By JOHN BOHNENKAMP
Adam Kudronowicz came to the Burlington Bees this summer as a two-way player.
His biggest impact has been at the plate.
Kudronowicz is hitting .390 heading into the two-day All-Star break, ranking seventh in the Prospect League. He is coming off a week in which he hit .520, including back-to-back 4-for-4 games against the Clinton LumberKings as part of a streak in which he reached base in 10 consecutive plate appearances.
Kudronowicz, coming off his freshman season at Iowa Western Community College, has taken a calm approach at the plate in his first college summer league experience, and it’s working.
“I think it’s just being relaxed, and just really telling yourself, ‘I have adjustability, I’m an athlete,’” Kudronowicz said. “Try not to think about it, not stressing about anything too much, kind of just go out and play and like flowing, not forcing anything.
“Him in the box right now, I don’t think there’s anyone hotter,” Bees manager Owen Oreskovich said. “He’s taking good pitches, swinging the pitches you should swing at, and he’s getting the barrel on a lot. How he’s taking his (at-bats), he’s kind of relaxed, more chill, I would say.”
It’s an important summer for Kudronowicz, who played in 19 games at Iowa Western with just 26 at-bats, while making just two appearances as a pitcher, throwing just ⅔ of an inning.
Kudronowicz has made three pitching appearances with the Bees, with a 2.70 earned run average in 3 ⅓ innings. His biggest contribution has been at first base and as a designated hitter.
“I was thinking of him as a two-way player when he came here,” Oreskovich said. “But he’s been hitting the ball so well.”
“I think kind of one of my bigger focuses was seeing where I would be at it in the mound,” Kudronowicz said. “Coming into last fall, I saw myself as more of a pitcher. I think it’s kind of shifted, so I kind of wanted to just give myself this summer to see where I stood as a two-way player, and I think like my hitting has really just blossomed. It kind of showed me what to focus on.”
Kudronowicz, who was a third-team all-state selection as a senior at Mukwanago High School in Eagle, Wisconsin, had committed to play baseball at the Division I level at Central Florida before the NCAA put in new roster limits.
“I get a call that I’ve got to find a new home,” Kudronowicz said. “So I go out (on social media) and I post that I’m now uncommitted and within five minutes I have Iowa Western reach out to me saying, ‘Hey, we’re interested. I think them being the first school to reach out just put them on the map. I visited a handful of schools but when I went to Iowa Western it was stunning. The stuff they told me, I could see myself really developing there, so that was my choice.
“It was disappointing (not going to Central Florida, but it was also kind of just trusting God’s plan, understanding that that wasn’t necessarily the path for me. You see all of the guys go D-I and just end up transferring after one year. I didn’t want to fall into any trap like that, so I think going somewhere like Iowa Western just is going to help me in the long run.”
Kudronowicz started the summer with just three hits in 22 at-bats but has hit .491 since then. He was the Prospect League’s hitter of the week for the week of June 16-22, when he hit .583 with six doubles.
“Att first I was kind of like I didn’t know how to adjust (to the wood bat),” he said. “I was downsizing my bat, NowI’m swinging just as long and as heavy as I did with the metal bat, kind of just treating it the same, not changing anything. Guys say with a smaller barrel, you’ve got to be more accurate, but it’s really you just can’t think about it.”
Kudronowicz has been working on his pitching as well, going with more of a sidearm motion. Right now, though, it’s hard for Oreskovich to take him out of the lineup.
“I mean, it feels good,” Kudronowicz said of his recent run. “It kind of reinforces that, with all the work you’re putting in, you’re on track, like no need to change anything. No need to force, just keep doing what I’ve been doing, and keep rolling.”
ALL-STARS
Three Bees will be playing for the Western Conference in Tuesday’s All-Star Game in Lafayette, Indiana — infielder Lucas Krebs and pitchers Jake Weissenberger and Riley Fuller.
Krebs is hitting .336 with three home runs and 30 runs batted in. Fuller is 1-3 with a 4.33 earned run average, with 27 strikeouts in 27 innings. Weissenberger is 1-4 with three saves, with 22 strikeouts in 15 innings.
Photo: Adam Kudronowicz ranks seventh in the Prospect League in batting average. (Photo by Steve Cirinna)
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