Big League Dreams: Denny Duron
11/17/2009 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
MALIBU, Calif. - Denny Duron wasn't drafted but that didn't stop him from pursuing his dream of playing professional baseball. On June 18, Duron signed a free-agent contract with the Texas Rangers and immediately flew to Washington to begin his career with the Spokane Indians, a Class A affiliate of the Northwest League. Spokane finished the season with a record of 37-39, 10 games behind the Tri-City Dust Devils (Colorado Rockies affiliate).
Duron had a stellar career at Pepperdine as he finished as the West Coast Conference's Defensive Player of the Year in 2009 after making just three errors as the shortstop for the Waves (.983 fielding percentage). He also had a career batting average of .288 and a lifetime fielding percentage of .978.
He made a smooth transition to Spokane as he hit .279 in 53 games, including batting .303 over the last 10 games of the season. He collected his first hit, a double, on June 22 vs. the Yakima Bears (Arizona Diamondbacks affiliate) as he started at shortstop.
"It was great. I was prepared really well," Duron said. "I played a lot of summer ball away (during his Pepperdine years) so it wasn't that hard a transition. The guys were great. It was like summer ball but with no days off."
He had the opportunity to play in front of 8,000 fans on big weekend games. He was familiar with Avista Stadium in Spokane since he played vs. Gonzaga as a freshman at Pepperdine. He enjoyed the city and cherished any free time to himself.
"Spokane was nice," Duron added. "Any off time I just relaxed."
Duron might be relaxing now in his home state of Louisiana but in a few months he will head off to Spring Training in Surprise, Ariz., to continue his minor league career with the Rangers.
