Kyler Fedko’s Swing Remains Dangerous Despite Limited Playing Time

St. Paul – Kyler Fedko has always had a must-see swing, but Sunday afternoon in Toledo was on a whole other level. He had a three-home run game, and just barely missed out on making it four, and had to settle for a triple instead in the Saints' 11-8 loss to Toledo.

What was the culprit for such a successful afternoon at the plate, having entered Sunday’s game with only 30 plate appearances on the year? Apparently, it was grinding the Toledo Mud Hens' starting pitcher, Lael Lockhart, the wrong way when he challenged a pitch via ABS in his first at-bat in the top of the third.

“I challenged it, and their pitcher started yelling at me,” Fedko said. “It was like, ‘What are we doing?’ I turned around to the catcher and was like, ‘Is he yelling at me?’ And he was like, ‘Yeah, it’s fine.’ So okay. So it was a competitor that will kind of get some gears going in you.”

And the gears started turning for Fedko. Two pitches after the one he challenged, Fedko got a fastball down Broadway and drove it 429 feet over the left center field fence for a 2-run homer.

“So I hit the first one, obviously admired it a little bit, threw the bat,” he said. “And then thankfully, the whole team got him. So it's good when that stuff kind of comes back around.”

Next at-bat, Lockhart made the same mistake with a pitch down the middle, this time his sinker, and Fedko did the same thing, hitting it 106.9 MPH off the bat. After Fedko hit the second one in the 4th inning, his teammates were locked in with each of his swings the rest of the game.

“He came back up, and we were like, ‘Oh, hope he hits another one,’” Saints starter Zebby Matthews said. “Turns out he does, and then we’re like, ‘Third one is going to be awesome.’ Hits the third one, and then fourth one, we’re like, ‘There’s no way he’s going to hit a fourth one, right?’ Hits it off the wall, and we’re just like, man.”

Fedko’s third home run was well entertaining for his team, but that triple had everyone on the edge of their seats until it hit the wall. Still, it was nothing to be baffled at. It was still an incredible display of his power, traveling 411 feet and leaving the bat at 102.3 MPH.

For Fedko, a game like Sunday’s was a breath of fresh air after going 3-for-28 to start the year. He had four games last year with multiple home runs, but he had never hit three or more in his pro career until Sunday.

Some of his early struggles came from inconsistent playing time, but he knew it would only be a matter of time before things clicked again. It just took a barky starter who didn’t like his pitches challenged to set things right.

“What started that day was that challenge, and then the pitcher kind of yelling at me,” he said, “and I was like, ‘Alright, let’s go.’”

“I think anytime somebody is not getting the amount of playing time that they want, they try to take advantage of the chances they do get,” said Saints manager Brian Dinkelman. “We know it’s in there, and [he] finally had a good day with the three home runs and almost had a fourth home run off the center field wall, it was fun to watch.”

With a talented group of outfielders that includes the likes of Fedko, Walker Jenkins, Emmanuel Rodriguez, Gabriel Gonzalez, and Alan Roden. Finding a way to start each player in a game has been a challenge for manager Brian Dinkelman, but he’s making it work by trying Fedko and Gonzalez out at first base from time to time.

“I tell you what, I love the infield,” Fedko said. “You’re way closer to the action. Got to be on your toes way more. It’s almost like the blood pressure is raised. It’s just like you’re more involved in the game.”

Fedko followed up his hot performance, going 1-for-4 with a run scored as the Saints' first baseman in their 8-6 loss Tuesday night. While St. Paul's pitching has continued to struggle out of the gate, with a 5.24 ERA in their first 14 games, Fedko believes his hot day at the plate Sunday is just the start of their lineup being ready to bail their pitching out of trouble and start pulling together wins.

“It’s cool to see it because he works hard, and he’s grinding the battle,” Matthews said. “To see him get the success there was awesome, but we kind of just wished that fourth one got over the wall.”

“I hope it doesn’t take three homer games to get in there,” said Fedko, “but I'm thankful that I’m in there for back-to-back games.”