The lineup card (season three; volume 1)
Brayden Krenzel was often asked what his favorite sport was when he was a little kid. For a while, his answer would correlate with whatever season it was at the time. During the spring and summer, he would reply with baseball. In the fall and wintertime, he said football or basketball.
Around age 11, Brayden’s parents, Craig and Beth, noticed that he began growing more distressed when baseball season concluded. “Do I have to play football this fall?” he asked his father. Craig’s response was firm: “Yes, you do, because you said you were playing and we already signed you up.”
Due to a household rule, Brayden and his younger siblings, Ellie, Austin, and Colt, were restricted to one sport per season. Craig and Beth firmly believed in the importance of diversifying their children’s experiences, advocating for occasional breaks from the diamond to explore other sports and activities.
“We just feel that when the kids are younger, it’s healthy to do something else. It’s physically healthy for the body, especially for pitchers, to cross-train to move a different way, to go play basketball where you’ve got to work on lateral quickness, to play football where your body is going to be moved in a completely different way. You’re going to be working on a different set of skills, not just physically but mentally,” Craig Krenzel explained over the phone. “We think they’re more well-rounded kids, they’re more well-rounded athletes and eventually at some point if they’re talented enough in something, it will surface.”
Nevertheless, Craig was not the kind of parent to impose a sport on his children. If Brayden lost interest in football, Craig was open to having that conversation with him. However, that was not the case. Brayden simply wanted to play baseball year-round. Craig told him that if he decided to give up football, that would not change the fact that he would still have to take a break and put his glove down in the fall. Rather than opting for inactivity, Brayden gave his dad a wry glance and affirmed, “No, I’ll play football. I like football.”
Brayden continued playing quarterback and linebacker through his freshman year of high school and lived in the paint on the basketball court up until the end of his junior season. He was not a prominent scorer on the court, but he was scrappy and crashed the boards. Those experiences taught him how to embrace a different role to help his team win, rather than being the middle-of-the-order guy or shutdown ace he was used to others relying on him to be. Baseball, to him, was always his number one passion above the rest, but that was the extent of it — a game he played for fun. A Division I future was never really on his radar during his early years growing up in Dublin, Ohio. But every year he got older, his gift for pitching surfaced a little bit more, and the opportunities that came with that allowed him to play a little bit longer.
Krenzel first played locally with the Dublin Green Sox and later the Columbus Cobras. It was not until he joined forces with the Bo Jackson Elite program that the reality of a future in the sport began to sink in for him. The 6-foot-3 right-hander got in touch with their coach, Cory Valentine, who is well-connected in the baseball community, and Krenzel began playing with them during the summer before his sophomore year.
Preparing for the next level
With Bo Jackson Elite, Krenzel had the opportunity to play in the top events throughout the country, including the 2021 PBR Future Games. His performances in those showcases earned him conversations with scouts and phone calls from interested colleges.
“That’s when I realized I might have a real opportunity to go play baseball at the next level,” Krenzel recalled. In the snap of a finger, he went from only competing locally to pitching against guys like PJ Morlando and Konnor Griffin, two of the biggest names in the 2024 class. But the added stakes did not startle him. “I would say I’m pretty comfortable there. I thought it was awesome. I just enjoy playing baseball. I enjoy playing the highest level competition that I could play so I saw it as, ‘I get to go play some of the best kids my age,’ and I think even a year older because I was part of the younger half of that futures game roster. Getting to go play against some of the best players, that’s always something that intrigues me and I’m a pretty competitive guy, so that always gets me excited.”
The promising pitching prospect’s ability to stay calm and collected in pressure situations is a trait he received from his father. Craig played quarterback for The Ohio State University and led the Buckeyes to a national title in the 2002 season, famously ending the powerhouse Miami Hurricanes’ 34-game winning streak in a double overtime game. After college, he started five games for the Chicago Bears in the NFL and backed up Carson Palmer and Jon Kitna with the Cincinnati Bengals in 2005.
Brayden noted that his father, now a partner at the Arthur Krenzel Lett Insurance Group, does not often reminisce about his own playing days at home. Nonetheless, the valuable lessons gleaned from those experiences are regularly shared with him.
“My dad helps me out tremendously. Baseball and football are obviously two different sports, but a lot of the principles with playing higher-level competitive athletics, those transfer,” Brayden Krenzel stated. “He’s been able to teach me things in his journey that he learned. A lot of it’s just working hard, nose to the grindstone type mentality, getting 1% better every day and then always learning from mistakes and growing from those.”
Over the past three offseasons, Brayden has worked with former Ohio State director of pitching development and current Cleveland Guardians bullpen coach Brad Goldberg in roughly 20 sessions. Craig did not send him to many pitching lessons growing up due to his strict one sport per season rule, but when this opportunity arose, he felt it was important for him to be there with his son. Carrying more of a football background, Craig felt he did not understand enough about the technical side of pitching to help guide Brayden in that aspect of the game. Brayden’s short stride, whippy low 3/4 arm slot and effortless release, somewhat reminiscent of Max Scherzer’s delivery, were developed naturally.
“It’s the way God designed him to throw. It’s a little bit different, it’s a little bit funky, and you know, he’s done an exceptional job of figuring it out and working with Brad and getting everything moving together and timed up,” Craig Krenzel said. “So far, it’s worked pretty well.”
While Goldberg taught Brayden about things like engaging his lower half. Craig was simultaneously taking notes to learn more himself. Not only did this allow him to apply some of this knowledge to his younger kids’ teams that he helps coach, but it also helped him have more productive conversations with Brayden after filming his outings.
How do you feel? How’s your body moving? Hey, what did you see on this?
Video review stands as a significant component for aspiring pitchers in today’s game. As Krenzel’s recruiting journey gained momentum, the unconventional right-hander found himself contemplating where he could refine this skill and what he desired from his overall college experience. For starters, he said he hoped to go somewhere that was close enough to home that his parents could go watch him play, but not too close that it felt like he was not even going away to school. He wanted a top-level program where he would have a chance to compete from day one, coaches that he could trust with his development, and most importantly, a school where he would be happy at even if he was not playing baseball there. After many phone calls and a few in-person visits, it became clear that The University of Tennessee checked all of those boxes for the noted country music fan.
“Ever since I stepped foot there I was like man, it’d be really awesome to go here. I just kept building the relationship with the coaches, kept talking to them, kept getting to know how they operate on a baseball level, but also know who they are as people,” Brayden Krenzel shared. “Obviously, their success has been awesome the past couple years, but it’s just an awesome place to go compete. Whether you’re competing against the best teams in the SEC or you’re competing against your teammates for the playing time.”
Since 2021, the Tennessee Volunteers have an 189-57 record under the leadership of head coach Tony Vitello. They took home the SEC title in 2022, advancing to the College World Series in Omaha for the first time since 2005.
In Knoxville, Krenzel will have the chance to work closely with Frank Anderson, one of the premier pitching coaches in the country. Anderson has coached 95 pitchers that have been selected in the MLB Draft, including eight first-rounders (two at Tennessee). He was also named the 2022 Rawlings Pitching Coach of the Year after leading a staff, headlined by the trio of Chase Dollander, Chase Burns and Drew Beam, that finished No. 1 nationally in ERA (2.51), strikeout-to-walk ratio (4.24), WHIP (1.00) and walks allowed per nine innings (2.48). Anderson’s ability to develop top arms year after year has helped the Vols become a force in the SEC.
Krenzel has already developed a close relationship with his potential future batterymate, Tennessee catching commit Levi Clark. The two met each other at an Alabama vs. Tennessee football game on an unofficial visit in 2022 when the Vols upset the Crimson Tide in a 52-49 shootout. While seated close to one another, they bonded over baseball and many other shared interests. They continued to hang out frequently after that game, so much so that one of their coaches asked over the summer: “How are you such good friends already?”
Krenzel even got to throw to the country’s top-ranked hitting prospects with Clark behind the plate at the PG All-American game, giving the right-hander a sneak peek at what it will feel like pitching down in Knoxville.
Since he was little, Krenzel has heard that baseball is different down south. Unlike Ohio’s climate, where seasons dictate field time, the south’s warmer weather allows for year-round play, fostering a greater pool of college-bound athletes. The amount of refined talent in the SEC poses quite the test for raw prospects like Krenzel, but the prospect of facing top-tier competition has always been his aspiration.
“He has an opportunity in front of him to chase a dream. His love and his passion has matched up with ability and you know, as a parent, that’s all you can hope for, for your child,” Craig Krenzel said. “I really feel strongly that there’s a lot more upside because he’s not a year-round baseball kid. He hasn’t thrown that much and now you go on to the next level, whatever that might be for him, there’s going to be an enhanced level of instruction. I’ve tried as hard as I can to pay attention to some of the sessions he’s having with Brad Goldberg but I’m no Frank Anderson. I’m his dad. I’m not a Rookie Ball, Low or High-A, Double-A or Triple-A pitching coach, so as he continues to chase his dream, the wealth of knowledge that he’s going to be exposed to is going to be unlike anything he’s ever gotten.”
Rising up the ranks
Since announcing his commitment to the Vols in May 2022, Krenzel’s stock has continued to rise after his performances at the nation’s top showcases. He memorably donned the Team USA logo on his chest in the PDP League and stepped on major league mounds during the Perfect Game National, PG All-American and PBR All-American events, to name just a few.
Krenzel, 18, employs a three-pitch mix, leaning on his low-to-mid 90s sinker as his go-to rather than a traditional four-seamer, although he does keep that pitch in his back pocket for when he wants to get batters chasing up in the zone. His slider and changeup serve as his 2A and 2B. The slider has a deep two-plane break that makes it fall off the table to the other side late, while his changeup is basically a slower version of his sinker. All three pitches can generate some ugly swings and misses, but perhaps none do it more often than his sinker.
“It’s kind of an anomaly in itself as a high-spin sinker, which typically sinkers are low spin rate. Mine has such a high spin rate, it’s almost like a left-handed slider. It gets three-quarters of the way to the plate and then it starts sinking down and in to a righty,” Krenzel described. He grips it like an ordinary two-seamer, but similar to Mariano Rivera showing others his cutter grip, his unique mechanics make its movement impossible for others to replicate. “I can’t remember the exact time that I really figured out how to throw it. I think it was just a gradual process but I’d always throw more of a two-seam and then once I started throwing harder, it started getting more sink as well. Trying to understand what makes it run versus what makes it sink is something that I’ve been playing around with lately, but what makes it tougher to hit I think is the later movement on it.”
The art of pitching brings an ongoing journey of discovery and refinement. After outings, when scouts seek to pick Krenzel’s brain, he reciprocates with a thirst for knowledge. Krenzel recognized that most scouts are former players themselves, carrying years of expertise from competing in college, the minor league level and with some, even the big leagues. His questions vary anywhere from mechanical advice to discussing how those scouts approached different counts and situations. One of the most interesting philosophies Krenzel has heard from a scout was to throw the ball right down the middle and trust his stuff to naturally move away.
Controlling the controllables
Off the field, Krenzel enjoys spending time outdoors and staying active in any way he can. One of his biggest hobbies is skiing, which he has been able to do since around the time he learned to walk. Some of his favorite memories have included skiing trips out west in Aspen, Colorado and closer to home in West Virginia. As Krenzel prepares for the next stage of his career down south, he accepts that his favorite hobby needs to be put on hold for a while.
“I’ll probably miss it a good bit,” Krenzel admitted. “But it’s something that I’ll have to give up for the time being if I’m gonna accomplish what I want to accomplish in baseball. So it’s a worthwhile sacrifice.”
Prep Baseball Report ranked Krenzel as the No. 1 player in Ohio, No. 26 nationally and was also tabbed as a potential darkhorse first-round pick by the outlet in January. His name has also appeared regularly in Future Stars Series’ updated Top 300 draft prospects lists for 2024.
The Tennessee signee acknowledged that the draft is in the back of his mind as a possibility, but he tries to avoid overthinking it because where he lands is ultimately out of his control. MLB teams were in contact with him prior to the beginning of his senior season at Dublin Jerome High School, but from what Krenzel has heard, scouts tend to leave players alone this time of year and let them do their thing without distraction. That does not mean they are not still watching, however.
“MLB scouts have called and asked similar questions,” Dublin Jerome head coach Drew Kirby responded when asked about Krenzel’s personality and work ethic. “What separates him is his constant quest to be the best version of himself when on the mound. From video work to notating what he’s feeling during every outing or bullpen, there’s a high level of care involved in what he’s doing on the mound. It’s without question that he’s mature beyond his years, with a super high-level IQ not just for the game, but for the most important game of all – life.”
Krenzel is surrounded by a talented group of athletes on the Dublin Jerome Celtics that swing the bat well, though he would not describe most of his supporting cast as baseball guys. “Once baseball is over that day, for the most part, they go on about their normal lives so they’re not necessarily looking at mock drafts. Which is kind of nice that I don’t have to be bombarded by that kind of stuff,” he said.
But before he moves on to Tennessee or whatever path the draft leads him to, Krenzel aims to help leave Dublin Jerome with a strong culture and inspire other locals to choose baseball.
“That’s something that I’ve been working on over the past couple of years, to really establish a good culture,” Krenzel said. “Somewhere where kids want to come play baseball because in Dublin and kind of central Ohio as a whole, lacrosse has become pretty popular. We lose a lot of the good athletes to lacrosse nowadays, but I’m just trying to make Dublin Jerome baseball somewhere where people want to come in, compete and try to win tournament games and win our conference. Just leaving it better than I found it.”