THE FRONT ROW with MARK NELKE: Hard work, getting stronger paying off for former Lake City High star Manzardo as MLB draft approaches

Lefty hitting Kyle Manzardo has always had a fluid swing — a swing which began when his father, Paul, had him start hitting from the left side at age 2, when dad would toss Wiffle balls to his son.

But getting stronger in the past year or so, and becoming even more committed to studying the art of hitting, has turned the former Lake City High star and current Washington State All-America into a potential high draft choice in this year's MLB first-year player draft, which begins today and runs through Tuesday.

"He’s in a good spot right now; he’s got a pro idea about hitting," WSU coach Brian Green said.

THE 6-FOOT-1, 205-pound Manzardo burst onto the scene as a sophomore during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season. He batted .435 and hit in all 16 of the Cougars' games, before COVID-19 halted the season. He was named third-team All-America by Collegiate Baseball.

This year, the first baseman hit .365 (fourth in the Pac-12) with 11 homers (T-9th) and 60 RBIs (second) in 47 games as the Cougars challenged for a berth in the NCAA tournament.

He was third in the conference in slugging (.640), tied for third in doubles (19) and fourth in total bases (126).

He was named first-team All-America by Collegiate Baseball — WSU's first first-team pick since pitcher Aaron Sele in 1990 and first position player since John Olerud in 1988.

"He totally committed to the weight room," Green said of the difference between the 2020 and 2021 seasons. "He changed his body, and that’s such a big part of our hitting philosophy and development program. The kids have to get strong so they can create an offensive approach that enables them to control both sides of the plate, or at least control the plate a lot better. If you lack strength, you’ve got to make earlier decisions.

"Kyle was a good hitter, obviously, in my first year he was just good," Green added. "But where he got different this year, and what put him on the draft board, was his strength. And his ability to go to the opposite field with power … and clearly when you go .430 left on left in Pac-12 play, you’re making later decisions, and that’s why he’s one of the best bats on the West Coast.

"And then his commitment to having an offensive approach," Green said. "He really pays attention, he studies pitchers, but really, he just pays attention to how he’s being pitched, and how hitters like him are being pitched. And he’s comfortable having an offensive approach of knowing what pitches to sit on and what pitches to back off on. And that’s advanced."

PAUL MANZARDO said the reason for his oldest son's improvement goes back even farther than the past offseason.

"It started back the summer of his freshman year when he played for the Portland Pickles (of the West Coast League, a wood bat summer league for college players)," Paul said. "He played quite a few games that summer, and it gave him an opportunity to shine his sophomore year.

"Even further than that, his freshman year (at WSU) he played almost every game — you can’t replicate those at-bats against some of those pitchers he faced in the Pac-12."

As a freshman, Kyle hit .272 in 184 at-bats, starting 45 of 52 games.

"All of those at-bats early on in his college career allowed him to mature quicker than maybe another player who didn’t get all of those opportunities," Paul said.

Then Kyle got stronger.

"So balls that were hit right at people were now carrying over people," Paul said. "Balls that were hit hard in the gap when he was a freshman, now being stronger, those balls exit off the bat a little quicker, they get through, they don’t hang up as much so the outfielders can get them."

LATE IN Kyle's freshman season, Marty Lees was fired in his fourth season as Cougar coach. Green was hired after coaching at New Mexico State for five seasons.

Sometimes after a coaching change, the new coach has to re-recruit the current players on the roster. But that wasn't necessary with Kyle.

"He wanted to stay," Paul Manzardo said. "He loved Pullman. He had great roommates. He had no desire to leave. That conversation never really got brought up. The season got over in May, and he packed his car and got over to Portland."

"He was one of the guys that we absolutely did not have to do that," Green said of re-recruiting. "He was a Coug, through and through … there was never any inkling when we got there of Kyle not being a Coug.

"When we did get the job, the part that we had to re-recruit was just the trust and the relationship of the players," Green added. "He was one of the guys that was in and really wanted to be successful, and he was pretty vocal about that from the beginning — let’s get this right, let’s get this thing going."

Green said many of the veteran WSU players, including Manzardo, made the commitment to get stronger and eat better.

"We went from one type of look last year as a program in '20, to in '21 being one of the more physical teams in the league," Green said. "Those players just got committed to the weight room … moving forward, if you’re going to play in the Pac-12, it’s a strong man’s league, and our guys did a really good job of that."

PAUL WAS Kyle's coach at most stops growing up — in T-ball, in Coeur d'Alene Little League (where the team made it to the semifinals of the Northwest Regional in 2013 in San Bernardino, Calif.) to Lake City High.

Now, Paul's the dad, available to throw BP to his son, and gleaning what Kyle has learned, for possible use with his Lake City program.

"I ask him different things about hitting — I’ve learned quite a bit from what he’s learned," said Paul, who played high school and college ball in Michigan, and was North Idaho College's coach until the program was dropped by the school following the 2002 season. "I pick his brain all the time. The drills we use at Lake City are a lot like what they do at Washington State."

At first, Paul said he and his wife (the former Windy Eagle, a Clark Fork High multisport standout) were delighted just to see their son earn a scholarship to play at a Pac-12 school.

"That wasn’t in the cards back then," Paul said of the possibility of a pro career. "And through Kyle’s hard work, that has put him in the position he’s in now. Hard work and grit and determination is why he’s where he’s at. He put in a lot of time and effort — it wasn’t an easy ride for him."

Paul describes his son as "pretty humble," and Kyle declined interview requests leading up to the draft.

Paul says Kyle is taking the attention he's received the past couple years in stride — not just from his hitting, but also when pictures of his sporting a mustache sprouted up on social media.

Alas, dad reports that Kyle has recently shaved his mustache, and cut his hair shorter.

"Kyle’s not a drama kid," Paul said. "He’s quiet, he keeps his nose down, and he works extremely hard. Kyle’s just a loyal kid.

"He’s the same kid; he still teases his brother relentlessly."

His brother, Marcus, just graduated from Lake City, and has signed to play baseball at Community Colleges of Spokane.

Dad had both of his sons hit from the left side at an early age, even though they were right-handed.

"You have an advantage on the left side of the plate," Paul said. "You’re a step quicker to first base. If you throw right-handed, your dominant arm is your right hand, which is your lead arm."

As it turned out, Marcus does everything right-handed except for batting. And Kyle does everything left-handed — eating, writing, shooting a basketball — except for throwing with his right hand.

GREEN HAS coached a pair of future first-round draft picks — both national players of the year — at his previous stops, and had a couple other players that went in the fourth round.

"We’ve coached some of those guys and know what they look like, and Manzo’s certainly one of those guys," Green said.

The first round of the 2021 MLB Draft begins today at 4 p.m. PDT on the MLB Network.

Rounds 2-10 are Monday, starting at 10 a.m. PDT. Rounds 11-20 are slated for Tuesday, starting at 9 a.m. PDT.

The consensus is that Manzardo could be selected anytime in rounds 3-5, though Green notes that the draft is such a crapshoot.

John Schroeder, the former Coeur d'Alene High slugger who was picked by the Minnesota Twins in the fifth round in 1994, is believed to be the highest-drafted player born in Coeur d'Alene.

"We’ll keep our fingers crossed," Paul said, "and hopefully his name gets called early, and he can move on to his next chapter."

Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, Ext. 2019, or via email at mnelke@cdapress.com. Follow him on Twitter @CdAPressSports.