WNC's Zylstra no longer underrated

Daniel Zylstra wasn't on WNC coach D.J. Whittemore's recruiting radar in 2008 when he was in his senior year at Central Kitsap High School in Washington.

He really wasn't even that highly regarded by the state's media either, having only been named a 4A honorable mention.

His name didn't even roll off the tongue of Pete Wilkinson, a former high school baseball coach in California and Washington, when asked for a shortstop worthy of playing at the junior college level.

He now runs a baseball academy in Seattle and is a consultant for the Pac-10 Conference.

Wilkinson had to deliberate for 24 hours before finally telling Whittemore that Zylstra was the guy he was looking for.

"We started reading up about him and there was an article in the paper about a self-made shortstop," Whittemore said. "It just talked about how he took groundballs with his dad every day and that basically he was the blue-collar guy and that's what we were looking for."

Whittemore hasn't been disappointed. After performing the best in fall ball Zylstra has carried the long-ranging ability and solid arm into the regular season as he dazzles the WNC crowds at John L. Harvey Field and even his own teammates, who will take the field at noon today in a doubleheader with Southern Idaho. The 14th-ranked Wildcats (23-5 SWAC, 29-11) are in first place in the Scenic West Athletic Conference with 12 more games to go in the regular season.

"There's been some plays in the hole that I didn't think he was going to stop that he stopped and was able to," WNC pitcher Josh Moody said. "

His fielding percentage, though, is just .914, not horrible, but it doesn't give his talent the credit it deserves. He has 185 chances so far this season and 16 errors, third most in the Scenic West Athletic Conference, but if it weren't for a range that makes nearly ever grounder look effortless his percentage might be better. He leads the conference with 122 assists, 13 more than the next fielder, and is fifth in double plays (17).

"The thing that probably goes unnoticed about his is his range," Whittemore said. "He's got great lateral quickness and gets to a lot of balls. From that standpoint he's as good a shortstop as you can have."

Zylstra is a product of athleticism. In high school he was the second-leading scorer on his basketball during his junior season with 10.2 points a game. On the baseball field he used that speed to track down grounders on almost a daily basis with dad, who was a three-sport athlete himself in high school. It was those repetitions that put him in a position to become the fielder he is today.

"I'm not a big math person, (so) it really is you just have to read it and you have to get those repetitions and see a lot of those baseballs coming at you," Zylstra said. "Otherwise you're not going to know."

The soft-spoken freshman is the polar opposite of his on-field persona. On the field, he aggressively snags up grounders, routine or not with ease. On double plays he gives a quick, underhand flip to second base that takes gets to the second baseman before a runner can even get a full step. His throws to first are nearly all chest high and always on line.

"You just have to be aggressive," Zylstra said. "Every mistake I've made is because I've sat back on the ball and wasn't aggressive."