Miller is area's top baseball player

HIBBING—If there’s an athlete that lives, sleeps and breathes sports it’s Kyler Miller.

The Grand Rapids High School senior won’t be found sitting on a couch playing video games.

Instead, he’ll don some gear, head outside and play baseball.

That’s why Miller stood out on the Thunderhawks’ baseball team.

He was one of the reasons why Grand Rapids won the Section 7AAA title and advanced to the state tournament, where the Thunderhawks placed third.

At state, Miller had seven hits in 10 at bats, and he was an anchor at shortstop on defense.

For those reasons, Miller has been named the Mesabi Tribune and Herald Review Baseball Player of the Year.

Miller’s accomplishments didn’t surprise Grand Rapids coach Bill Kinnunen.

“I loved his leadership on and off the field,” Kinnunen said. “He controlled the flow of the diamond from his shortstop position. At playoff time, he had some huge hits through the section and state tournament.

“He cranked it up a notch once the playoffs started, and he kept it rolling. He swung at good pitches and barreled everything up. That was key.”

Miller picked up his skills by going to the ballfield with his older brother, Kodi.

“I was trying to compete with older kids,” Miller said. “I always have to try and do better than him. He’s always pushing me, and I’m always pushing him. We were making each other better.

“We’re competitive like that, but that makes us better when we get into each other. I have a baseball family. I loved it.”

Miller was so talented that he was supposed to start on the varsity team as a freshman, but an injury playing hockey in Dallas, TX., one day before the start of baseball practice, kept him off the field.

“I blocked a shot on my knee cap and broke my knee,” Miller said. “I missed that whole season of baseball.”

Kinnunen said, “He would have been on our roster as a freshman, and as a sophomore, he didn’t play until there was a week left in the season. He helped us in the playoffs, and as a junior and senior, he was our leader.”

Miller did miss most of his sophomore season because lightning struck twice.

“I recovered over the summer, but I rebroke it again, so I missed my first year of hockey, then my sophomore year of baseball,” Miller said. “It must have never healed right. I didn’t give it enough time to heal.”

Kinnunen had to wait another season to get Miller on the field.

“He shattered it in the same spot,” Kinnunen said. “He wasn’t done growing yet, so that’s why it didn’t heal. He had to have it wired together, and they put screws in it. He still has that metal in there, so he’s like the $6,000,000 man with all of that metal in there.”

Needless to say, Miller couldn’t wait to get back into action, but he had some catching up to do.

“Especially, strength-wise,” Miller said. “Competition-wise, I probably had to catch up a little bit, too, but it felt like riding a bike. You get right back into it. It was very frustrating to not be able to play at 100-percent like the way you know you can.

“Now, it’s 100-percent healed. I had a huge improvement in strength. I spent a lot of time in the gym. It was a lot of mental practice, and going to the field with my brother every day that I could. It’s nothing but up from here.”

The one thing Miller didn’t do while he was recovering was sit in front of a television or computer playing video games.

“I’m not big into video games,” Miller said. “I’m usually never inside. I’m either hunting, fishing, playing hockey or baseball.”

That’s the one thing Kinnunen appreciates about Miller the most — his dedication to his sports.

“When you drive past schools now, there’s no games going on,” Kinnunen said. “I don’t see kids out playing catch. It’s rare to see a kid not playing a video game. He didn’t have the time. He was out playing.

“When you’re hurt, you get sick of sitting around. He made good use of his time and career once he got healed up.”

That career will take Miller to the University of Minnesota-Crookston, where he will play on the same team as his brother.

“It’s an amazing feeling that I went from not being able to play, then you get to play after high school,” Miller said. “It was a dream of mine. I know I struggled with picking a sport, but now I get the chance to play with my brother because I didn’t get to in high school.

“That will be fun.”

Miller did have the option of playing junior hockey,too, but starting his education won out.

“That was a big factor,” Miller said. “I’m going into exercise science and wellness and that’s six years of school. I better get a start on it.”

Joining Miller on the all-area team are his teammates Caleb Gunderson, Easton Sjostrand, Nolan Svatos, Jake Garski and Klous Jones; Noah Sundquist, Noah Asuma, Isaac Asuma and Mason Heitzman of Cherry; Luke Nelson and Kadin Augustine of Hibbing; Thomas Vekich of Greenway/Nashwauk-Keewatin; Dakota Kruse, Easton Sahr and Ryder Gerulli of Mesabi East; Tate Uhan and Will Kemp of Rock Ridge; Ben Leeson and Caid Chittum of Ely; Brant Tiedmann of Mountain Iron-Buhl; Dominic Pascuzzi of Chisholm; and Louie Panichi of North Woods.