Dylan Kints prepped for college baseball season in California
One of the top Exeter players of his generation is ready for his junior college debut
1.
His right foot hugged the rubber of an artificial pitcher’s mound inside a long, narrow enclosure that, in addition to a baseball training facility, was also a barn.
And it was not a barn in the colloquial sense — the kind of craggy venue athletes speak about with reverence and distain.
The space literally sheltered farm equipment.
As Dylan Kints hiked his left knee toward his chest and threw a series of 85-mile-an-hour fastballs, a rust-coloured tractor rested on oversized tires three strides away.
It was sometime in 2021, and Kints — a righthanded pitcher from Exeter who graduated from Precious Blood School and South Huron District High School — was filming a recruiting video to scare up attention from college baseball teams in the United States.
After his fastball, Kints threw his 73-mph slider and his 73-mph changeup, each pitch smacking the catcher’s mitt with force. Then the camera moved to Alvin Willert Field in Exeter, where Kints took batting practice and fielded grounders and short-hoppers.
In the video’s final frame, he sprints all-out across the stadium’s well-manicured outfield to showcase his footspeed, which reportedly translates to a 7.1-second 60-yard dash.
“I had talks with maybe four or five schools,” said Kints, speaking on the phone from southern California, where he’s now a relief pitcher with College of the Desert (COD).
“So I had a few offers out of school, but [it was] COD I went deepest with in conversation.”
He signed at COD, a larger-than-average junior college in the city of Palm Desert, about two hours east of Los Angeles, in part for baseball reasons and in part for the experience.
“It was sunny California, close to L.A., close to San Diego,” he said. “This is going to be an experience that I'll never forget.”
As Kints prepares to help the Roadrunners run it back, he is 2,500 miles from home and light years further than most other Exeter players of his generation.
“I want to get a bunch of innings [this season] and be a key guy in the bullpen, someone they can call on whenever,” he said.
“If the starter's in trouble in the third inning, I want to be the guy they can go, 'Hey Kints, you go clean it up. Or: ‘Hey, we need you to lock down a save situation here.'
“Anything. Wherever they need me.”
2.
In a backyard batting cage at the home of his coach David Reid, Kints spent hours hacking away, gritting through the work needed to raise his game to the next level.
He was a key part of the Exeter Peewee team that won a provincial championship under Reid in 2015, and his coach remembers him as a top-three pitcher on a squad with lots of talent.
But within a couple of years, Kints had surpassed many of his peers and was arguably the best pitcher in his age group.
“He did that purely through his own efforts, and it really came from a true love of the game,” said Reid. “That's the genesis of his willingness to work so hard.
“He's arguably worked harder at the game than any player I've ever coached.”
In 2017, Reid and Kints led the Exeter Bantam team to another provincial final, and Kints soon moved to a bigger stage.
He played one season with the Great Lake Canadians, an elite amateur program in the Canadian Premier Baseball League (CPBL) run in part by former Major Leaguers Chris Robinson, Adam Stern and Jamie Romak.
Then came three seasons with the Ontario Nationals, another CPBL team based in St. Marys.
By the end of high school, Kints had developed a fastball that routinely breached 85 mph, with impressive control and an effective slider to keep hitters guessing.
“Dylan always had that desire, and I think his family certainly promoted that,” said Reid.
“But I think also Dylan had goals. He wanted to be able to play ball at the collegiate level, and … sure. That’s a great idea. Everybody likes the idea.
“I think he really knew what he had to do to improve to get there.”
So, Kints found himself in that backyard batting cage, working methodically on his game.
“Even in the years after I coached him, he would have spent more time in that cage than almost any other kid in Exeter together — all of them,” said Reid.
“He’s a very hardworking kid who I enjoyed coaching a great deal.”
3.
At batting practice early in his freshman year at COD, Kints was walking by the cages when a ball flew out and struck him on the ankle, he said.
He was out of commission for about six weeks, “a freak little injury,” that led him to spend the rest of the season as a medical red shirt.
That preserved a year of college eligibility but sidelined him for the school’s 2022 championship run.
“It was kind of tough — and not in a selfish way, but because I wanted to be out there with the guys,” he said.
“It did kind of sting a little bit that I wasn't able to be a part of it, but I'm still very happy for them at the end of the day.”
The team begins its title defence in late January, and the regular season wraps up April 28.
“I think we have a chance to make an even bigger impact than last year,” said Kints. “And we've got to prove that last year wasn't just a fluke.
“A lot of teams know us now, and so we've got to play up to that potential.”
At a school where the definition of a “small town” is usually one with around 40,000 people, there have been a few off-field adjustments required of the kid from rural Ontario.
“But it's definitely been cool,” he said. “[Growing up in Exeter] definitely taught me a lot of individuality, and just being yourself.”
The biggest challenge so far, apart from baseball?
“Just learning how to cook for myself,” he said. “In school, everything's been normal.”