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Kaylor Darnell prepped at Webb City High School and has since been a part of the baseball program at Missouri Southern State University.
Darnell redshirted his first season and has now played in the last two seasons with the Lions. In 2025, he appeared in nine games, logged six innings and recorded an earned run average of 7.50. This past season, he used eight appearances to log 6 1/3 innings and a 5.68 ERA.
As a redshirt sophomore, he allowed more hits than the 2025 season and walked more batters as well. He gave up eight hits in comparison to just four his first season and walked five in comparison to two.
But he avoided the long ball in year two as he didn’t give up any home runs as a sophomore in comparison to one as a freshman. He struck out three batters in each campaign. He also hit four batters in his first go-round but none last spring.
So far this summer, Darnell has been working closely with his pitching coach at MSSU, Octavio Sanchez. That’s because Sanchez is also the head coach of the Joplin Jailbirds, the collegiate-level summer baseball team in Joplin for which Darnell plays.
“This summer, I’ve been working with Octo, our coach. I’ve developed a curveball and it’s given me a lot more success on swings and misses,” Darnell said. “I get a lot of guys in 0-2 counts and now I have that curveball, so now it’s like, ‘Oh, crap, that’s a strikeout instead of a foul tip or a ground ball or a base hit.’”
Darnell’s new breaking ball helped him to log 3 1/3 innings over his last two outings with the Jailbirds in June, and he only allowed one run in those. That included an outing that saw him record seven outs and allow only one hit and no runs.
He hopes to use that breaking ball more in the approaching fall season with the Lions to give himself the ability to increase his usage out of the bullpen with them.
Overall, he thinks playing in the MINK League has been beneficial to him preparing for next fall with MSSU and eventually the spring.
“It definitely gets me ready,” Darnell said of the MINK league competition. “This is the first year where my velo (velocity) has ticked up. I’ll be able to sit around the MIAA a little bit better. I’ll be able to look a little better. It definitely gets me ready for the fall.”
The increase in velocity is something that he believes can make him more difficult to hit along with the addition of another pitch to his arsenal to try and change speeds and throw MIAA Conference hitters off balance along with added movement.
Continue reading...
Darnell redshirted his first season and has now played in the last two seasons with the Lions. In 2025, he appeared in nine games, logged six innings and recorded an earned run average of 7.50. This past season, he used eight appearances to log 6 1/3 innings and a 5.68 ERA.
As a redshirt sophomore, he allowed more hits than the 2025 season and walked more batters as well. He gave up eight hits in comparison to just four his first season and walked five in comparison to two.
But he avoided the long ball in year two as he didn’t give up any home runs as a sophomore in comparison to one as a freshman. He struck out three batters in each campaign. He also hit four batters in his first go-round but none last spring.
So far this summer, Darnell has been working closely with his pitching coach at MSSU, Octavio Sanchez. That’s because Sanchez is also the head coach of the Joplin Jailbirds, the collegiate-level summer baseball team in Joplin for which Darnell plays.
“This summer, I’ve been working with Octo, our coach. I’ve developed a curveball and it’s given me a lot more success on swings and misses,” Darnell said. “I get a lot of guys in 0-2 counts and now I have that curveball, so now it’s like, ‘Oh, crap, that’s a strikeout instead of a foul tip or a ground ball or a base hit.’”
Darnell’s new breaking ball helped him to log 3 1/3 innings over his last two outings with the Jailbirds in June, and he only allowed one run in those. That included an outing that saw him record seven outs and allow only one hit and no runs.
He hopes to use that breaking ball more in the approaching fall season with the Lions to give himself the ability to increase his usage out of the bullpen with them.
Overall, he thinks playing in the MINK League has been beneficial to him preparing for next fall with MSSU and eventually the spring.
“It definitely gets me ready,” Darnell said of the MINK league competition. “This is the first year where my velo (velocity) has ticked up. I’ll be able to sit around the MIAA a little bit better. I’ll be able to look a little better. It definitely gets me ready for the fall.”
The increase in velocity is something that he believes can make him more difficult to hit along with the addition of another pitch to his arsenal to try and change speeds and throw MIAA Conference hitters off balance along with added movement.
Continue reading...
