For countless nights, Zac Elgie stayed up with his mom and dad, discussing where he would start his future after high school.

Either take the offer to start a major league career, or take some more time to refine his game in the college ranks.

“I finally came to the decision to go to college and get some more experience under your belt,” Elgie said. “I don’t necessarily think I was quite ready yet for Major League Baseball.”

Elgie was taken in the 12th round by the Oakland Athletics, but the freshman catcher wasn’t the only one faced with that decision. Freshman pitcher Lee Ridenhour was drafted in the 31st round by the Minnesota Twins. Both share similar reasons for choosing college first, and coach Ritch Price is ecstatic by both of their decisions.

“Zac Elgie is a tremendous talent,” Price said. “He had a really bad fall, but he’s made great strides in the last month, the ball jumps off his barrel.”

Price was quick to mention the potential of Ridenhour as well.

“Ridenhour probably has the best arm of any freshman that’s ever walked on this campus since I’ve been here,” Price said.

Ridenhour shared similar reasons as Elgie for choosing to keep his amateur status. The huge transition from high school to living on his own and proving himself in the minors was a task he was not ready to take on.

“I have never lived on my own before, and I haven’t gone through many life experiences,” Ridenhour said. “Plus I feel really comfortable with the coaches and the school, it’s just a really good fit for me.”

With an extremely young team, which includes 13 freshmen, both Elgie and Ridenhour expect to be thrown into the mix fairly quickly and to contribute to the team early on. But neither feels any added pressure to perform well.

“It’s a whole different level of baseball than where I was playing up in North Dakota,” Elgie said. “I’m starting to feel more comfortable, we’ve been working on some little mechanical things with my swing, I feel a lot more confident than when I started.”

With Price’s earlier praise of Ridenhour, it would be easy to assume that the former Gatorade Kansas Player of the Year would feel the need to produce early and often. Especially since Kansas’ rotation was devastated from graduation last year, with only two proven starters returning.

But Ridenhour already understands his role, and won’t try to do too much.

“Obviously I want to grow as well as I can, get as many wins for us as I can,” Ridenhour said. “I want to hopefully be successful and with the team around me I think I have a pretty good shot.”

Another similarity between these two diaper dandies is their expected shuffle of positions. Price said that Ridenhour will open up the season next week against Air Force as a pitcher. One of the harder throwing freshman Price has encountered, Price raved on about Ridenhour’s ability to reach the low 90s on his fastball and his effective slider.

Elgie however will rotate positions more often than Ridenhour. His natural position is first base, but he also expects to see some time behind the plate.

Senior first baseman Preston Land is currently holding the starting spot, but Price alluded to Elgie snagging most of the playing time if Land continues with last season’s struggles.

“He’s going to pressure Preston to play at a high level and if he (Land) doesn’t he’s going to play early as a freshman.” Price said. “I see him (Elgie) catching a little bit, playing DH a lot, and also playing first base.”

Price also said he wanted to develop Elgie as a catcher because that’s where he is expected to be in the major leagues. But before Elgie can become a full-time catcher he has to refine his defense.

“He doesn’t block the ball very well yet so that’s the area that we’re trying to improve his game defensively,” Price said. “He has all the tools.”

Elgie doesn’t seem to mind the flip-flopping of positions; he expressed a team-first mentality when discussing where he would play this season.

“I’ve played around and played different positions,” Elgie said. “Just wherever I can be more comfortable is where I’ll be more successful.”

Kansas needs these two players to show their big league potential if the Jayhawks want to compete in a Big 12 Conference, which includes top five teams, Texas and Texas A&M. A two-week gauntlet to start the season includes games against both teams. Price expects these freshmen to not act like freshmen after playing in these environments.

“I think that when we walk into A&M that first time and there’s 7,000 people in that triple deck stadium my freshmen are going to be in awe,” Price said. “Also you rise to that level of play because you haven’t seen anything like it your entire career.”

— — Edited by Sam Speer