THSB Feature: Elijah Munson

Josh Pratt, TxHighSchoolBaseball.com

As a pitcher, Elijah Munson has delivered plenty of breaking balls to opposing batters.  When Elijah was just 12, the tables were turned as he was the one facing the biggest curve of his life.

At the time, Elijah was in a normal outing, pitching for his travel team in Omaha, Neb.  Moments later, everything in his life changed forever as a line drive struck him directly on the head.

“I didn’t quite get my glove up in time and it hit me on the head,” said Munson.  “Immediately, I couldn’t see out of my right eye.  My first thought was if I was going to ever be able to play baseball again.”

The prognosis was not good as the Bell County native got word that he would no longer be able to see out of that right eye.  Many athletes deal with serious injuries, but they are ones that generally allow for a full recovery.  If Elijah was going to return to baseball, the only option would be to adapt.

“It took about four months,” said Munson on how long it took him to get back to baseball. “I had to work through some issues with depth perception, but I came back and slowly got better.  It was big at first.  It is just something you have to overcome, and once you do that it’s like anything else and you’re a normal player.”

Better and better he got.  Not only does Munson still pitch, but he does so very well.  As a freshman, he was a starter at Central Texas Christian School in Temple, helping lead his team to a perfect 8-0 district mark.  This summer he joined the Texas Twins organization out of Belton, where he has become the ace of the staff.

“I give a lot kids lessons and Coach Kellner at Temple College does the same,” said Twins headman and 15 and under head coach Jonathan Farrow.  “We both have discussed many times how do you put yourself in a situation with such a big injury that you can’t compare anything to.  You would have to go play baseball with an eye patch to have any feel of what he feels like.  I know your eye would gain strength being alone, but to do what he does hitting wise and fielding wise, it’s very special.”

Doing it the right way
For any athlete to succeed in a sport, they have to do things the right way.  Farrow says that Munson is the type of player that does the little things to help advance his level of play.

“In his post-pitching performance he is running foul poles,” said Farrow.  “That’s the reason he does great things on this field and the reason anyone does great things.  I think he prepares harder than anyone else and that’s what makes him special.”

Additionally, Munson has proven that he brings a positive attitude to the field and is a teammate to look up to.  In his team’s Friday night game at Baylor University, you could hear Munson trying to encourage his fellow teammates.  While on the mound, you could also see him set an example with his demeanor, which included an occasional smile.

“He’s a leader,” Farrow said.  “Sometimes he’s vocal, but a lot of the times it’s just by how he handles himself.  Whether it be stretching before a game or having a bad at-bat, he just handles himself like an older classman.  He’s very coachable.”

Recent Outing and overall success
On Friday, the Twins notched a 5-1 win over the Texas Blackhawks.  Munson was the starting pitcher in that contest and picked up the victory, going 5.2 innings pitched.  The righty scattered 7 hits, struck out 10, walked just 1 while giving up no earned runs.

“I did pretty good,” said Munson on his performance.  “Coming out, I knew the team was going to be good and I was going to have to bring my A game and do the best that I could.”

What made Munson’s performance even more impressive was his response to high-stress situations.  In the bottom of the third, the bases were loaded with just one out, but back-to-back strikeouts ended the threat.  Munson worked out of further trouble in the fourth, as with the bases loaded and nobody out he struck out two more before inducing a ground out to third base.

“I had to bear down and man up and make sure they didn’t score runs,” said Munson on what goes through his mind during those difficult moments.  “If possible, get a ground ball and turn some double plays.”

His coach says it’s been that way all summer long.

“He has the “it” factor,” said Farrow.  “He has that special ability to when the situation gets really tough, that’s when he bears down and gives his absolute best stuff.  No situation is too big for him to handle.”

Munson is leading the way in most of the pitching categories for the Twins.  In his 29.2 innings pitched, he has given up 25 hits, struck out 36, walked just 7 and has a 2.12 ERA.  As a freshmen at CTCS, he won 7 games, struck out 97 batters and had an ERA of 1.35.

“Every time we’ve had the opportunity to put him on the mound this summer, it’s been special,” said Farrow.  “He gets ahead in the count and he just looks comfortable when he’s pitching and that is just where he was born to play.  He’s a great pitcher.”

Munson, who also plays football and enjoys bowling in his free time, is an all-around athlete.  He’s also pretty good with the bat, collecting 15 hits and 14 RBI this summer, which is good enough for a tie atop the leaderboards.