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Payne ready for next step at Mineral Area
Thursday, August 22, 2024
Southeast Tropics pitcher Kolten Payne readies to throw in a summer league game this summer at Kelly High School.
Tom Davis ~ Tdavis@semoball.com
If positive momentum helps him at all, as he embarks on the next chapter of his athletic journey, then former Oran High School standout pitcher Kolten Payne should be alright this fall, as he throws for Mineral Area Community College.
“Kolten is a bulldog and we’re going to ride him,” veteran Southeast Tropics manager Dustin Schwartz said recently of his top arm.
Payne threw very well all summer for the Tropics, which recently finished in third place in the Babe Ruth World Series in Cape Girardeau.
In Payne’s final outing on the mound, which came in a 5-4 loss to the eventual World Series champions, the Alabama Rawdogs, he worked six innings and allowed just two earned runs and no walks while striking out six batters.
“He’s our ace,” Schwartz said of Payne. “He’s got the right mentality and everything for this. He’s the guy we want on the mound.”
Payne threw last spring for St. Charles Community College but sought a new program following his first year at the collegiate level.
“I went to St. Charles,” Payne explained of his thought process on switching schools, “and I threw 15 innings, which wasn’t bad. I did want more, but that happens.”
Payne was solid for St. Charles, as he went 4-0 in six appearances.
He allowed 18 hits in 15 1/3 innings while giving up six earned runs and striking out eight.
He was recruited by several schools, but the persistence of the Mineral Area coaching staff paid off.
“I have a few buddies (from the Tropics) who are going there,” Payne said of Mineral Area, “and that helped, but the coaches were texting me every day. He was telling me that he wanted me and the rest of the coaches, they texted me, but (Mineral Area) just really wanted me.”
Payne will be joined in Park Hills by Tropics teammates Mason Adams and Aaron Dunlap, both of whom played at Portageville High School, as well as former Jackson High pitcher Carson McDaniel.
“My goal at (Mineral Area) is to get my velocity up,” Payne said, “and to work on everything to make it to the (NCAA Division I) level. That is all junior college is about is progressing so that you can get to DI, and if you’re good enough, get to the Major League.
“You can go to the Major League from JUCO. If you’re that good, then you can go from there. It’s a win (to go to JUCO). You’re increasing everything. You are making everything better about yourself.”