In his final year with the Gophers in 2018, Terrin Vavra hit .386. The year before that: .308. As a freshman: .358.
The transition to professional baseball has produced much of the same for the 2018 All-American shortstop: .302 his rookie season and now .318 in his first full year as a minor leaguer, earning him 2019 South Atlantic League MVP honors. It seems Vavra is nothing if not a model of consistency at the plate, having repeatedly proven himself capable of getting on base time after time, regardless of the situation – and despite the ever-improving level of competition.
As a kid growing up in the small Midwestern town of Menomonie, Wis., it was tough for Vavra to foresee such a future in the realm of professional baseball. Always maintaining the utmost confidence in himself, Vavra worked relentlessly in aspiration of the big league dream, never really knowing how realistic the goal really was. As he experienced more and more success at the collegiate level, it slowly became evident that a call from a Major League organization was in his future – something that ultimately became reality when the Colorado Rockies took Vavra in the third round of the 2018 MLB Draft.
“Whenever something like that happens, it’s pretty special because those are the dreams that you have and you never expect those things, but you work so hard and when they finally come to fruition, it means even more,” said Vavra.
Going back to that day, Vavra had a unique opportunity to share his draft experience with a wide range of loved ones. In 2018, the Gophers were battling for a berth in the NCAA College World Series, having just won the Minneapolis Regional. When day two of the MLB Draft kicked off on June 5, the Minnesota team was back home preparing for an upcoming date with Oregon State in the Super Regional.
“I was able to share that moment with my family, but because we were still playing, I drove back to campus afterwards and was able to share it with my teammates, too,” said Vavra. “I kind of got the best of both worlds.”
A little over fourteen months removed from being the 96th overall player taken off the board, Vavra has already seen his prospect stock soar. Recently, the Rockies moved him up to the seventh-ranked prospect in the organization. Even so, the budding shortstop’s top priority is to keep his attention honed in on his job on the diamond.
“I try to keep my focus on baseball, especially during the season,” said Vavra. “It is definitely cool and it’s very humbling, but I know I have a lot of work left to do and I’m excited to get to work this offseason.”
It does not require an in-depth examination to understand why Vavra has sky-rocketed up the Rockies’ prospect list: this season, Vavra is slashing .318/.409/.489 with ten home runs, 32 doubles, 79 runs, 52 RBI and 18 steals. The second-year pro has even offset his number of strikeouts (62) by walking an equal amount of times, a feat made all-the-more impressive considering the all-or-nothing nature of today’s game.
“It still is the same game and that’s what I’ve tried to have my mindset as each time I go to the field,” Vavra said. “It’s nothing I can’t handle. It’s still nine innings of baseball. I still have the same objective as when I was nine years old.”
The business-as-usual, blue-collar attitude that Vavra embodies on the field is something that is likely to sound quite familiar to dedicated fans of the Gopher baseball program. It is this type of mindset that head coach John Anderson and his staff have been preaching to players for quite some time now, and it is the approach that really struck a chord with Vavra during his playing days in Minneapolis.
“[Coach Anderson] always tried to prepare us for the rest of our lives, and that’s definitely been the case with me,” said Vavra. “On the baseball field, how they enforced going about your business every day has helped me at this level as well. Taking it seriously, getting to work and just taking each moment like it’s your last.”
Along with that comes Vavra’s undying pursuit to improve. In a Rockies farm system that has produced the likes of infielders Nolan Arenado, Trevor Story and Brendan Rodgers in recent years, Vavra continues to develop his game in hopes of becoming the most well-rounded ballplayer he can possibly be.
“I want to be able to be just as impactful for the team on the defensive side as the offensive side,” said Vavra. “A lot of times that’s taken for granted and I don’t want that to be the case with me. I want to prove that I can be a top level defender, just as much as a top level hitter.”
With a .962 fielding percentage across starts at both second base and shortstop, Vavra has been serviceable on the defensive side of the game in 2019. If one were to slot him alongside today’s Major Leaguers, that mark would put him between shortstops Jorge Polanco and Willy Adames. Although there is still plenty of room for improvement for the 22-year-old infielder, that company signifies a strong starting point moving forward.
As Vavra seeks to take his glovework to the next level, his name has already been added to an impressive group of pro-alumni stemming from the Gopher Baseball program. In the history of the Maroon and Gold, 36 former Gophers have reached the Major Leagues, including Hall of Famers Dave Winfield (’73) and Paul Molitor (’77). Evidenced by the upcoming Alumni Weekend that will be held from Sept. 27-28, the program’s pro-alumni are a special component of the unique Gopher Baseball culture.
“For them to come back and to be able to meet them, it excites you and it motivates you as a player to hopefully have that for yourself one day, where you’re going back and you’re sharing information with the current players,” said Vavra.
For Vavra, the small-town Wisconsin kid-turned-top MLB prospect, that sentiment signifies a resounding truth. Although he has an overwhelmingly successful college career in his back pocket coupled with a South Atlantic League MVP campaign, there is really only one goal for Vavra: to one day don a Major League uniform.
“I think everyone who’s playing, whether they’re eight years old or 28 years old, they’re trying to get to the big leagues and that’s the pinnacle of our sport,” Vavra said. “I’m hopefully just going to take a step up to the next level next year and do my best and keep working my way up. I’m trying not to get too far ahead of myself and take it one game at a time, but other than that, I think the goal of making the big leagues is true for everybody.”
If Vavra maintains his current trajectory and extends the consistency he has shown at the dish, a call to the bigs will likely be in the cards at some point in his future. Still, when asked if he had any further details or remarks to provide on his journey-in-progress, he only had one thing to say.
“Go Gophers. That’s all I’ve got.”
The original article can be found here:
https://gophersports.com/news/2019/8/27/baseball-terrin-vavra-blue-collar-attitude-next-level-stats.aspx