Roommates Find Their Home Away from Home By John Kocsis Jr.
Blue Valley Southwest High School and Park Hill High School are on opposite sides of the border, a rigid line that is separated by the Missouri River. Blue Valley Southwest is in Kansas. Park Hill is in Missouri. The difference is less than 40 miles North-to-South. Just a short trek from 635-to-69 to get from point a-to-point b. Needless to say, Royals’ second and third round picks Ben Kudrna and Carter Jensen had heard
of each other prior to the draft.
They played each other once their sophomore year of high school during the summer. “Unfortunately, we didn’t get to play each other during states in high school, but it’s really cool that we were both able to win the state tournament.” Kudrna said. “I knew he was a stud,” Jensen relays. “I had seen him enough. We were pretty familiar with each other.” The two never met in a state tournament, but both played on the Royals’ scout team, so they had faced each other and played together prior to the draft. Their connection runs a little deeper though. Both players had committed to play under Louisiana State University’s coach Jay Johnson. The Tigers’ skipper had brought together the nation’s top recruiting class in his first season at the helm and the two Kansas City-suburb teens were a part of that class.
Not only would they be in the same cohort of players, but the two Fireflies were supposed to be roommates their freshman year.
“Our junior and senior year, we got to play on the Royals’ scout team together,” Kudrna reminisces. “I got to play him once and I actually threw to him a few times while we were playing there.” Then Monday, July 12, in the second round of the 2021 MLB Draft, Kudrna’s fate changed. After being selected 43rd overall, he was due for a large bonus, and after some negotiation, he elected to sign with Kansas City and forgo his commitment to LSU. Kudrna was in a haze. His phone was blowing up from people congratulating him on the news that he was going to be a professional baseball player. Later, one of his buddies texted him and asked if he saw that the Royals had also picked up Jensen. Despite everything else Ben had going on, he knew what he needed to do. He picked up the phone and called Carter to congratulate him.
Made with FlippingBook flipbook maker