Injury sidelines top pick Krynzel

Spencer Patterson

Friday, Aug. 11, 2000 | 10:04 a.m.

A promising rookie season has come to a premature end for local product David Krynzel, the No. 11 pick in this summer's Major League Baseball amateur draft.

Krynzel, a center fielder for the Ogden Raptors, a Milwaukee Brewers rookie level squad, underwent surgery to repair ligament damage in his left thumb and will miss the remainder of the 2000 season.

Batting .359 with 29 RBIs, the Green Valley High School graduate was among the Pioneer League leaders in several offensive categories when he injured his thumb while stealing third base during a home game against Idaho Falls.

Krynzel flew to Milwaukee, where he was treated by a specialist and fitted with a protective cast, which he will wear for the next month. He is still with the Raptors, but will return to Southern Nevada for rehabilitation later this summer.

Krynzel's father, Dan, said that despite the injury, David is still on course to move up one level in 2001.

"The scouting director told him as long as everything was OK (with his thumb), he'd move up to low A next year," Dan Krynzel said. "When you play that many games, you're going to get hurt. Unfortunately, this wasn't an injury he could play through."