Patience and Hard Work Paying Off for Karl
Mar 25, 2026 | Baseball, Sports Extra
By: D. Scott Fritchen
Cadyn Karl remembers the at-bat so perfectly, as you'd expect from a guy who had never reached such heights before in his three seasons as centerfielder on the Kansas State baseball team. It was the bottom of the third inning against Arizona State last Friday on a gorgeous evening at Tointon Family Stadium, which featured a sellout crowd, and that on the mound featured one of the nation's best pitchers in Arizona State junior left-hander Cole Carlon, a 6-foot-5, 230-pounder who came off an All-America season and had allowed just five home runs in six starts in 2026, and who is currently the No. 39-rated prospect for the 2026 MLB Draft.
That can be a lot to digest for any batter, much less for Karl, who was just shy of the 60th at-bat in his career, and who up until about a month ago had never been a fixture in the K-State starting lineup. And now here stood the 6-foot-4, 205-pound Karl, a redshirt junior from Edmond, Oklahoma, heading to the plate as the second batter in the bottom of the third inning after Bear Madliak flied out to right field.
Any nerves about going against Carlon are disguised by a grin as Karl recalls his at-bat a couple hours after the Big 12 Conference home opener in Manhattan.
"That was a fun at-bat because he's a pretty special pitcher, projected to be somewhere high in the draft," Karl says, seated in a chair wearing a purple long-sleeved t-shirt and purple-and-white K-State ballcap. "It was a sitting slider most of the at-bat and I had two strikes, so I had to fastball adjust. I fouled a 3-2 fastball off and figured he'd come back with it again.
"He came back with it again. And I hit it pretty well."
Karl sent Carlon's fastball 341 feet over the rightfield wall.
It was Karl's first home run ever at Tointon.
But there's an added twist that made Karl's feat even more special.
"My family is all here today, my grandparents are here today," Karl says. "Dad's name is Scott Karl, and Kari Karl is my mother. Val Karl is my grandma, and Mike Karl is my grandpa. They were all here. My home run, that was the first-ever home run my grandpa had ever seen me hit. So that was a cool one."
That 50-year-old Scott Karl, Cadyn's father, was in attendance, is always a blessing as well. A couple years ago, complications during a hernia surgery affected the esophagus, causing Scott to remain in an intensive care unit for nearly two months. The punctured esophagus has long-term health effects.
"It's still a tough time for dad," Karl says. "He's a fighter. He's a great person to look up to. He goes into surgery to reopen his esophagus every month. He can't really eat. He injects proteins into his little hole that he has in his stomach. He's a fighter."
And the Karl's are dedicated.
"My family travels a lot," Karl says. "They put in a lot of time and a lot of money."
The Karls are seeing their son's efforts through the years payoff. After hitting .083 in 12 at-bats as a redshirt freshman in 2024, Karl hit .105 in 19 at-bats as a sophomore last season. This season, Karl is hitting .323 (10-for-31), with four doubles, two home runs, eight RBI and 11 runs scored. He boasts a 1.062 OPS and a .645 slugging percentage and a .417 on-base percentage. He has made 18 appearances and started the last seven straight games — the longest stretch of starts in his career.
"It feels pretty good, and it's been a long time coming for me," Karl says. "I've put in a lot of hard work, a lot of patience. It does feel pretty good to see my name up there. Being the outfielder I am, it helps me to get out on the field. I've been putting together good at-bats. The last month has been a lot of fun, a lot of good family talks, because they've been patient, too, through it all. I've had a lot of struggles, a lot of long calls with them, so it's been good to have good conversations with them and a good night's rest."
Karl likely couldn't sleep and had a great talk with his family after K-State's 13-3 win at Baylor last Tuesday at Baylor Ballpark in Waco, Texas. In the second inning, Karl hit his first-career homer — a 427-foot shot that scored Kyan Lodice and gave the Wildcats a 3-0 lead.
"I was looking for a slider up, and I hit a low fastball really hard," he says. "That was a fun one. I thought I'd blackout around the bases, but I really didn't. It felt pretty good. I didn't know it was gone until probably halfway between first and second base."
But, yes, the baseball was gone, sent over the fence, a souvenir of Karl's great milestone accomplishment — a day that K-State head coach Pete Hughes saw coming for Karl eventually.
"Couldn't happen to a better kid," Hughes says. "He is the ultimate Kansas State teammate, baseball player and student-athlete. He works as hard as anyone, even when he knows his name isn't going to be in the lineup. That takes a special person. That's how he was brought up, to prepare and take pride in your craft and don't be so self-oriented and always be there for your team. He's been an unbelievable example to our younger guys and some of our older selfish guys who aren't always in the lineup that it's about the preparation and the respect of your preparation, and the game, and your teammates, that when you get your name called you'll be ready.
"I couldn't be happier for that kid. I tell you, he's a phenomenal player. He's very talented, keeps working and getting better and better. He never complains, he just works, and always asks what we want of him, and we're always putting him in the game late in the game as a defensive replacement, high-leverage situations. Our trust factor with our coaching staff and Cadyn is through the roof just because of who he is every single day."
Baseball wasn't Karl's first love growing up. It was golf.
"My first words might've been, 'Nice shot,'" he says. "Mom and dad probably weren't too happy with that. But it was baseball, football, golf, and basketball, too. I loved football, baseball, and I just loved playing catch. When I was 2 or 3 years old, I began spending hours just playing catch with my dad in the living room."
Karl grew as both a person and as an athlete. The valedictorian at Jones High School in Edmond, Karl was also named to the 2022 Perfect Game Preseason All-America team and was the No. 20-rated overall player in the state of Oklahoma and No. 2-rated outfielder in the state by Perfect Game.
His recruiting took off in a hurry. Karl hit a home run while playing on a summer-league team and the video of his conquest made the rounds on the Internet. After receiving no interest from junior colleges or Division II baseball programs, Karl received offers from Wichita State, Oklahoma and K-State in a single week after his home run.
"It all happened really, really quick for me," Karl says. "I thought it was crazy. I didn't even know I was ready for that. I always knew I was good, I guess, but I didn't know I was that good."
What set K-State apart from the other schools?
"Well, I always loved the color purple," Karl says. "My summer ball coach pushed K-State. I have family in Wichita and Kansas City, all around, and K-State is only four hours from home."
Karl sat out his freshman season, hit the weights hard, got in extra swings, and says, "It was good for me." His father, Scott, told him that he redshirted his freshman season as a football player at Fort Hays State and never regretted it.
The ensuring two seasons required patience.
"It's been a lot of patience, really, and a lot of hard work," Karl says. "I've never slacked off in the weight room or on the field. I never let it get to me too much. It just took a lot of patience; that's the main thing.
"This season, I have confidence at the plate, and I feel it's really slowed down compared to how I'd been when I was younger. The game has just slowed down for me a lot this year. It feels good to have numbers because one reason it's been tough for me is not getting all the reps. I've always felt like I had a lot of talent and skills. I'm pretty fast and good sized. I can play outfield really well. The most important thing is that it feels really good to see the bat coming all together."
And, man, did that bat feel good, that ball coming off the bat, when Karl crushed the ball against Cole Carlon, the future MLB Draftee, one of the most feared and respected left-handers in college baseball, last Friday at Tointon.
From playing catch with his dad, Scott, at age 2 to having his family in attendance at games, to long conversations with his mom, Kari, and finally, to Grandpa Mike, for the first time in his life, seeing his grandson smack a home run, this journey through baseball has truly been a family affair.
And this baseball story is just getting good.
"The love of baseball never stops," Karl says. "Always work hard, and it'll come back to you. My parents instilled my work ethic."
He pauses and grins.
"And it's done pretty well."
Cadyn Karl remembers the at-bat so perfectly, as you'd expect from a guy who had never reached such heights before in his three seasons as centerfielder on the Kansas State baseball team. It was the bottom of the third inning against Arizona State last Friday on a gorgeous evening at Tointon Family Stadium, which featured a sellout crowd, and that on the mound featured one of the nation's best pitchers in Arizona State junior left-hander Cole Carlon, a 6-foot-5, 230-pounder who came off an All-America season and had allowed just five home runs in six starts in 2026, and who is currently the No. 39-rated prospect for the 2026 MLB Draft.
That can be a lot to digest for any batter, much less for Karl, who was just shy of the 60th at-bat in his career, and who up until about a month ago had never been a fixture in the K-State starting lineup. And now here stood the 6-foot-4, 205-pound Karl, a redshirt junior from Edmond, Oklahoma, heading to the plate as the second batter in the bottom of the third inning after Bear Madliak flied out to right field.
Any nerves about going against Carlon are disguised by a grin as Karl recalls his at-bat a couple hours after the Big 12 Conference home opener in Manhattan.
"That was a fun at-bat because he's a pretty special pitcher, projected to be somewhere high in the draft," Karl says, seated in a chair wearing a purple long-sleeved t-shirt and purple-and-white K-State ballcap. "It was a sitting slider most of the at-bat and I had two strikes, so I had to fastball adjust. I fouled a 3-2 fastball off and figured he'd come back with it again.
"He came back with it again. And I hit it pretty well."
Karl sent Carlon's fastball 341 feet over the rightfield wall.
It was Karl's first home run ever at Tointon.
But there's an added twist that made Karl's feat even more special.
"My family is all here today, my grandparents are here today," Karl says. "Dad's name is Scott Karl, and Kari Karl is my mother. Val Karl is my grandma, and Mike Karl is my grandpa. They were all here. My home run, that was the first-ever home run my grandpa had ever seen me hit. So that was a cool one."
That 50-year-old Scott Karl, Cadyn's father, was in attendance, is always a blessing as well. A couple years ago, complications during a hernia surgery affected the esophagus, causing Scott to remain in an intensive care unit for nearly two months. The punctured esophagus has long-term health effects.
"It's still a tough time for dad," Karl says. "He's a fighter. He's a great person to look up to. He goes into surgery to reopen his esophagus every month. He can't really eat. He injects proteins into his little hole that he has in his stomach. He's a fighter."
And the Karl's are dedicated.
"My family travels a lot," Karl says. "They put in a lot of time and a lot of money."
The Karls are seeing their son's efforts through the years payoff. After hitting .083 in 12 at-bats as a redshirt freshman in 2024, Karl hit .105 in 19 at-bats as a sophomore last season. This season, Karl is hitting .323 (10-for-31), with four doubles, two home runs, eight RBI and 11 runs scored. He boasts a 1.062 OPS and a .645 slugging percentage and a .417 on-base percentage. He has made 18 appearances and started the last seven straight games — the longest stretch of starts in his career.
"It feels pretty good, and it's been a long time coming for me," Karl says. "I've put in a lot of hard work, a lot of patience. It does feel pretty good to see my name up there. Being the outfielder I am, it helps me to get out on the field. I've been putting together good at-bats. The last month has been a lot of fun, a lot of good family talks, because they've been patient, too, through it all. I've had a lot of struggles, a lot of long calls with them, so it's been good to have good conversations with them and a good night's rest."
Karl likely couldn't sleep and had a great talk with his family after K-State's 13-3 win at Baylor last Tuesday at Baylor Ballpark in Waco, Texas. In the second inning, Karl hit his first-career homer — a 427-foot shot that scored Kyan Lodice and gave the Wildcats a 3-0 lead.
"I was looking for a slider up, and I hit a low fastball really hard," he says. "That was a fun one. I thought I'd blackout around the bases, but I really didn't. It felt pretty good. I didn't know it was gone until probably halfway between first and second base."
But, yes, the baseball was gone, sent over the fence, a souvenir of Karl's great milestone accomplishment — a day that K-State head coach Pete Hughes saw coming for Karl eventually.
"Couldn't happen to a better kid," Hughes says. "He is the ultimate Kansas State teammate, baseball player and student-athlete. He works as hard as anyone, even when he knows his name isn't going to be in the lineup. That takes a special person. That's how he was brought up, to prepare and take pride in your craft and don't be so self-oriented and always be there for your team. He's been an unbelievable example to our younger guys and some of our older selfish guys who aren't always in the lineup that it's about the preparation and the respect of your preparation, and the game, and your teammates, that when you get your name called you'll be ready.
"I couldn't be happier for that kid. I tell you, he's a phenomenal player. He's very talented, keeps working and getting better and better. He never complains, he just works, and always asks what we want of him, and we're always putting him in the game late in the game as a defensive replacement, high-leverage situations. Our trust factor with our coaching staff and Cadyn is through the roof just because of who he is every single day."
Baseball wasn't Karl's first love growing up. It was golf.
"My first words might've been, 'Nice shot,'" he says. "Mom and dad probably weren't too happy with that. But it was baseball, football, golf, and basketball, too. I loved football, baseball, and I just loved playing catch. When I was 2 or 3 years old, I began spending hours just playing catch with my dad in the living room."
Karl grew as both a person and as an athlete. The valedictorian at Jones High School in Edmond, Karl was also named to the 2022 Perfect Game Preseason All-America team and was the No. 20-rated overall player in the state of Oklahoma and No. 2-rated outfielder in the state by Perfect Game.
His recruiting took off in a hurry. Karl hit a home run while playing on a summer-league team and the video of his conquest made the rounds on the Internet. After receiving no interest from junior colleges or Division II baseball programs, Karl received offers from Wichita State, Oklahoma and K-State in a single week after his home run.
"It all happened really, really quick for me," Karl says. "I thought it was crazy. I didn't even know I was ready for that. I always knew I was good, I guess, but I didn't know I was that good."
What set K-State apart from the other schools?
"Well, I always loved the color purple," Karl says. "My summer ball coach pushed K-State. I have family in Wichita and Kansas City, all around, and K-State is only four hours from home."
Karl sat out his freshman season, hit the weights hard, got in extra swings, and says, "It was good for me." His father, Scott, told him that he redshirted his freshman season as a football player at Fort Hays State and never regretted it.
The ensuring two seasons required patience.
"It's been a lot of patience, really, and a lot of hard work," Karl says. "I've never slacked off in the weight room or on the field. I never let it get to me too much. It just took a lot of patience; that's the main thing.
"This season, I have confidence at the plate, and I feel it's really slowed down compared to how I'd been when I was younger. The game has just slowed down for me a lot this year. It feels good to have numbers because one reason it's been tough for me is not getting all the reps. I've always felt like I had a lot of talent and skills. I'm pretty fast and good sized. I can play outfield really well. The most important thing is that it feels really good to see the bat coming all together."
And, man, did that bat feel good, that ball coming off the bat, when Karl crushed the ball against Cole Carlon, the future MLB Draftee, one of the most feared and respected left-handers in college baseball, last Friday at Tointon.
From playing catch with his dad, Scott, at age 2 to having his family in attendance at games, to long conversations with his mom, Kari, and finally, to Grandpa Mike, for the first time in his life, seeing his grandson smack a home run, this journey through baseball has truly been a family affair.
And this baseball story is just getting good.
"The love of baseball never stops," Karl says. "Always work hard, and it'll come back to you. My parents instilled my work ethic."
He pauses and grins.
"And it's done pretty well."
Players Mentioned
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