By Jim Ecker
Monday, April 27, 2009

Kenn Kasparek got lost in a pile of humanity on the field at Rosenblatt Stadium that day. The Texas Longhorns had just won the national championship with a 6-2 victory over Florida in the finals of the College World Series, and Kasparek remembers the sheer joy of the moment.

It was June 26, 2005, and the Longhorns turned Rosenblatt Stadium into their personal playpen.

"It's a pretty good feeling to see all your hard work pay off," Kasparek said last week before a Class A game in the Midwest League. "I remember dog-piling. It's the type of thing, you grow up as a kid and dream about doing."

Kasparek was 19 years old when Texas won the NCAA title, a freshman pitcher for the Longhorns and a good one. He compiled a perfect 8-0 record that season with a sparkling ERA of 2.10, and the future looked bright. He was the starting pitcher in the semifinals of the CWS against Baylor and did well, a thrill of a lifetime.

"Thirty thousand people there going crazy," he recalled. "It's definitely an experience I won't forget."

Texas beat Baylor, 4-3, on a walk-off homer in the bottom of the ninth that day. Kasparek pitched well but got a no-decision, throwing 6.1 innings with six strikeouts. That victory propelled the Longhorns into the championship round against Florida, and a few days later they were the national champs.

So far, that's been the highlight of Kasparek's baseball career. The Longhorns did not return to the College World Series after his freshman campaign, and his statistics were not as glossy in following years. He went 5-2 with a 3.80 ERA as a sophomore in 2006, missed the entire 2007 season following Tommy John surgery on his right arm, then went 4-3 with a 3.76 ERA in 2008.

Kasparek, now 23, was selected by the Seattle Mariners in the 12th round of the 2008 draft and is toiling for the Clinton LumberKings in the Midwest League this season. He had an 0-2 record and 7.71 ERA in three starts at last report after going 5-4 in Rookie ball last year.

"No compaints," he said before a recent game in Iowa. "I've struggled, but it's early in the season. It's too hard to tell where things are going to go from here."

It's normally easy to find Kasparek on a ballfield, even during pre-game drills. He's 6-foot-10 and stands out in a crowd. The LumberKings list him as 6-foot-8 and 200 pounds, but that's not accurate.

"I don't know where they got that from," he said with a laugh. "That must be high school numbers or something. I haven't seen 200 pounds in a couple of years, let's put it that way."

He reached nearly 270 pounds last year, but knew that was too heavy.

"I came to spring training (this year) about 247," he said. "I did a lot of hard work during the offseason. I probably worked harder this offseason than I ever have. I just put in a lot of work, and you can obviously see the result."

"He can barely keep his uniform on nowadays," joked Lance Painter, his pitching coach at Clinton.

Kasparek is happy to be healthy and playing pro ball, especially after missing the 2007 following arm surgery. He hurt his arm during the summer of 2006, pitching in the Texas Collegiate League following his sophomore year in college. The rehab was long and tough.

"It was a good year before I was 100 percent," he said. "That was tough, because you're putting in the work in the training room with the rehab and all of that, and then you're working out in the weight room, trying to stay in shape. So you're getting a lot of work in, and you're not really seeing yourself get out there and play, so you don't know where you stand with the whole thing."

He finally got his arm in shape in the summer of 2007, then needed ankle surgery, further delaying his return to the mound. "So that was frustrating," he said.

Kasparek is from Weimar, Texas, a small town (pop. 1,981) that's located about 90 mintues southeast of the University of Texas. "When I got that scholarship offer from Texas I jumped on it as soon as I could," he said.

He pitched in the Aflac High School All-American game, got off to a great start in college, got hurt, recovered and is playing pro ball.

Painter, his pitching coach with the LumberKings, spent 10 years in the major leagues as a pitcher with Colorado, St. Louis, Toronto and Milwaukee and knows the ropes. He thinks Kasparek has a chance to make it.

"He's got a good attitude," said Painter. "Right now he's struggling a little bit with his off-speed pitches. In 'A' ball, it's a constant battle of getting the mechanics. And when he does hit it right, he's got a good breaking ball.

"We need to work on his changeup a little bit," said Painter. "But from a personal standpoint, he's a great kid and he works extremely hard. And hopefully you'll see things come to fruition for him. Mechanically, he's having some issues right now, but I expect him to do well."