Get To Know: Kernels IF/OF Trey Vavra

It has been a long and winding road to professional baseball for Vavra. It’s been a good story to this point since he signed with the Twins after being their 33^rd round draft pick in 2014.

Treysen Vavra was born about a month before the Minnesota Twins won the World Series in 1991 and grew up in Menomonie, Wisconsin. He played baseball and hockey growing up. In fact, he was leaning toward playing hockey rather than baseball after high school.

“All through the summer, I was deciding whether I was going to play hockey or baseball,” Trey said, “I decided I was going to play hockey. I had a whole bunch of Juniors teams that I had the opportunity to go play for. I had it all lined up to go to Alaska to play. That was kind of the route I was looking to go to. Then Tanner got red-shirted, so I decided I’d go play baseball.

Tanner was playing at Madison Area Technical College. They had been teammates in hockey, but the two had not been teammates often in their youth baseball. So it was a good opportunity for both of them.

“For hockey, we were teammates all the way up. Two years in a row, I got to play on varsity with him. For baseball, I was a sophomore. He was a senior. I just got called up for playoffs, so not much there. Obviously I was the little brother tagging along. If someone didn’t show up, I’d play outfield, but that’s when we were little.”

Trey Vavra played in two NJCAA World Series at Madison, finishing third (with Tanner) and then fourth. Both years, he was named the Most Outstanding Defensive Player and to the All-Tournament team.

Following his two years of junior college, Vavra accepted a full-ride scholarship to Division I Eastern Illinois. He played every game and hit well. In fact, he was named the team’s MVP. However, he wasn’t drafted. The school proved not to be a great situation for him on the baseball field. A straight-A student, there were also academic reasons that he decided to transfer following that school year.

During his summers, he played in the Northwoods League, for the Duluth Huskies. “It was awesome. I got to stay at my aunt in Superior. That was incredible. Obviously she is a huge supporter of me.”

Four of his teammates were playing at Florida Southern, a Division II school in Lakeland, Florida. That’s where Vavra decided to spend his final year of baseball eligibility. The school also gave him the opportunity to graduate with a degree that year.

He explained, “I went to Eastern Illinois. I was under the impression that I could get out of school in two years because I was a straight-A student. First academic meeting, I learned that was not the case. I lost most of my credits when I transferred there,” He continued. “So then I went to Florida Southern and I got all those credits back. If you get A’s in all your credits, they transfer universally. I didn’t know that at the time.”

Vavra graduated a year ago with a degree in Business Administration.

The Florida Southern decision was also good for Vavra on the baseball field. The head coach for Florida Southern is former big leaguer Lance Niekro, the son of former Twins pitcher, Joe Niekro, and the nephew of Hall of Fame pitcher Phil Niekro. Lance Niekro spent parts of four seasons with the San Francisco Giants and is still just 36 years old.

Vavra recalls, “Phil was at all of our games, all of our home games.”

But it wasn’t just the Niekro family that sat in the stands of Florida Southern games. “One of the assistant coaches was Colin Kaline. Al Kaline is his grandpa. The Tigers are right there in Lakeland. He came to all of our games. Charley Manuel came out to scout most of us for the Phillies. We had all of those guys there. ”

Vavra played well. He led the conference in most offensive categories including hits, doubles and home runs. He began to hear from a lot of scouts early in the season.

When draft day came in June of 2014, he wasn’t sure where he would go or when. Was he expecting to still be there when the Twins picked in the 33^rd round? “No! They projected me to go anywhere from 15 to 20, somewhere in there. As a senior, I kind of expected to go around the 20^th round. It didn’t work out.”

Though his dad and brother were in the Twins organization, he wasn’t necessarily expecting to be taken by the Twins. “I actually didn’t talk to the Twins nearly as much as the other teams. After those rounds passed, I was just looking to get picked so that I could keep playing and didn’t have the Indy ball route. I just wanted to keep playing and very thankful that the Twins picked me up.”

Trey Vavra signed quickly and was assigned to the Elizabethton Twins. He adjusted well to pro ball and had a terrific season with the E-Twins. In 50 games, he hit .319/.392/.454 (.846) with 20 doubles and a home run. It was important for him to succeed right away and know that he belonged.

He said, “Everyone is a top-tier player. For me, as a 33^rd round pick, I was trying to just fit in, rather than be The Man at first. At this level, everyone is the same. Once you’re drafted, it’s what you do with your opportunity. That’s the biggest thing I had to overcome, just to go out there and play.”

He was able to learn under the tutelage of the veteran coaching staff at Elizabethton. Manager Ray Smith was in his 28^th season on the Elizabethton coaching staff, 21 of them as manager. Hitting Coach Jeff Reed was in his 13^th season as the Elizabethton hitting coach. Vavra had not met either of the former big leaguers previously, but he said he learned a tremendous amount from each.

“Those are two great coaches to start out with. Jeff was out there every day working with me. I couldn’t thank him enough. We got into a routine, and he helped me not just hit the ball the other way, or hit the ball pull side, but drive the ball. He told me to not get some complacent hitting singles, but drive the ball.”

Vavra has played several positions defensively. In college, he mainly played first base and third base and also got some time in the outfield. With Elizabethton, he played first base and left field. He knows that being able to play different positions will be important to his playing career. Following the Elizabethton season, he was invited to the Twins Florida Instructional League where he added another position to his resume.

“I played 3B and 1B in college, spotty outfielder once in a while. I’d never caught before, in a game, before Instructs. That’s kind of the new project. I don’t really care as long as I get to hit.”

In fact, he believes that his defensive versatility helps him on the offensive side of the game, especially on the bases. “Playing out there, playing all the different positions, it helps me offensively too. What they’re doing. How they’re playing me. What’s a tough throw for the left fielder if he’s going to the gap? Be more aggressive on the base paths.”

Hitting is what Trey Vavra likes to do the most. How does he describe himself as a hitter? “That’s my thing, is to stay in the gaps. I’ve been taught that all the way up. Work off the other side. If the guy comes up, you can pull the hands. I just try to stay the other way, drive the ball the other way, up the middle, left-center. If the guy tries to run one in on me, I can still react in.”

THE VAVRA FAMILY

Treysen Vavra is the middle child of Joe and Lesa Vavra. Tanner is the eldest son, currently an infielder with the Miracle. Terrin is the youngest, a senior in high school who, as one might expect, is quite a baseball player.

As you know, Joe has held several jobs within the Twins organization including third base coach and hitting coach of the big league club before being named the team’s bench coach by manager Paul Molitor.

Lesa Vavra has been a huge influence on her boys and their paths. She did it all for the family.

According to Trey, “Mom was the taxi. She’s the rock, for sure. My dad’s gone pretty much nine months out of the year. She always keeps us positive. It’s crazy how much she’s done for us. She keeps all of our schedules straight. When I was in college, she had her iPad watching me in college, listening to Tanner’s game and watching Terrin’s game. Or vice versa. In high school, we all played three sports, so she led all of our stuff for that.”

He continued, “My mom was our hitting coach when he’s (Dad) not there. It’s kind of funny. She’s the one getting all the phone calls and then he gets the fun ones. When we played well, we called him.”

Joe was always a good ear for the boys, but he has also let them be themselves.

“The one thing I would say, from him, is he always says ‘Hit the ball hard. Drive the ball.’ That always stuck with me. If you’re struggling, it’s real easy to just flip the balls and get your hits rather than drive the ball hitting line drives. Nothing mechanical with him. He doesn’t talk to us any about mechanics because he’s not here. It’s just ‘Be on time and go out there and drive the ball.’”

It is also very clear that Trey really looks up to and admires his older brother, Tanner. “In terms of what he’s done for me, talk about a story of never letting anything get in your way. Talk about a worker. He set the tempo for how to act as a professional for me. Not even as a professional, but as a college player, and how you work. Like I said, I was going to play hockey so I went the route to go ‘play’ baseball. He was like ‘No, you don’t just play. You’ve got to work at it.’ That’s helped me a lot. I can’t say enough good things about him.”

Likewise, Tanner is very proud of Trey. “Trey is a great kid, and a great brother. He's a good person and a good ball player. Off the field he is a simple guy. He will probably be fishing with Max Murphy and never has given anyone problems. On the field, he is simply going to give his best every play and going to try to find a way to win. He is a competitor and a good teammate. They don't come much better than him.”

Regarding their youngest brother, Terrin, Trey beams with pride. “He’s the best of the three of us. What hurts him is he’s in the middle of nowhere in Wisconsin. Exposure-wise, it’s tough. He’s got a dozen-and-a-half D1 offers right now. He throws 90 off the mound in high school, plays short, bats left-handed. He’s going to find a spot somewhere.”

LOOKING FORWARD

Trey Vavra is off to a terrific start with the Cedar Rapids Kernels. Through his first 11 games, he has hit .372/.400/.698 (1.098) with three doubles, a triple, three home runs and 11 RBI. If there were a Player of the Half-Month of April, he would likely be the front-runner.

His hitting coach this year with the Kernels, Tommy Watkins, is really impressed with Vavra and his approach at the plate. “Vavra has an idea. He’s a baseball guy, been around the game. He knows how to handle the bat. He’s very easy to work with. He has a plan. For him, it’s just fine-tuning.”

Vavra doesn’t like to make statistical goals for his season. “I try not to put any numbers out there because you can either trap yourself getting to that number or if you pass that number. So I’m just trying to stay on the path that I was on last year and continue to drive the ball. Obviously we want to win the whole thing. It’s pretty early, but we’ve got a good group of guys. Hopefully we can keep winning.”

On the current Cedar Rapids Kernels’ roster, you will find that 17 players were drafted in 2014.

“A lot of these guys are from E-Town last year, and we played together in the playoffs with them. You know what guys can do and what guys can’t do. You start playing off that. You have guys from last year’s team like (Zach) Granite and (Zack) Larson. Larson is our middle of the lineup guy. Granite’s a guy that’s going to steal a lot of bags and get on base and create some havoc out there. I’m pretty excited about it.”

He concluded by saying, “That’s what we have to do, just go out there and stay on the path, try not to get to up or too down.”

It’s early, but there have already been a lot of “ups” in Trey Vavra’s professional career. Hopefully he’ll continue to take professional at-bats, drive the ball and then make adjustments. That’s the key for every ballplayer, whether a first round pick, or a 33^rd round pick.

He’s on a good team with close teammates and coaches who are very supportive and encouraging. As you read above, he also has some very strong family support. He’s certainly a player that Twins fans can cheer for.