Ready for ‘cool ride’

Lions’ Minnis excited for season — pressure and all

Lawrence High senior pitcher Albert Minnis is one of the leaders for the defending state champion Lions. Minnis has already signed with Wichita State.

Albert Minnis was getting the rookie treatment.

On a recent Wednesday afternoon, as he posed for a short photo shoot at the end of a Lawrence High baseball practice, the senior left-hander was being showered with catcalls from nearby teammates.

One by one, they walked past, providing a steady stream of humorous commentary serving primarily to distract their talented teammate from the task at hand. Older players. Younger players. Everyone was getting in on the action. And while the comments were all in jest, their underlying message was also clear: Though he might be the area’s most high-profile player, having signed with Wichita State and garnered a good deal of attention from Major League Baseball scouts, Minnis’ status within the confines of the LHS dugout is no different than that of a third-string JV outfielder.

“Most of the time” Minnis joked recently, “they just treat me like the 10th guy on the roster.”

Which, as it happens, is exactly how Minnis likes it.

As spring sports kick off this week at Lawrence High, perhaps no story will be more intriguing than that of Minnis, arguably the area’s top overall athlete regardless of sport. And entering a season in which professional scouts figure to be staples at LHS baseball games and he will face the unenviable task of attempting to replicate his success from 2009, he’s hoping the chattering collection of players around him will have a cathartic effect as he embarks on a potentially stressful senior campaign.

“It’s kind of nice to be one of the guys out here,” he says. “It’s not like because I’m going to play college baseball somewhere I get treated any different than the JV kids. So that’s kind of nice.”

If teammates were a bit awestruck by the senior pitcher, though, it would be understandable.

During a breakout junior season in ’09, Minnis went 6-0 with a minuscule 0.65 earned-run average, striking out 64 in 43 innings — compared to just nine walks — and finishing with two complete games in his first season as a Lion.

Even more impressive, however, were his accomplishments in the Class 6A state tournament.

In a 17-0 state tournament victory over Blue Valley, for instance, he pitched a complete-game shutout, allowing just one hit while going 2-for-3 with two home runs and six RBIs at the plate. And in the state final against Shawnee Mission West, he pitched the final three three innings to lock up a 3-2 Lions victory.

Said LHS coach Brad Stoll: “His future’s as bright as anybody’s who’s come through here in a long time.”

Lions senior pitcher Albert Minnis warms up during practice this week at Lawrence High. Minnis was 6-0 last season with a 0.65 earned-run average.

If everything goes as planned over the next few months, Minnis will most likely have the choice whether to head to Wichita State next fall or sign on as a professional at some point, and one of the keys going forward, Minnis says, will be to keep a level head and maintain the work ethic that has helped him to his current position.

Despite walking into a touchy situation last year — Minnis transferred to Lawrence High following his sophomore year as a fairly high-profile player at Park Hill High and was joining a LHS team featuring a good deal of talent — the pitcher managed to avoid any of the potential pitfalls of such a situation.

In less than a week, he says, his new teammates felt like old friends, and by the time the season rolled around, it was hard for even the most skeptical Lawrence High players not to notice the skill set Minnis brought to the table.

“When you’re left-handed and throwing 89 to 91 (miles-per-hour), that tends to do wonders for your credibility,” Stoll says.

Now a senior and an unquestioned leader of the team, it’s the family-type bond among teammates that Minnis — and a good deal of teammates — believe contributed to the team’s impressive state title run a season ago.

“We’re joking around with each other all the time, having a good time all the time,” senior Tanner Kilmer said.

Whether LHS is able to fulfill its goal of a second straight state title, however, will depend at least in part on how well Minnis can handle what is sure to be an significant increase in pressure and expectations.

As the best player on the state’s best team — the Lions open the year ranked No. 33 nationally by Baseball America — he figures to have a rather sizable target on his back for the duration of the season, and will likely receive every hitter’s best shot.

Of course, he seemed to do quite well for himself during his first year at Lawrence, and he has no intentions of things going any different in his final prep season.

“I’ve been working 10-plus years putting myself in this situation … so I’m ready for it,” Minnis said this week. “I’m ready for the expectations, and I’m ready for the pressure that comes with it.

“I’m excited,” he added. “It’s going to be a cool ride.”