After a big year with Baseball Victoria Aces Academy and Newport Rams Baseball Club, Keenan Spence is starting the next chapter of his baseball journey.
Building on his success at the club and charter level with the Twins, as well as numerous development opportunities, Spence is excited for his future at Howard Community College in Texas. He headed to the US early to play ball and work on his hitting, throwing and lifting.
With college starting, Spence is trying to focus on the future to keep his mind off missing family and friends. "There can sometimes be a lonely feeling when you look around and remember you’re the only Australian around," he said. "But you end up meeting plenty of new people and building new connections which help you to feel more at home."
Spence has a lot of fond Victorian baseball memories, from hitting a home run in the U16 gold medal game at the 2018 Australian Youth Championship to training with inspiring players.
"When I was growing up, a player I always looked up to was Darryl George. There was even a time back when I was in Little League that he took the time out of his day to do a 1 on 1 training session with me, which I still haven’t forgotten and it meant a lot to me," Spence said. "It was cool to then grow up and be involved with things such as the Aces development program and train alongside guys like that."
In addition to hard work at training, so he could make the most of his opportunities, Spence is committed to lifting, which he says has absolutely played a massive part in his development.
"I would definitely not be in the position I am now had I not taken lifting as seriously as I did and still do," Spence said. "A big part of my game is power and there is no way I would have nearly as much strength as I do now if I didn’t put in as much consistent hard work in the gym. Not to mention the impact it has had on my speed, arm strength and preventing injuries."
As Spence concentrates on college and continuing to improve as a player, he reflects on his journey and hopes younger players can chase their dreams too.
"For younger players who aspire to play at a higher level, I’d say that obviously you need to put in your own consistent hard work in your own time but it’s also extremely important to make sure you build a strong mind and unbreakable confidence," Spence said.
"I know what it feels like to lose confidence in my own ability and allow doubts to get in the way of my performance. It took a long time but I was able to break out of it eventually and at least take away a lesson from it. Failure is unavoidable but if you’re able to maintain the same confidence you have within yourself after going 0-for-4 as you do when you go 4-for-4, the bad stretches will be minimised. And the bad stretches are unavoidable, but being able to get over them quickly as opposed to allowing it to snowball will result in a lot more overall success."