Lisbon’s Austin Krob getting adjusted to pro baseball

CEDAR RAPIDS — Sometimes trying to throw harder can kind of boomerang on you.

Austin Krob has walked a few guys in his three starting pitching outings for the low-Class A Lake Elsinore Storm this season. More than to his liking.

The Lisbon graduate and former Kirkwood Community College lefty has determined it’s not necessary the miles per hour, as much as it is the location of whatever the miles per hour may be that day.

“I’ve had a few walks, so it’s more just getting that dialed back in,” Krob said earlier this week in a phone interview from Visalia, Calif., where his team was playing. “I think the first couple of weeks I was in my own head about trying to get more velo. At this point, it’s all about just throwing strikes and getting people out. I’ve been doing that (latter thing), it’s just that I’ve been having a lot of walks (too). Now it’s time to decrease the walks and keep throwing strikes.”

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Krob has allowed just four hits and two earned runs in 10 2/3 innings and has 15 strikeouts. That’s good.

He’s just bothered by the nine walks. And, again, he doesn’t believe that it’s a mechanical issue.

By the way, he said his fastball has been 91 to 93 miles per hour so far, though he wants to eventually get to the mid-90s. He also throws a slider and changeup.

“I think the one mechanical thing is just focal point,” Krob said. “Just finding the right spot to start the baseball, so it’s allowed to be in the strike zone for as long as you want it or to stay in it. Because sometimes you want the fastball to stay but the slider to run off and hit the ground. It’s kind of just learning what pitches work best in what counts.”

Krob is in his first full season of pro ball after being drafted by the San Diego Padres last year in the 12th round out of Texas Christian University. He was a second-team All-Big 12 Conference pick in 2021, spending last season as both a starter and reliever for the Horned Frogs.

Krob threw in only three games after signing, one for the Rookie-level Arizona Complex League Padres and two for Lake Elsinore. He’s getting used to the daily grind of his vocation.

“It’s pretty nice, in my opinion, because it’s a lot on your own, and you kind of find your own routine to make yourself feel the best you can every day,” he said. “I feel like that’s a positive for me. On the bad side, there are a lot more people, so there’s more people that need to have more eyes, more attention on them. So there’s not as much one-on-one coaching, instruction, I’d say, as there is in college and high school. It’s a little more individualized.

“You’re a professional now, so you’ve got to carry yourself the way they want you to and how you should. In a way that’s good because you get to learn more about yourself and how to coach yourself in a way. But also not every day are you going to have a guy come up and help you with something. You’ve got to learn how to work on stuff on your own.”

Needless to say, the 22-year-old Krob is living his dream.

“Oh, yeah,” he said. “I wake up every day and think ‘I get to play baseball for a job.’ It’s unbelievable. Any kid in their right mind would think this is is the best. I wake up and get to play baseball every day. You can’t dream about anything better. Obviously you could be in the big leagues, but that’ll take some time. Hopefully it’ll come one day.”

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