Terrin Vavra didn’t have a minor league baseball season to compete in for 2020.
But that hasn’t stopped the Menomonie grad from staying busy in the sport and making a good impression with a new organization. Vavra was a part of a trade sending the former Colorado Rockies farmhand to Baltimore and setting his sights on returning to consistent game action in 2021.
Following the Aug. 30 trade that sent Vavra and others to Baltimore in exchange for relief pitcher Mychal Givens, the former Minnesota Golden Gopher was added to the Orioles’ 60-man player pool and was able to work out with the team at its alternate site in Bowie, Maryland.
Menomonie grad Terrin Vavra is excited and grateful for his new opportunity with the Baltimore Orioles after being involved in a four-player trade sending the infielder to Baltimore from the Colorado Rockies.
Prior to the trade Vavra had been working out at Triple Threat Training in Downsville, a baseball and softball training facility owned by brothers Tanner, Trey and Terrin Vavra. Terrin had been working out at Triple Threat prior to the trade, but after the deal was made he quickly got back up to speed in Bowie.
“I think it was a little bit of a culture shock because you’re going from not really getting any live at-bats in live-game situations to being thrown into the fire and getting those opportunities. It was great,” Terrin said. “I had a great time out there and was very fortunate to be a part of that and I think I got a lot better because of it.”
Each team’s 60-man roster for the 2020 season was made up of players that could be added to the big league 28-man lineup at any time, a combination of up-and-coming prospects and former big leaguers looking to return to the show. Terrin enjoyed the chance to not only get back to consistent baseball activities with an organization but learning from those veterans as he looks to keep making his way up the minor-league ladder after a successful 2019 season with Colorado’s Single-A team in Asheville, N.C.
Terrin hit .318 with a .409 on-base percentage with 10 home runs, 18 stolen bases and 52 runs batted in across 102 games for Asheville in 2019 after being drafted by the Rockies in the third round of the 2018 MLB June Amateur Draft. He is ranked 13th in the Orioles organization by MLB Pipeline with the website noting, “Vavra’s natural feel to hit stands out more than anything else. He works counts and knows the strike zone extremely well, walking as much as he struck out in 2019. The switch-hitter manipulates the bat head and doesn’t get fooled, consistently squaring up the baseball and sending line drives to all fields, with more power coming from the left side of the plate so far.”
Terrin appreciated the opportunity he was given and after the season ended in September, the 23-year-old Vavra earned another important chance when he was selected to play in Baltimore’s instructional league camp in Florida alongside and against fellow prospects in October and November. The time spent in Bowie helped Terrin get back into the flow of live game action and he said that was important to help him put together an effort in Florida he was pleased with.
“That was nice to be able to have the time at the alternate site before going and competing in the instructional league,” Vavra said. “I was really prepared I think because of it. I just tried to go through the instructional league the same way I went about my time in the alternate site.”
After returning to the area following instructionals, Vavra took a little time off to recharge before returning to training at Triple Threat.
He is one of many area baseball players to have noteworthy efforts in pro baseball in 2020. Chippewa Falls native Kyle Cody reached the big leagues as a pitcher with the Texas Rangers, logging a 1-1 record in 22.2 innings with a 1.59 earned run average that included five starts. River Falls’s J.P. Feyereisen made the opening day roster for the Milwaukee Brewers and had a 5.79 ERA across 9.1 innings.
The year 2020 has been a challenging one for many and Vavra is no different. But as the holiday season arrives, Terrin is grateful for the support of the people around him that have helped him continue his passion for the sport of baseball. How a minor league season in 2021 may look is still up in the air, but whenever the time comes to play ball, Vavra will be ready.
“We haven’t heard much,” Vavra said of the 2021 plans for minor league baseball. “There’s all sort of rumors that you can get caught up on but I’m just trying to prepare myself for a normal spring training that I’m going to be ready for. If it gets pushed back I’ll just keep doing my thing and be ready for the next date.”
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