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Too short, too slow, too weak … too something: Red Sox prospect Ryan Khoury battles

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If nothing else, Ryan Khoury’s life in baseball has been about overcoming odds and proving his critics wrong.

Khoury, a versatile infielder for the Portland Sea Dogs, was a first-team All-State selection as a senior at Copper Hills High in West Jordan, Utah. But after every professional baseball team and every Division I college program in the nation passed on him, he found himself without a lot of options.

Enter University of Utah head coach Tim Esmay, who’s now the assistant head coach at Arizona State.

“I always was pretty small and skinny and I really didn’t get much attention,” said Khoury, who through his first 64 games this season was batting .273 with 16 doubles and 31 RBI. “I put up some good numbers, but the only guy that recruited me was Tim Esmay. He said ‘We’d like to have you up here, but we don’t have any money.’ He said ‘We might red-shirt you, but if you come out and prove yourself in fall ball, we’ll give you a fair shot.’

“He gave me a fair shot and it ended up I started my freshman year. He kept his word and I’ll always respect him for that - for giving me a chance and a scholarship.

“A lot of times you get into college and guys tell you stuff they don’t really mean,” continued Khoury, who was Boston’s 12th-round pick in the 2006 draft. “He said he’d give me a chance and he followed through on it.”

At his first weigh-in, Khoury went into the books at 5-8 and 141 pounds (he’s now listed at 5-10, 180 — which might be a bit on the generous side). Clearly, it was up to Khoury to follow through on his end of the bargain.

He hit the jackpot as a senior when he led the Mountain West Conference with a record .438 batting average and was tops in on-base percentage (.549), hits (98) and getting hit by pitches (19).

In addition, he ranked second in slugging percentage (.728), runs scored (73) and walks (39) - and was among the top five in doubles (18) and stolen bases (16).

Khoury also finished as Utah’s all-time hits leader with 291, which ranks seconds in MWC history.

No wonder Khoury was voted the MWC Player of the Year and a First Team All-American.

That’s not bad for the kid who always had been told he was too short, too slow, too weak … too something.

“I’ve always heard that even before high school,” said Khoury. “You have to let what other people say roll off you. It really made me concentrate on doing the little things well, such as (playing) defense, base running and stuff like that.

“If you don’t have the bigger, classic physique, you have to do other stuff to help your team. You have to be scrappy and hustle. I think maybe it helped me that I tried to develop that part of my game instead of just relying on my physical talent.

“I had to work on those smaller parts of my game,” added Khoury, “so I could contribute to my team and move on to the next level.”

Not that Khoury really expected to move on to the next level. After being picked in the 2006 draft, the then-22-year-old, baby-faced infielder earned a proverbial cup of coffee with Pawtucket - which left him a heartbeat from The Show.

“All I was hoping for was a chance to play Division I ball,” he said. “Even after my freshman and sophomore years, I was just trying to hold my own. Since I wasn’t a real high-profile guy, I tried to stay mentally strong and go out and play my game.”

Since, in retrospect, Khoury’s game was good enough to take him to the next level (i.e the pros), without question he’s taking advantage of an opportunity that at one time appeared to be as far away as the moon.

“It’s more mentally challenging the higher you move up.” He said. “That’s why I feel so fortunate to have been able to come (to Portland) and see how these guys approach the game, and how they play and even get prepared for games.

“A lot of time in college and the low minors you can just let your talent take over and play. That’s what separates players at that level and the higher levels. They may be a little more talented but they’re a lot more mentally strong and consistent.”

Khoury already meets one criteria for being a member of the Red Sox’ organization.

“Being a big baseball guy my whole life, I followed the Yankees and the Red Sox,” he said. “I just never got a really good feeling about the Yankees … I really hated them at times.

“I always like the Red Sox, especially after what they did in the 2004 World Series. It seemed like they had a great chemistry and a bunch of good guys on the team, so you had to respect that.”

Just like Khoury hopes to gain respect from Boston’s minor league brain trust.

This entry was posted on Sunday, June 29th, 2008 at 12:07 am and is filed under Ryan Khoury, Mike Scandura. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.