How loss, change has given Mars pitcher, Virginia commit Kyle Krause a new perspective on baseball
The way Kyle Krause talks about baseball better resembles a player in the twilight of his career rather than one with so much of it still ahead of him.
The junior Mars pitching standout appears wiser than the typical teenager. His curve was more advanced than most of his peers’. He’s a University of Virginia commit who Perfect Game grades as being a potential future MLB draft pick. But Krause, who plans to study business and work as an accountant or financial adviser someday, realizes the sport isn’t the be-all and end-all.
So, if the umpire misses a call? No problem.
An envious opponent mouths off? Whatever.
The Planets have begun 1-5 in WPIAL Section 3-5A play, and have a hole to dig themselves out of in order to make the postseason. Krause has emerged from tougher circumstances.
“Baseball is such a little thing in life, and baseball will only take you so far,” Krause said. “I’ve realized that over the past couple of years playing this sport. There’s always something else. ... Baseball is so miniscule (compared to) everything.”
Krause’s father, Ken, has reminded him of that. If that hadn’t been enough, some of his experiences have. Kyle’s childhood best friend, Jake Cooper, died unexpectedly in March 2020. Three years ago, his family moved from Mars to Buford, Ga. Then he lost his grandmother, Sharon, last year and moved back to Mars.
“Baseball is one aspect of becoming a man, and there’s so much more to it, but learning how to deal with defeat and challenges and getting better each and every day, I think he picks up on that,” Ken said.
Mars baseball coach Jason Thompson, an eighth-grade social studies teacher in the district, got to know Kyle as a student well before he returned to the area.
“Kyle is definitely mature beyond his years,” Thompson said. “I’ve had the interactions with him whenever he was 14 years old and an eighth-grade student, and then watching some of the real-life stuff that Kyle’s gone through, you can see that he gets it at a different level.”
Kyle has dealt with grief twice in the last five years.
He wears No. 17 for Mars, No. 27 on his San Diego Padres Scout Team travel jersey. The digits are an ode to Cooper, who wore No. 7.
“He was my best friend growing up — best friend,” Kyle said. “He died in his sleep. ... I had to carry his casket, and that was one of the most painful things I’ve ever went through. It still haunts me to this day.”
With their fathers, Kyle and Cooper had traveled to see MLB games at a handful of different stadiums, including those in Cleveland, Baltimore and Boston.
Ken has helped found the “Jake’s Way” non-profit, which he said is “set up to help kids participate in athletics. We give scholarships, but we also have a capital campaign that we’re doing to build baseball fields in Beaver County.”
The non-profit bought a school and nearly 20 acres of land from the Blackhawk School District. It demolished the school and plans on using the land to give disadvantaged children opportunities to play baseball.
Kyle’s grandmother died in March 2024 after she battled dementia. Kyle and his family flew frequently from Georgia to visit her before that.
He described her as a fighter, and the kind of woman he hopes his future daughter would be. He’s learned more about her from Ken.
“He’s told me a bunch of stories, and he’s one of the biggest factors in my life,” Kyle said. “Him and my mom. They’ve guided me through all the troubles and all the circumstances that I’ve went through, and I just follow their lead.”
Between those two losses, the Krauses relocated in August 2022 to Georgia, with Ken taking over as the CFO at Rollins, Inc., a company that provides pest control services. The move was tough on Kyle, who had left all he’d known behind.
The family returned to Pennsylvania periodically, but Kyle still missed home. The Atlanta area, he said, felt like “a whole different world.”
“Leaving your brothers that you’ve been friends with for your whole life, that really hurt me for a while,” Kyle said.
During those few years, Ken watched his son grow before his eyes in a new setting.
“The world’s a lot bigger than Mars, Pa.,” Ken said. “I think his ability to experience ... a bigger city and a much more diverse city, a diverse school district, I think it matured him.
“When you make a change, you grow — and I think he grew through the change and he learned a lot about himself.”
Baseball has remained a constant for Kyle.
Kyle played with the Planets’ freshman team as a seventh-grader and for Canes National travel team from junior high through his sophomore year. His experiences with the latter helped prepare him for stiffer competition in high school.
“I’ve always played against some of the best baseball players in the country,” Kyle said, “and coming back and playing against two to three grades higher than me, it gave me a lot of baseball IQ and baseball maturity. ... You’re not always just gonna blow it past somebody. You’ve got to hit the corners, you’ve got to throw a good 0-2 pitch (and) be smart with your pitches.”
After moving to Georgia, Kyle lettered for Buford High School’s baseball team as a freshman and sophomore.
Kyle played alongside multiple Division I commits with the Wolves. According to MaxPreps, the team went a combined 44-35-1 over two seasons, reaching the playoffs in both and making a run to the Georgia High School Association Class 7A quarterfinals during Kyle’s sophomore year.
Kyle and his mother, Tanya, moved back into Mars Area School District in August in order to be closer to his grandparents.
Back on the diamond with some of the same guys he played with when he was younger — such as outfielders Finn Seideneck and Zach Rozman — Kyle has filled the role as the Planets’ first-game starter in two-game series. He fills in every now and then at first base, as well.
“As far as the culture and chemistry and things, he was going to fit right in,” Thompson said. “It was almost as though he never left.”
“It feels like that,” Krause said. “We all treat each other with respect and we just play the game we all love.”
