By STEVE KRAH
Kris Massey has heard himself described as a “pitch-to-contact” kind of pitcher.
After averaging 12.75 strikeouts per nine innings in three NAIA seasons, 8.57 in one NCAA Division I campaign and 13.05 in his first professional period, the left-hander from Indianapolis sees it differently.
“As of now I’d like to disagree,” says Kris with a K. “I like to go in there and strike guys out.”
Massey, a 2018 of Southport High School in Indianapolis, hurled for Indiana Tech in Fort Wayne (2019-22) and the University of Texas-Rio Grande Valley in Edinburg, Texas (2023), getting into 58 games (55 in relief) and went 2-4 with two saves, a 7.13 earned run average, 92 strikeouts and 56 walks in 83 1/3 innings.
He signed this summer with the Pioneer League’s Northern Colorado Owlz in Windsor, Colo., which is 4,797 feet above sea level and 60 miles north of Denver and near Fort Collins.
In 21 mound appearances (all in relief) for a team managed by Frank Gonzales, Massey went 0-0 with 7.65 ERA, 29 strikeouts and 17 walks in 20 innings. Pitching at high elevation, he yielded four home runs.
“Two were legit and the other two were kind of flukey,” says Massey. “I started (the season) off good, had a little shaky spot then got into groove.
“It’s definitely a hitter-friendly league.”
The Owlz joined the Pioneer (an Major League Baseball partner league) in 2022. The team plays at TicketSmarter Stadium, a 6,500-seat facility which opened in 2023. The season closed Sept. 9.
A 6-foot-4, 200-pounder, Massey throws from a three-quarter arm slot after raising it from sidearm.
He throws a four-seam fastball, sinker, slider and splitter. The four-seamer was up to 93.8 mph at a recent bullpen and sits at 90 to 92. A newer pitch in Massey’s mix, the sinker runs 18 inches down and to the left.
It’s a “gyro” slider that the southpaw uses.
The splitter is a grip learned from family friend David Chamberlin (who has been an assistant coach at Marian University in Indianapolis) in middle school. Out of Massey’s hand the ball acts something like a knuckleball with spin.
Massey earned a Marketing degree at NAIA member Indiana Tech in 2022. Looking for more exposure and having another year of eligibility, he entered the Transfer Portal and posted a video on Twitter.
“My phone was blowing up,” says Massey, who at one point looked bound for Ball State University then landed a scholarship at NCAA D-I UT-Rio Grande Valley.
“The Valley packs (UTRGV Baseball) Stadium,” says Massey.
With Derek Matlock as head coach, the 2023 Vaqueros finished 30-26 overall and 15-14 in the Western Athletic Conference. The WAC also features Grand Canyon, Sam Houston, Utah Valley, Seattle U., Abilene Christian, UT Arlington, California Baptist, Sacramento State, Stephen F. Austin, Tarleton State, New Mexico State and Utah Tech.
Graduate student Massey hurled a season-high five innings and with a campaign-best six strikeouts April 4 against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. He fired three hitless innings and fanned four March 29 against Texas State.
While at Indiana Tech, Massey whiffed 36 in 19 innings in 2022, 21 in 26 1/3 innings in 2021, six in six innings in 2020 (a season shortened by the COVID-19 pandemic) and nine in 11 innings in 2019.
As part of an accelerated online Master of Business Administration program with a Marketing concentration, Massey has been taking two courses every seven weeks — even during the baseball season — with a week off in-between and says he will be done Oct. 11.
Born in Champaign, Ill., Kris was in foster care then adopted by Roy and Andrea Massey. The mechanic and child development director have two older daughters — Paige and Lyndsey.
Massey played at what is now Edgewood Athletic Association in Indianapolis then with a travel team called Southport Baseball (future Indiana High School Baseball Coaches Association Player of the Year and MLB First-Year Player Draft first-rounder Nick Schnell was a teammate). He then played with a travel team in the Franklin area followed by the Bargersville-based Indiana Knights.
Mike Klopfenstein was Southport’s head coach during Massey’s senior campaign.
“He’s a great guy,” says Massey of Klopfenstein. “I just caught up with him a couple of days ago.”
Massey’s favorite player is Los Angeles left-hander Clayton Kershaw.
“He’s one of the most dominant left-handed pitchers of recent time,” says Massey. “He was a good inspiration to watch growing up.”
Competition stokes Massey’s fire.
“I hate losing,” says Massey. “That quality goes a long way for me. I won’t do anything to win, but I’ll train as hard as I can to win.
“I’m a pretty good team guy. I’m reliable and accountable.”
The pitcher also sees himself as a grinder.
“I’m always here for the grind — no matter what the situation is,” says Massey.
Friend Spencer Strobel (who pitched Avon, Ind., High School, Indiana Purdue Fort Wayne, Purdue Fort Wayne and Indiana Tech) got Massey to start training at PRP Baseball in Noblesville, Ind., late in the winter 2020-21.
“I wanted to get better at baseball. I wasn’t good,” says Massey, who went went from a submarine delivery at 80 to 81 mph to a sidearm slot which eventually became three-quarter — which is where he was after getting a scare with elbow pain as a Southport sophomore.
He had a breakout in his last year at Indiana Tech and continued training at PRP. He threw a bullpen there a week ago.
Massey’s lone season of summer collegiate baseball was with the 2022 West Virginia Miners of the Prospect League. He went 1-2 and struck out 38 in 30 innings and posted a 7.50 ERA.
“I got the yips, figured it out and finished OK,” says of his time pitching in Beckley, W.Va.
Helping Massey get signed to a pro contract was Henry Gonzales III, owner of Directional Coaching, Inc., in Chula Vista, Calif., who is also affiliated with the ScoutUSPro app.
While Massey could end up back with Northern Colorado in 2024, Gonzales has lined up a Pro Day in January for the lefty and others to be seen by representatives of MLB-affiliated teams plus independent and possible some Mexican League teams.
Massey says he will begin prepping for that in October. He turns 24 in November.
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