All of this talk of Division I and Major League Baseball interest is enough to make Scooter Rienguette’s head spin.

Ironically, at the heart of all the chatter is, quite truthfully, the spin that the local pitcher is able to put on a very nasty slider, one which played a large role in landing the long-time AAA hockey talent an NCAA baseball scholarship with the Kansas State Wildcats.

First, let’s get caught up with the 19 year-old who led the St Charles College Cardinals hockey team to a city championship in his final year at the school in the spring of 2022.

A stint at West Virginia Tech that fall did not go as planned, with Rienguette opting to leave after the first semester last year, landing with the Cloud County Community College Thunderbirds program in January, a squad that had already welcomed long-time teammate and recent Washington State commit Gavin Roy to their midst.

But it took more than just a change of scenery to start turning things around. For Scooter Rienguette, it required a different approach altogether.

“I think the biggest difference was my fully committing on becoming a pitcher only rather than try and play two way baseball,” said the Business major who plans on studying in the same stream when he kicks off his Division I career next fall in Manhattan (Kansas). “When I was at West Virginia, I was trying to hit and pitch.”

“This change made a big difference in my ability to grow as a pitcher.”

Far beyond simply the additional time that could be devoted by focusing on a single skill-set came the tweaking in the off-field training requirements. “The pitchers here lift separately from the hitters,” noted Rienguette. “It’s a completely different workout. The hitters are just trying to get stronger, lifting a lot of weights.”

“The pitchers are lifting to improve pitching and not just strength.”

Thankfully, Cloud County College is also home to a wonderful pitching tool in the form of the TrackMan Technology, a computerized video device that provides more pitch related data than one can possibly imagine.

“I was always able to spin it (the baseball) pretty well,” admitted Rienguette. “The difference now is that I was able to fix my grips and work with TrackMan to see what’s working better, what allows me to spin it the best. The higher spin leads to a sharper break.”

By all accounts, the spin rate on the slider that Rienguette can deliver rivals major league level talent – not that a single pitch alone can open the door to the highest level of baseball on the planet.

And while the move to Cloud County created the chance for a reset, it was actually a decision to remain in the American Midwest following the end of his school term last June that took his game to a new stratosphere.

“In the summer is when my confidence started to pick up,” said Rienguette, as both he and Roy suited up with the Kingsman Islanders of the Sunflower Collegiate League rather than make their way back to northern Ontario. “I started to realize how good of a pitcher I can be. I was facing Division I guys every single day and making them look silly.”

“When I went to the Showcase in Wichita (in July) is when everything kind of changed,” he added. “Schools were beginning to be very interested, just with the spin and the outlier numbers that were off the charts compared to the other people at the event.”

All of that said, Rienguette remains at a loss to explain the specific factor(s) that has given rise to this very special pitch. “There’s nothing I can point to,” he acknowledged. “I don’t have big hands, I don’t have anything crazy genetically that I know of, at least. I think it’s just a God-given talent, I guess.”

A God-given talent that is catching the eyes of some very influential baseball folks.

“A couple of teams have reached out and I’ve seen Twitter posts of rankings of JUCO (junior college) pitching prospects with my name on there,” said Rienguette. “There was a post from an MLB scout which compared me to a current MLB pitcher, saying that I was an interesting JUCO draft arm.”

“I’ve definitely seen a little bit and heard a little bit, but I haven’t paid that much attention yet. The spring is really when things will heat up if that is even a true possibility.”

Between now and then, there is work to be done.

“The next step is my fastball,” said Rienguette. “My fastball has a decent amount of induced vertical break. It almost looks like it’s rising. I need to throw that pitch a little harder. Right now, it’s at 90 – 92 (MPH). If I can get that to sit on 92 to 94, touch on 95, then it becomes a lot better.”

At least that’s the spin that Scooter Rienguette has on things currently.