Kade Kern, AHS baseball standout, recently completed his first year at Ohio State and will be playing summer ball in the Cape Cod League, which is regarded as the premiere amateur baseball league with the best college players from around the country.
Some consider the league to be roughly the equivalent of Double A in minor league baseball. Kade recently told Archbold Rotarians what is was like to transition from Archbold baseball to Ohio State and where he hopes to wind up some day.
The biggest difference is the quality of pitching, he said. To prepare for college, he worked with professional coaches and practiced hitting against some of the area’s best pitchers.
It must have paid off as he led the Buckeyes in hitting with a .327 batting average, made the All-Big Ten second team and was freshman player of the year.
Amazingly, he missed all of fall baseball practice Ohio State because of a positive COVID test.
Big Ten protocol required athletes who tested positive to have a heart function test before they could participate in sports and he couldn’t get a test scheduled before fall practice was over.
So, he wasn’t sure whether he would make the spring travel roster much less be in the starting line-up. However, hard work on his own in the fall prepared him for spring.
The official team practice was a 5 hour day; however, he explained that he typically added a couple hours on both sides of the official practice, making it a 9-hour day for him.
An exercise science major at Ohio State, he explained that with classes on-line last year, he planned his schedule to complete most of his school work early in the week and took full advantage of the tutors and academic advisers that the university provides athletes.
He said he hopes to some day play major league baseball, which is why he is looking forward to playing in the Cape Cod League with some of the best college players in the country.
The 10-team league plays a 40 game schedule and wraps up the season in August with a tournament.
Even though Kade won’t be eligible for the major league baseball draft until 2023, he got his first taste of the business side of baseball after he went 5 for 7 hitting in his first game for Ohio State.
His father reported that advisors began contacting him about representing him in the draft soon after that game. This summer, Kade will be playing for the Wareham Gatemen team in the Cape Cod League.
Kade’s former ACME baseball coach Kirk Weldy arranged the program.