lubbockonline.com 766-8735
×
×
×
×