Kyle Baxt is a second-year majoring in Economics with a Business integrative concentration. In his sophomore year of high school, he underwent brain surgery to heal a Chiari malformation that had developed in his brain. In his first season at Oberlin, the first baseman broke the school’s all-time record for hits in a single season and, this past Sunday, became the fastest player in program history to reach 100 career hits. On Wednesday, Baxt hit his sixth and seventh home runs of the season to tie the single season all-time record.

In the summer following his freshman year of high school, Kyle Baxt found himself sitting at home, engulfed by constant migraines.

“I was just getting migraines every single day while playing baseball and even just sitting around the house,” Baxt said. “It got to the point where I’d throw up pretty much every single day from them.” 

Baxt and his parents, Scott and Jenn, knew something was up. Baxt had never experienced migraines before, let alone at this scale.

After an MRI, doctors told Baxt he had a type 1 Chiari malformation: a condition present in .01–.05 percent of the population where a part of the brain — the cerebellum — at the back of the skull breaks through a normal opening in the skull where it meets the spinal cord, causing fluid to leak into the spine. 

“I was a little confused,” Baxt said when he heard the news. “I had never heard of it. My parents had never heard of it.”

The doctors presented Baxt and his family with a choice: get surgery and fix the problem now, or wait and see if it goes away — which is extremely uncommon. 

They chose the prior and six months later, Baxt underwent brain surgery. 

“It was pretty scary,” Baxt said when asked about his emotions in the moments before surgery. “We had to be there at 5 in the morning. … and I had no idea what was going on. My parents were trying to be strong and confident for me.”

After over six hours in the operating room and four days in the hospital, Baxt’s surgery was successful; now began the treacherous journey to a full recovery. 

Upon returning home, Baxt’s life was not the same. 

“That first week home … was tough,” Baxt said. “I live in a two-story home, and getting up the stairs to go to my bedroom and going downstairs to get something to eat was terrible. I’m thinking to myself, ‘This is super hard. Am I ever going to be able to do this again? Am I ever going to just be a normal kid again?’” 

In days following the surgery, Baxt had no mobility in his head. Even the slightest movement triggered a sharp pain in his head. He needed help to achieve simple everyday tasks. 

“That first week, I couldn’t shower by myself, I couldn’t really do anything by myself. I had to have someone help me,” Baxt said. 

On top of requirements of everyday life, Baxt had to keep up with his academics and high school baseball. He missed two weeks of fully-online school due to the COVID-19 pandemic and was unable to attend baseball practice or perform any other physical activity. 

Ten weeks removed from surgery, Baxt was cleared to resume light physical activity. Just five months removed from surgery, he played his first game in June. 

Everything was physically the same for Baxt; the only thing missing was his self-belief.

“It was more of a confidence thing,” Baxt remarked when asked what he struggled with most returning to the game. “The swing was still there.”

Baxt returned for a summer ball tournament. Still searching for his timing and confidence, he went hitless in his first three games. But then came game four, the last game of the tournament, where Baxt roped a double off the wall.

“I realized I could still do this. It felt awesome,” Baxt reflected. “It just felt like I was a normal kid again. I wasn’t a kid who had brain surgery or anything like that, I was just a baseball player.”

Baxt’s mom, dad, and grandmother were in attendance for his first game back. They were not going to miss Baxt’s return to the diamond.

“I remember my family being in the stands; they were all so happy,” Baxt said. “I could see the look on their faces. They were so happy to see me doing what I love again.” 

In Baxt’s junior season, he hit .361 with five doubles in just 36 at bats. He followed that up by hitting .306 in his senior season, tallying 22 hits and five doubles while racking up two bombs.

Despite that, only one college was willing to take a flyer on Baxt: Oberlin. 

“I felt like I got doubted throughout the entire recruiting process,” Baxt said. “People take one look at me, and they’re like, ‘This kid’s probably nothing.’”

Oberlin was a chance for Baxt to continue playing the game he loved and gave him an opportunity to play as a first-year. 

“It felt awesome to come to a place where I could get an opportunity to start right away,” Baxt said. “I was just able to make the most of it, and it felt awesome.”

Making the most of it is an understatement. Baxt had one of the best statistical seasons in Oberlin baseball history. Last season, the current second-year first baseman broke Oberlin’s all-time record for hits in a single season with 69. He was third-team All-Conference in the North Coast Athletic Conference and finished with a .429 batting average, fifth in school history.

“It was surreal,” Baxt said about breaking the hits record, which has stood since 2019. “I couldn’t be happier with how I was able to go out and perform last year. Most people don’t get to play as a freshman. I was one of three people last year to start every game.” 

This past Sunday, Baxt eclipsed his 100th career hit, becoming just the 33rd player in program history to reach that mark. On the day, Baxt went 3–3, blasting his fifth home run of the season in the process — the ninth of his career — in route to a 15–3 win over Wilmington College. 

On Wednesday, Baxt hit his sixth and seventh home runs of the year in a doubleheader against Hiram College, tying the program’s all-time single season record for home runs in a season. 

“I just want to keep putting good swings on the ball,” Baxt said when asked how he can continue building on his success. “When I do that, when I don’t try and do too much and put too much pressure on myself to try and be the guy for us, good things happen.”

Baxt’s experience fostered within him a newfound respect and appreciation for a game that had given him so much. He worked too hard to let surgery stop him.

“[My experience] is honestly the reason behind the decision that I ultimately wanted to play college baseball,” Baxt said. “Those few months where I wasn’t able to play, it was hard on me because that’s all I did my whole life. [Baseball] was all I really knew how to do and all I wanted to do. Those moments when I couldn’t do it, I realized I really love this game and I want to keep doing it.”