The year 2022 has unquestionably been one to remember for Terrin Vavra.
Vavra started his year on the baseball diamond in the minor leagues but ascended to the majors with the Baltimore Orioles. The Menomonie grad showed he belonged in the bigs but less than a month after his debut Vavra stepped away from the team for a few days for a good reason — he and his wife, Carlie, welcomed a daughter into the world.
Now as the calendar prepares to turn to 2023, Vavra is looking for bigger and better things both professionally and with his growing family.
“With everything happening there’s a lot of moving parts,” Vavra said earlier this month. “But it’s all good stuff and all new chapters.”
Vavra’s year on the baseball diamond started later than hoped as he was placed on the AAA injured list by the Norfolk Tides late in March and stayed there until the end of May. After a brief rehab assignment, Vavra rejoined the Tides and played well to the tune of a .324 batting average with a .435 on-base percentage and 34 runs scored in 208 at-bats across 45 games before being called up by the Orioles on July 26.
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Vavra’s family — including his wife, who was near full term in her pregnancy — traveled to Baltimore for his anticipated big league debut in a series against the Tampa Bay Rays. But Vavra didn’t play in the first series and they followed the club to Cincinnati, where Terrin made his first start on July 30 against the Reds as a designated hitter. Vavra finished 0-for-3 and as the team continued on the trip, not everyone was able to continue following Terrin as he aimed for his first hit.
His father Joe — a Chippewa Falls native and longtime MLB coach with the Minnesota Twins and more recently Detroit Tigers — followed the Orioles to Texas for a 3-game series against the Rangers. Vavra started in left field of the series opener on Aug. 2 and in his first at-bat, the rookie hit his milestone when he legged out an infield single to cap a seven-pitch at-bat for his first hit.
Vavra went on to hit .258 with a .340 on-base percentage in 40 games around the diamond for the Orioles. The young Orioles exceeded the expectations of many by staying in the American League playoff race until late in the season and finishing with an 83-79 record — the team’s first winning season since 2016. Acquired by the Orioles in a trade with the Colorado Rockies in 2020, Vavra quickly saw first hand the young talent Baltimore.
“It’s something since I’ve got traded that I’ve seen, the talent is plentiful in the Orioles organization,” Vavra said. “I think that’s really exciting to be a part of especially the cool thing is all the players are good people and that makes showing up to the park every day really enjoyable and it’s not ultra-common in professional sports.”
Vavra played in the infield and outfield during his first season in the majors and drilled his first career home run on Oct. 6 against the Toronto Blue Jays.
“I just think the big thing that stands out is I felt like I was capable,” Vavra said. “I didn’t feel overmatched. I felt like it was somewhere I could see myself playing for a while and that doesn’t mean that will happen but as far as going into next year having that under my belt I just think it’s reassuring.”
Terrin is the fourth member of his family to be drafted into professional baseball. His older brothers Trey and Tanner were selected by the Minnesota Twins and played in the minors before moving into coaching at the college level. Joe was selected by the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1982 before beginning his coaching career in 1987. It was during Joe’s time on staff under Ron Gardenhire with the Minnesota Twins that all three brothers got a chance to see what a major league team looks like up close . That experience was vital for Terrin early in his career after being drafted by the Rockies in 2018.
“I think it helped a lot, I think it helped moreso right when I got into pro ball just understanding how to go about your business,” Terrin said. “When I got to the big leagues clubhouses were different, people in them shape them. So I try not to lean on that experience and try to take the new experience as my own.”
With several years of minor league experience, Terrin is also uniquely qualified to share his wisdom on several rule changes coming to MLB in 2023 including a pitch clock and the banning of the shift on defense.
“There’s a lot of them that I think are good, especially for the viewers of baseball,” Terrin said. “As players it’s an adjustment. Obviously the pitch clock is a big one that we instituted this year and when I was in AAA I got to play with it and from a viewer’s standpoint I think its super good for the game. It keeps things going. From a player’s point I adjusted and a lot of my teammates adjusted pretty easily to it. At first it was a culture shock just because I basically had to step out of the box to step back in and then the pitch is coming.
“At first it takes a little bit to get used to but once you get used to it, you see the games are a little quicker (and) you get home and to bed at a more reasonable time. I think there’s a lot of good things that come with it.”
Terrin and Carlie welcomed a daughter into the world in August and since then Terrin said he’s learned not to take sleep for granted — but that’s a small concession to make for the joy that comes with raising a child.
“Moms are rock stars,” Terrin said. “There’s so many things that they do that I’m really appreciative of and that little baby is even more so.”
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