By STEVE KRAH
Danny Puplava strives to put the bat on the baseball.
In two seasons at Kankakee (Ill.) Community College, the righty swinger and 2021 Portage (Ind.) High School graduate produced 90 runs batted in while striking out 68 times in 370 at-bats and 446 plate appearances. He walked 46 times.
This summer with the wood-bat Northern League’s Lake County CornDogs, Puplava had 13 RBIs, seven strikeouts and 10 walks while hitting .294 (20-of-68) through 19 games.
“Having good plate discipline is what makes a good hitter,” says Puplava, who committed last week to continue his baseball and academic career at NCAA Division II Purdue Northwest in Hammond, Ind., where Dave Griffin is the Pride head coach.
Puplava‘’s favorite big league player is Juan Soto.
“I like Soto because of the presence he brings in the (batter’s) box,” says Puplava. “He has power and does not strike out much.”
Through 87 games in 2023, Soto had 81 walks, 77 strikeouts, 15 home runs, 20 doubles and 47 RBIs.
Puplava, a 6-foot-1, 190-pound first baseman, played in 111 games at Kankakee and hit .295 (109-of-370) with 12 homers, seven triples, 22 doubles, 78 runs scored, a .895 OPS (.341 on-base percentage plus .430 slugging average) and 11 stolen bases.
Using Trackman to gauge exit velocity, Puplava hit the ball hard on a consistent basis.
“I try to put the ball in-play,” says Puplava. “I’m a right-center gap kind of guy.”
At Kankakee, where Todd Post is Cavaliers head coach, New Palestine, Ind., native Nick Ulery is hitting coach and former Northfield High School (Wabash, Ind.) and Valparaiso University hurler Bryce Shafer is pitching coach, Puplava, who turns 21 on Thanksgiving (Nov. 23), enjoyed being a “JUCO Bandit.”
“Junior college is different,” says Puplava. “It’s a grind. It was a cool (bonding) experience with guys who have the same dreams.
“I really enjoyed it.”
He earned an associate degree in General Studies but explored classes in Exercise Science and posted a 3.53 grade-point average as a freshman. He is undecided on his major at PNW.
Born in Munster, Ind., Puplava grew up in Portage. His first few years of organized baseball came in Lake of Four Seasons Little League and Portage Little League. Travel teams included the Portage Tribe, Indiana Breakers and Shane Prance-coached Region Playmakers.
That was followed by American Legion baseball stints with Wayne Coil-managed Valparaiso Post 94 and Bobby Wineland-managed South Haven Post 502 Blaze.
He was on the Portage High varsity for three years, earning all-Duneland Athletic Conference honors in 2021, losing his junior season of 2020 to the COVID-19 pandemic. Bob Dixon was the Indians head coach and Prance an assistant.
Puplava, the son of Sue Puplava and the late Kenny Puplava and older brother of gymnast Katie Puplava (Portage Class of 2024), played for the CornDogs in the summer of 2022. Lake County won the Northern League title in its first season of existence. In 15 regular-season games, he hit .302 (16-of-53) with one homer, two doubles, seven RBIs, 13 runs, two stolen bases, five strikeouts and seven walks.
The 2023 CornDogs’ next game is today (July 7) against the Elkhart County Miracle at the NorthWood High School Field of Dreams Complex in Nappanee, Ind. First pitch is slated for 6 p.m. Central Time/7 Eastern Time.
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