Standing at 6 feet, 7 inches tall, junior Bryce Montes de Oca does anything but blend in this season on the Lawrence High baseball team. The junior will be an integral part of the Lion’s pitching rotation this year after sitting out last season due to an elbow injury.
If opposing teams aren’t already thrown off by his size, Montes de Oca consistently pitches fastballs in the low 90 MPH range. That combination could throw off even the best hitters.
“What makes him good is that he’s so long, and leverage is such an important factor when you’re pitching,” head baseball coach Brad Stoll said. “He’s 6 foot 7 and it just feels like he’s right on top of you.”
Senior Adam Rea agreed Montes de Oca’s size is an advantage.
“His hands are so big,” Rea said. “When he pitches, you can’t even see the ball until it’s already out of his hand.”
Had the elbow injury not kept Montes de Oca in the dugout last season, he would have been a valuable arm on last year’s pitching staff. Instead of contributing on the field, Montes de Oca found other ways to help out last season.
“[The Injury] was kind of a devastating blow because he wanted to be such a big part of the team,” Stoll said. “But the thing that he showed was great character, he came to practice every day, was a great teammate, he ran charts. He just showed how great of a person he really is.”
Montes de Oca approached the injury with optimism.
“I’ve been hurt plenty of times, I just try and deal with the rehab,” he said. “Usually you come out better than before, so I tried to make the best of the situation.”
When the injury healed, the hard throwing right-handed pitcher performed well at several national showcases. Those performances could possibly attract numerous college and professional scouts to watch the Lions this spring. Although most of the scouts will be in attendance to get a good look at him, Montes de Oca will pay little to no attention to the scouts for he is currently committed to play baseball at the collegiate level for the University of Missouri.
“Very strong,” Montes de Oca said for the strength of his commitment to Missouri.
The commitment is even strong enough for him to sacrifice a spot on the varsity basketball team in order to avoid a potentially serious injury and to focus on baseball.
“Missouri offered me a scholarship, and that showed them having faith in me,” Montes de Oca said. “I wanted to give them faith and trust in me by just focusing on baseball. Also, my potential in baseball is better than it was in basketball, and baseball is just my favorite sport.”
Stoll is excited about the prospect of having scouts, strictly in attendance to discover talented high school athletes, at their games this year. Even though he already has strong plans to play for the MU after high school, Bryce Montes de Oca could be part of the reason one of his teammates gets a chance to continue their careers after high school.
“My message to the team is, Bryce is going to be throwing in front of 30 radar guns a night, maybe they [scouts] catch you as a third baseman, or a center fielder or a catcher,” Stoll said. “So it’s going to be beneficial to everybody, and it’s exciting.”