Bryce Gelarden’s last high school baseball season ended a little more than a week ago, and the soon-to-be Munster graduate doesn’t have a roster spot waiting for him at Indiana University, which he will attend.
But that doesn’t mean Gelarden won’t give it the old college try.
“Here’s my last-ditch effort to play some more baseball,” he said.
On Thursday night, Gelarden made his debut with the Northern League’s Indiana Panthers, his team for a few months before he pursues a walk-on spot at Indiana.
Gelarden was a fixture at catcher for Munster, which lost to Lake Central in the first round of the Class 4A Munster Sectional on May 23. He hit a career-best .344 in 28 games this season, finishing second on the team with 25 RBIs and six doubles, after making his varsity debut as a sophomore.
Gelarden’s slugging percentage was .437, significantly higher than the .310 he posted last year and indicative of an offseason that included more weight training.
“I was 20 pounds heavier as a senior, so I was hitting the ball better and especially with more power, which was nice,” he said.
Gelarden was listed at 179 pounds on Munster’s roster during his junior season — “and that might have been generous,” he said with a laugh — and he was motivated to add muscle after an interaction with a coach from Brown.
“I played well in front of them, and they told me I was moving up their boards but that I wasn’t as physical as some of the other guys they were recruiting,” he said. “That line really stuck with me.”
Munster coach Mike Mikolajczyk said Gelarden’s physical development allowed him to be a staple behind the plate.
“For him to catch about 99% of our innings this year, it says a lot about him and his commitment to his strength training and his conditioning,” Mikolajczyk said.
Gelarden continued entertaining conversations about playing college baseball throughout his senior year, but he didn’t ignore the academic part of his future. The combination of scholarships and his direct admission into Indiana’s prestigious Kelley School of Business set him on a course to Bloomington by mid-April.
So he switched his focus to trying to walk on there, something he was telling teammates like junior pitcher Owen Roberts after Munster’s season-ending loss.
“He told us that he was going to be a part of Indiana’s team in some way,” Roberts said. “Baseball is one of the biggest things in Bryce’s life. He can do it if he puts his mind to it and really works hard for it.”
Gelarden said he may become a student manager for Indiana’s baseball team if he doesn’t earn a walk-on spot, but that decision is months away. For now, he’s focused on a position switch, spending his summer with the Panthers as an outfielder.
“Getting faster and building up arm strength from a different spot on the field is going to be pretty important,” he said.
Beyond those developmental goals, Gelarden said he’s ready to prove his worth in a league filled with players who already have a season or two — or more — of college baseball experience.
“I just want to compete at that level and show that, even though I’m one of the only 18-year-olds in that league, I can still play good baseball,” he said.
Dave Melton is a freelance reporter.
