The Rise of Kolby Branch, Subtle Superstar

“I have good news and bad news,” Kolby Branch told his dad, Rusty, over the phone last December.

“Let’s start with the good news,” Rusty replied back to his son.

“The good news is I may get to play and may even be a starter on this team,” Kolby said.

“Great,” Rusty responded but then quickly asked, “What could possibly be the bad news?”

“Well, the bad news is I might get cut,” Kolby said.

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Kolby started all 55 games in his first collegiate season and led Baylor in every offensive category.

Fast forward to six months later, the freshman infielder out of Lovejoy High School started all 55 games for first-year head coach Mitch Thompson and led the Bears in virtually every offensive category while anchoring the defense up the middle at shortstop.

Kolby finished the year batting .325, picked up 69 base knocks, scored 49 runs, totaled 41 RBIs and had an on-base percentage of .430. He was also the only Baylor hitter with 60 or more plate appearances to draw more walks (39) than he had strikeouts (38).

At the end of the season, Kolby was recognized as a Freshman All-American and was unanimously named to the All-Big 12 Freshman Team to solidify himself with the likes of Max Muncy, Logan Vick, Shea Langeliers, Nick Loftin and Jared McKenzie as some of the all-time great Baylor freshmen.

In retrospect, it’s laughable to think he was ever in doubt of making the roster. But that moment of uncertainty in early December spawned from the fact that over 55 players were competing to earn a spot on a 38-man roster, and so few guys were separating themselves.

With a first-year coaching staff trying to piece together a squad, fall ball was treated more like an open tryout than a time to craft and develop skills and relationships.

And despite hitting .472 and earning 2022 District MVP & 2022 Area Hitter of the Year as a senior at Lovejoy, Kolby arrived at Baylor knowing that he had to put his high school accomplishments in the rearview mirror and prove himself all over again.

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“He didn’t go into college thinking he was some highly touted recruit,” Ryan Gros, Lovejoy’s head baseball coach, said.

“He didn’t go into college thinking he was some highly touted recruit,” Ryan Gros, Lovejoy’s head baseball coach, said. “He went to college looking to prove himself. And I think some kids get that twisted. I think he’s got that humble mentality of wanting to prove himself that always gives him that edge.”

Throughout the fall and early spring, Kolby impressed the coaching staff enough that not only did he make the team, but Thompson also put him atop the lineup card on Opening Day against Central Michigan on Feb. 17.

And in the bottom of the third inning in a 3-1 count with no outs, Kolby lined his first collegiate hit through the left side for a single.

“Once I got that first hit, I knew I belonged,” Kolby said.

Later in the contest, with the game tied at five apiece in the 10th, Kolby drew a two-out walk and made it all the way to third base after some heads-up baserunning. 

In a storybook-esque ending, redshirt freshman infielder Jack Johnson then delivered the walk-off single and Kolby scored the game-winning run in not just his first collegiate game but in Thompson’s debut as Baylor’s head coach also.

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Kolby went 3-5 with two RBIs and scored the game-winning run in his collegiate debut against CMU.

“It was awesome. I couldn’t believe it,” Kolby said, barely cracking a smile in an even-keeled voice reflecting on the walk-off victory in which he went 3-5 with two RBIs at the plate.

It’s not that he wasn’t impressed or excited about the success – it’s more so the fact that there’s a quiet confidence that Kolby Branch possesses and rarely, if ever, will you see the moment be too big for him.

“His consistency and stability are what makes him special,” Gros said. “He’s so mentally stable that there’s no roller coaster with him. It doesn't matter what position you put him at. It doesn’t matter where you put him in the lineup. He’s going to field the ball, throw the ball and hit the ball. Most kids overthink that stuff. Most kids care where they are hitting in the lineup. They care about where they are playing, and Kolby is just so tough that it doesn’t matter; he’s just going to play ball.”

A key ingredient to Kolby’s mental toughness and relaxed demeanor is that, first and foremost, he wants to win, but he’s also just as happy for the success of his teammates as he is about his own.

“He likes to win,” Gros said. “I don’t think he wraps himself up in stats. I don’t think he wraps himself up in his own personal performance. I think he just likes to win. He would choose to win over anything, and that’s what makes him so good because he’s so calm all the time.”

“Kolby is the kid that gets just as much enjoyment out of watching his teammates do really well,” Rusty said. “He’s never been the me-type player.”

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“Kolby is the kid that gets just as much enjoyment out of watching his teammates do really well,” Rusty said.

That selfless attitude is because baseball isn’t what defines Kolby. In fact, he has only had one conventional hitting lesson in his playing career and didn’t truly fall in love with baseball until he was 15 years old.

Instead, the Branch family uses the game of baseball as a vessel to teach life principles. One of those main principles is that things are never as good as they appear, nor are they as bad as they appear; they’re always somewhere in the middle.

“He lives in that middle where he’s very centered,” Rusty said. “God blessed Kolby with a peaceful personality and a peaceful demeanor, and he gets that from his mother. But he’s always been that way. He has been a rock in our family.”

And as the oldest of four boys, Kolby is no stranger to being the one who has to continually be the example.

“You’re the oldest, and you’ve got to set a path for them,” Kolby said. “I still look up to each one of them because they’re special in their own ways … Family means everything [to me]. They help me every single day, and I have to set a good example. It impacts the decisions that I make.”

Another principle that the Branch family subscribes to is setting goals. At the beginning of each year, the family gathers together to write down goals that each of them hopes to achieve.

For Kolby entering his freshman season, he aimed to have a batting average of .270, play in 80% of the games and be in the top five of the lineup at some point.

It wasn’t until his dad, Rusty, told him to aim higher that the two worked together and ultimately settled on trying to have more stolen bases, more home runs, fewer errors and higher batting averages than Baylor’s pair of middle infielders in 2022, Tre Richardson and Jack Pineda, both of whom were All-Big 12 Honorable Mention.

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Kolby made a goal list to motivate him throughout the 2023 season.

Richardson, who recently tied an NCAA Tournament record with 11 RBIs in a game, transferred to TCU last offseason. Pineda was selected in the 12th round by the Kansas City Royals in last year’s MLB Draft.

Kolby hung his goal list on the wall to see every day as motivation and would routinely check his progress. 

At the end of the year, he finished with a higher average (.325) than both Richardson (.297) and Pineda (.300). Kolby had fewer stolen bases than both but finished with six home runs in comparison to seven from Pineda and four from Richardson, as well as eight errors in contrast to Pineda’s eight and Richardson’s three.

Even though Kolby didn’t accomplish every statistical goal, it was a healthy reminder to continually strive for the best and understand that the future’s bright because while he was just a freshman, Richardson and Pineda were in their third and fourth years of college, respectively.

“I think my favorite story [about Kolby] is that it’s still being written,” Rusty said. “As a dad, my favorite thing is watching a child, watching a man, learn how to write goals, set goals, accomplish goals and using baseball to learn those things … Character matters. Principles matter. Goal setting matters.”

And looking ahead to next season and beyond, Kolby will be an anchor at the top of Thompson’s lineup and is a cornerstone piece to build around as the Baylor program looks to get back to its winning ways and recapture the success it once had.

“Next year, I’ll come in and hopefully be able to lead and take on a leadership rule and learn from the things that happened last season and drastically improve,” Kolby said. “There’s more coming. There’s going to be lots of wins. I can’t wait to get back out there and win again and play under Coach Thompson.”

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“We’ll take Kolby Branch 100 times out of 100 every day and twice on Sunday,” Thompson said.

As for Thompson, he couldn’t be more excited about Kolby's impact on the team for years to come.

“I’ll start crying if I have to take [Kolby] out of a lineup,” Thompson joked at the conclusion of the season. “You can count on him. He’s going to come through. He's just going to compete really hard every day. He really wants to win. He’s a great foundational piece for us … He’s handled everything great. We’ll take Kolby Branch 100 times out of 100 every day and twice on Sunday.”