This past season, Kyle Karros traded the sunny skies and sandy shores of Manhattan Beach, California for the hills and sprawling forests of Spokane, Washington. For the first time in Karros’ young career, he’d be playing a full season away from home. The third-baseman, born in Manhattan Beach, played for Mira Costa High School before taking his talents to UCLA, where he’d play alongside his brother, right-handed pitcher and Dodgers prospect, Jared Karros, each following in the footsteps of their father, long-time major-leaguer and 1992 NL Rookie of the Year, Eric Karros. 

Unlike his father and brother, Kyle wasn’t drafted by the Dodgers, yet, he still managed to remain in the NL West when he was selected in the fifth round of the 2023 MLB Amateur Draft by the Colorado Rockies. After a short stint at the end of the season at the Single-A level with the Fresno Grizzlies, Kyle was set to embark on the first major step to achieving his dream of playing in the big leagues by covering the hot corner for the Spokane Indians. 

Spokane sits roughly 1,200 miles away from Manhattan Beach, but the change of scenery was an easier transition than it seemed as Karros had been spending time over the past seven summers in nearby Coeur d’Alene. 

In the Banter Session, Kyle admitted “Ironically, you fly into Spokane and drive thirty minutes to the lake, so I’ve loved the area for seven years now. Every summer I spend there. It’s honestly my happy place.” Already having a house and some familiarity with the area made the transition during his first professional season even easier. 

“I got extremely lucky. I don’t know how it happened or if it were the universe working, but something lined up perfectly.”  

While the stars may have aligned to bring Kyle to familiar territory, 2024 was anything but lucky. The third-baseman’s first full season of professional baseball saw him earn Player of the Week and Month honors for the Northwest League, leading the Indians to the franchise’s first Northwest League Championship in 16 seasons as the team-leader in BA, OBP, SLG, AB, H, 2B, RBI, and BB. But the recognition didn’t stop there as Karros was also crowned as the Northwest League MVP, making it three consecutive seasons that a Spokane Indian and a Rockies prospect has won the award (Zac Veen in 2022, followed by Jordan Beck in 2023). Just this week, Karros was named a Rawlings Minor League Gold Glove winner for his stellar work at the third base this season. To place this accomplishment into perspective, the last Rockies prospect and fellow Spokane-alum to be named a MiLB Gold Glove winner was Brenton Doyle in 2021. 

Winning the Gold Glove meant plenty to Karros, as the achievement had been on his mind since his days at UCLA. After missing out on chances to win the defensive accolade due to injury during his junior year, he used the setback as motivation to further hone in on his craft, and this fell into place perfectly with what the Rockies wanted out of him. The Rockies made it clear that proficiency on defense is a major point of emphasis throughout the organization, but they didn’t need to tell Karros that twice. He already strives to make defense a pillar of his game, exuding confidence with his 6’ 5” build and a mindset that aligns perfectly with a team like the Rockies. 

“It all lined up very similarly where I could play freely with what I believed in, and that’s where you’re at your best is when you’re playing how you think you should play, not when you’re trying to please anyone or do this for someone else. Our beliefs fall in line with each other so that I can just go out and play.” 

Considering all the hardware Karros now has to find room for on his mantle, you’d think he’d be any less motivated for improving his game. However, Karros is self-motivated, constantly finding ways to tweak his batting stance or spend time fielding monotonous grounders. The time spent in Spokane allowed him to find what worked best for his game, both at the plate and in the field. Karros found his groove and let the worries over his statistical output fall by the wayside, which was easy to say for someone who was crowned MVP of the Northwest League. 

“If you would’ve told me all of this at the beginning of the year, I would’ve been like ‘yeah, there’s no way, that’s not happening,’ but at midseason I knew all of these things were realistic and attainable for me.”

There were plenty of changes for Karros during the 2024 season, but his confidence never wavered. He understands that to play with the best, he has to strive day in and day out to earn his playing time, and to never be satisfied with all of the accolades that are bestowed upon him. While the stars may have aligned to place Kyle in Spokane—somewhere he’d already spent plenty of time—he understands that his memorable season with a close-knit group is one pit-stop in his journey to making it to the big leagues. Karros joined the ranks of Tony Gwynn, former Rockie Garret Atkins, and Joe Panik who all were also named Northwest League MVP at the beginning of their respective careers. There is plenty of work to be done as Karros heads towards Hartford, Albuquerque, before inevitably finding himself at Coors Field.

ICYMI: Corner IF prospects at the beginning of the 2024 season.

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