By STEVE KRAH
Bayden Root’s baseball experience is coming full-circle.
Born in Phoenix, Root was two days old when he attended his first game in the Arizona city’s Maryvale Baseball Park (now known as American Family Fields of Phoenix) with his father pitching.
Maryvale is the training home of the Milwaukee Brewers, who have agreed to sign right-handed pitcher Root as an undrafted free agent.
The 20-round Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft of 2023 was held July 9-11 in Seattle.
Root, a 24-year-old reliever and 2018 Kokomo (Ind.) High School graduate, has already began the physical evaluation process. He is scheduled to fly to Phoenix Sunday, July 16 and officially sign with the Brewers on Monday, July 17. Root had been talking with Milwaukee area scout Kevin O’Sullivan since the winter.
At the time of his son’s birth, Bayden’s father — Derek Root — was participating in the Arizona Fall League. The 1993 fifth-round MLB Draft pick of the Houston Astros out of Lakewood (Ohio) St. Edward High School played seven professional seasons with the Astros, San Diego Padres and New York Mets organizations and independent ball.
Derek’s mother moved to the Kokomo, Ind., area near the beginning of her son’s pro career. He met the woman he would marry — Debbie (a graduate of Eastern High School in Greentown, Ind.) — at the gym. She followed him on his diamond journey and they had two children — Bayden and Berklyn.
After lefty Derek’s playing days, the family settled in Howard County and Bayden went to KHS, graduating in 2018. Berklyn started at Kokomo’s Northwestern High and graduated online before heading to College. The aspiring musician just finished her first year at Butler University in Indianapolis.
The Roots now live in the Carmel/Westfield area and Bayden can look back on a college career that included three seasons at Ohio State University (2019-21) and two at Oklahoma State University (2022 and 2023). The 2020 season was curtailed by the COVID-19 pandemic and he was granted an extra year of eligibility.
In 2023, Root made 20 mound appearances (19 in relief) and went 7-1, one save, a 4.34 earned run average, 40 strikeouts and 16 walks and 37 1/3 innings for a Cowboys squad that finished 41-20 and wrapped the season in the Stillwater Regional. The righty graduated in the spring with a University Studies degree.
In five college seasons (2019-23), Root took the bump in 82 games (81 out of the bullpen) and was 16-7 with three saves, a 5.56 ERA, 156 strikeouts and 71 walks in 131 innings.
Root went to the bullpen early in his college career since Ohio State had older players in the starting roles.
“I found a knack for that,” says Root. “I love coming into high-leverage situations when the game’s on the line. That brings out the best in me.
“I love that competition at the highest level.”
A 6-foot-3, 225-pounder, Root throws from a low three-quarter arm angle and uses a sinker, slider, change-up and occasional four-seamer.
This spring his sinker became his primary fastball. Thrown in the mid-90’s, it has 15 to 19 inches of horizontal movement to the arm side and a few inches of vertical break. It gets lots of ground balls and weak contact.
Root calls his slider his “best out pitch.”
“That has the most swing-and-miss of my whole arsenal,” says Root of a ball that tunnels well with his sinker having 18 inches of glove-side run and traveling about 10 mph slower.
“I can throw it for a strike in any count,” says Root.
Root did not use the change-up — which tends top be 8 to 10 mph slower than the sinker — much during the spring. He did work on it at Tread Athletics in Pineville, N.C.
The summer of 2022 was spent with the Cape Cod Baseball League’s Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox.
In the Transfer Portal, he did not play in the summer of 2021. He pitched in the 2020 College Summer League at Grand Park in Westfield and was with the Northwoods League’s Kokomo Jackrabbits in 2019.
Root went straight into travel ball at 8. He played for the Indiana Mustangs and Indiana Bulls then the Orlando Scorpions for his 15U, 16U and 17U summers. After high school, he went to Ohio State in the summer to train and take classes.
Three players were among Root’s favorites growing up — San Francisco Giants slugger Barry Bonds, New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter and Mets shortstop Jose Reyes.
“I’ve always loved different playing styles,” says Root. “Bonds was able to hit bombs and change the game with one swing.
“You also have respect for guys like Jeter and Reyes. They were really big team guys and always on-base and making a great play defensively.
“I’ve found an appreciation for that because I’ve gotten to play with really good infielders and position players throughout college.”
Root’s head coach at Kokomo High, where he was a four-time all-North Central Conference performer as well as an academic all-conference honoree for the Wildkats, was Sean Swan.
“He was a great early coach and a great guy,” says Root. “Our aspirations were bigger than high school baseball. He always supported that and wanted the best for us.”
At Oklahoma State, Root impacted by head coach Josh Holliday and pitching coach Rob Walton.
“Coach Holliday is a great coach,” says Root. “He cares about every single player. He’s a fair coach. I have a lot of respect for him. He demands a lot from us. I think that’s why our program has been successful. He has a unique way of inspiring and motivating people. He’s very tough on us, but for a good reason.
“(Walton) is the best pitching coach in the country. I have a very close relationship with him. He’s definitely been a factor in my success.”
Teams in the Brewers minor league system are the Arizona Complex League Brewers (Rookie), Carolina Mudcats (Low-A), Wisconsin Timber Rattlers (High-A), Biloxi Shuckers (Double-A) and Nashville Sounds (Triple-A).
“I wouldn’t be here without my family,” says Root, who turns 25 in late October. “I’m so thankful for the opportunity God’s given me to chase my dreams.
“I so thankful and so excited so ready to get to work.”
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