BY STEVE KRAH
Equations can be quite complex when you’re an Actuarial Science major.
Sam Edgell doesn’t tend to let numbers crowd his thinking on the baseball field, where the 2018 Zionsville (Ind.) Community High School graduate has played two seasons at NCAA Division III Otterbein University in Westerville, Ohio.
“I look at statistics when I can for myself and my teammates, but I’m not a big numbers guy from a baseball standpoint,” says Edgell. “It’s fun to talk about (exit velocity and other baseball metrics) and try to get those up as high as you can, but when it comes to game time, I’d rather hit an 80 mph base hit and score a run than a 100 mph line-out.”
Playing for Zionsville head coach Jered Moore, Edgell was used as a first baseman most of the time.
When he reached Otterbein, were George Powell is the head coach, there was an established at first base so he was used in other capacities.
“They wanted to get my bat in the lineup so they moved me to the outfield,” says Edgell. “The best part of my game is the offensive side of it. I’ve been a strong hitter for a long time.
“That’s what I love about baseball — going out and working on my swing and getting in as many swings as a I can.”
Edgell, a left-handed batter, is looking to “barrel” pitches.
“The approach we use at Otterbein is to stay inside the baseball and hit line drives,” says Edgell. “If those line drives carry over the fence, that’s great.
“But we’re going to put people on-base and we’re going to score runs through that.”
During the COVID-19-abridged 2020 season, Edgell started all 13 games in right field and hit .358 (19-of-53) with three home runs, 12 runs batted in, 10 runs scored and four walks. He was usually the Cardinals’ clean-up hitter.
Otterbein was coming off a March 10 win at Denison and the team got some news.
“We were on the bus and learned classes had been canceled for a month,” says Edgell. “We were all excited about that. One of my buddies — Luke Barber — said I hope this doesn’t mess with our baseball season. At the time, I was very incredulous. I thought, there’s no way this will mess with our season. I thought it was kind going to come and go.”
The next day, the Cardinals practiced while officials were in a meeting. By the end of workout, the season was canceled.
“It moved a lot faster than people were expecting,” says Edgell. “It was pretty disappointing to everybody.”
As a freshman in 2019, Edgell started in all 45 games (mostly as a designated hitter) and hit .306 (52-of-170) with no home runs, 26 runs batted in, 31 runs scored and 21 walks. He enjoyed 18 multi-hit games and a 10-game hit streak.
Edgell played for the Lebanon (Ind.) Merchants of the MidWest Prospect Baseball League in 2019 and was headed to the Xenia (Ohio) Scouts of the Great Lakes Summer Collegiate League before the 2020 season was canceled because of the pandemic.
The College Summer League at Grand Park in Westfield, Ind., was put together and Edgell was placed with the Marksmen and is a teammate of Kyle Callahan, who he played with in high school. On Friday, July 10, the CSL played games at Kokomo Municipal Stadium.
“This league’s been awesome,” says Edgell, who has been picked to play for the Blue team in the CSL All-Star Game Thursday, July 16 at Victory Field in downtown Indianapolis. “The competition has been amazing. It really makes you better facing guys who are throwing 90 to 94 with good off-speed pitches.”
As a younger, Edgell played for the Zionsville Baseball Club. During his high school years, he got travel ball experience with the Indiana Bulls (15U and 16U for head coaches were Jeremy Honaker and Brett Andrzejewski) and Indiana Nitro (17U and 18U for Eric Osborn and Chris Poland).
Sam was born in Carmel, Ind., and lived in London when his father Eric’s job at Eli Lily sent the family to England. The Edgells and moved back to Zionsville when Sam was around age 3. Eric and Andra Edgell have three children — Rebekah, Abigail and Sam.
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