By Andrew Collinsworth
Kenny Schneider came to Bluffton knowing he was good enough to play college baseball, but talent isn’t the reason he’s not on the field.
In high school Schneider’s father told him if you start for an Ohio Capital Conference team, you can play at the division three level. Schneider believed in that statement despite not having a senior season due to COVID-19 and pursued collegiate baseball. However, the college he was most interested in closed, and he was left to find a new school without many suitors.
“I was looking at a couple different universities, but they weren’t great fits,” Schneider said. “I was kind of recruited by the [Bluffton] assistant coaches, but the main reason I came was after talking to one of my friends’ dads — who used to coach. He put it all in motion for me to get a visit.”
In the fall of his freshman year, Schneider was practicing with the reserves and worked his way to getting reps with the starters in the spring. He was determined to earn playing time modeled his work ethic after senior Reid Ruhl.
“From play style to physicality to the way he lifted, I was just trying to beat him in everything,” Schneider said. “He was the guy in everybody else’s eye.”
Schneider went on to have a successful freshman campaign eventually becoming a mainstay in the lineup. He had a .290 batting average before the first of many injuries cut his season short during the conference tournament when he dove back into first base and dislocated his shoulder.
An even better sophomore season was plagued with a second and eventual third shoulder dislocation that kept him off the field for over 3 weeks. Now in his junior year, Schneider has been battling a broken wrist through the preseason, only appearing in 5 of 15 games thus far.
“When they told me it [his wrist] was broken, I went to my car and for about 20 minutes it was just uncontrollable tears,” Schneider said. “Thinking to myself what the hell am I going to do? I already have a shoulder problem, I’m already doing PT, and it’s on the same arm. That was the immediate reaction.”
The hardest thing for Schneider has been telling the coaching staff everyday whether he is healthy enough to play. He recalled a moment during the team’s Florida trip in which he had to pull himself out of the lineup.
“I have never once in my entire life pulled myself from the lineup, Haverford [college] was the very first time I did it. I’m in the outfield, turned away from the team fighting back tears,” Schneider said. “Being on the line of, ‘should I tell them that I want to play because I do want to play’ but also knowing that I’m swinging at 70% right now and it will affect me in the field, is incredibly hard.”
Schneider credits his dad and his teammates, Grant Hovest, Ethan Moore and Carson Curnutte, for helping him through this time. Hovest, Moore and Curnutte have all undergone serious injuries that have impacted their play. Schneider’s biggest takeaway was from Curnutte who told him to know that he is enough and to play within himself.
“[Schneider] is a fierce competitor and when you’re playing next to a guy that wants to win that much, it only makes you want to win more,” said Hovest. “Injuries and setbacks are probably the hardest things that a student athlete has to deal with, and he’s had his fair share of them…but he always works through it, recovers, and gets back to work.”
A leader on the team, Schneider has found ways to help the team while he’s been out. He doesn’t think it’s his place to speak up at times but leads based off his actions. When he is not in the lineup, fans will see him at games working on the quality at-bats chart, grabbing a helmet for the lead off guy or telling somebody when he realizes something in their game they can improve. He was also quick to add advice to those struggling with injuries or confidence in general.
“Know you’re enough,” said Schneider. “We have a problem with confidence on our team, you have to be able to trust yourself. The coaches saw you and liked what they saw. You have to want it. Love the game you’re playing and love your teammates.”
