All of a Sudden, Baseball Is Fun Again for DowDell : College: Former El Dorado High player has made BYU’s lineup as third baseman and designated hitter.

There’s nothing Tyson DowDell needs to prove. He says.

When he puts on that BYU baseball uniform, he doesn’t require shoulder pads to support any extra weight. He claims.

Nope, DowDell is free and clear to play for the Cougars and have a good time. Maybe swat a home run or two, which would be an even better time. But don’t think there’s an agenda here.

His mind is at peace. He insists.

Still . . .

Deep down, there is a little pain, something DowDell can’t escape. For two years, everyone kept telling him about his potential. Scouts would oooh and aaah at that 6-foot-4, 205-pound body and scribble notes.

He was being cast in the role of phenom, then got cast adrift.

Just wait until draft day, people said. Well, draft day came and he waited. No one called. He didn’t even get tossed a 40th-round bone to pick.

How can a guy not feel a little pain?

“Every day someone would ask me, ‘What happened?’ ” said DowDell, an El Dorado High graduate. “I would just laugh, but I was disappointed. It hurt. I was hoping to get picked. But things aren’t really in your control. I learned that.”

So DowDell packed his bags and headed for Provo, Utah, which he said was his destination all along. No one on the BYU side of things is about to question that.

DowDell worked his way into the Cougars’ lineup as a freshman, alternating between third base and designated hitter. He has hit well enough to stay there.

His .323 batting average has soothed some of the sting from last June. When he finally connected for his first home run last weekend, it hurt even less.

Who needs spring training in Florida or Arizona, when you have baseball in the Rockies?

“It made me work a little harder over the summer,” DowDell said. “Deep down, I guess I wanted to show ‘them.’ But, really, I’m not out to prove anything.”

Of course not.

But for a man not on a mission, he has been quite possessed.

Consistency has been a problem, as DowDell has struggled against college pitching. But, as BYU Coach Gary Pullins notes, Wally Joyner hit only .303 as a freshman at BYU.

“They fool Tyson sometimes with that off-speed stuff,” Pullins said. “But if they make a mistake, he’ll make them pay.”

Such was the case last weekend against Air Force. DowDell caught a high changeup and drilled it over the left-field fence.

“That felt good,” he said. “I’d come close a couple times this season, but I was starting to feel jinxed. It was a relief to finally get one.”

Not that DowDell has had too many problems at the plate.

He announced himself with five hits in two games in the season-opening series against Southern Utah State. Then he had a three-RBI game against perennial power Arizona State.

He was also named all-tournament at the San Bernardino Coyote Classic two weeks ago after going seven for 18 with a double, a triple and three RBIs. DowDell had three hits, an RBI and scored the go-ahead run in the title game.

“He’s certainly a quality player,” Pullins said. “He didn’t have a quiet out against Southern Utah State. When the dust settles, he will have had quite a season.”

Something that has been common for DowDell.

Baseball has always been big in his family. His father, Del DowDell, spent several years in the Cleveland Indian organization. His brother, Travis, played at El Dorado and is a pitcher at BYU.

“We were always playing baseball,” Travis DowDell said. “We’d even play in the house. One time, Tyson hit one into the kitchen and was running around the bases. He did this Pete Rose slide into home and broke two teeth on a chair.”

That sort of determination was hard to stop.

Tyson hit .397 with five home runs and 25 RBIs as a junior at El Dorado in 1991. Last season, he hit .423 with four home runs and 20 RBIs. He was also 20-4 as a pitcher during his career.

Those kind of numbers are easy to come by, but his size was hard to ignore.

“He was a man among boys,” Los Alamitos Coach Rob Megill said. “I think we should have checked his birth certificate.”

DowDell played in the Olympic Festival in 1991 and scouts made quite a fuss over him. They watched his every move as a senior.

What they didn’t do was recommend that he be drafted. Everyone had a reason.

“Scouts like to project players, and with Tyson there wasn’t anything to project,” El Dorado Coach Steve Gullotti said. “Tyson was not going to grow any taller or get any bigger.”

Said Travis DowDell: “I think the scouts knew I was at BYU, and it was more likely Tyson was coming here. They didn’t want to waste a draft pick.”

Said Pullins: “It’s difficult to know what scouts are going to do. I don’t think they know.”

DowDell heard them all, but it was still hard to take.

“I was looking forward to the draft a lot,” DowDell said. “I had already made up my mind to go to BYU, but I wanted to see where I would get drafted. But I think it had a lot to do with religion.”

It was no secret that DowDell was intending to take a Mormon mission once he got to BYU. Those plans haven’t changed.

“I guess they didn’t want to waste a draft pick,” he said. “That’s fine. I’ll just play at BYU for a few years.”

And then?

“We’ll see what happens when I’m eligible for the draft after my junior year,” he said. “By then, maybe I will have shown some people that I was good enough.”

But in his mind, there’s really nothing he has to prove.