BRADLEY, Ill. — In Bradley, Illinois, the town’s namesake adorns a century old factory that now hosts GoldStar Gym. Inside those brick walls, another name from the community’s past is plowing ahead with his passion for baseball.
“Having someone like me to sit here and help [kids] out, someone that’s been there, done that, everything they’ve aspired to do, it helps a lot,” said Kris Honel.
After a decade away from the game, the 41-year-old Honel is passing his wisdom from the diamond down to the next generation.
“He’s helped me a lot, helped me gain speed [on my pitches], helped me with the basics,” said 9-year-old Carter Marques. “I wouldn’t be where I am without Kris.”
As youngsters like Carter home in on Honel’s advice looking to build their baseball future, reminders of the former pitcher’s past line the walls of GoldStar Gym.
“I think somewhere my parents have one of my 2nd grade scribble handwritings of what you want to be when you grow up,” Honel said. “And it’s kind of wild because I got a little prophetic and said I want to be a professional baseball player and play for the White Sox.”
The Kankakee native manifested that dream in 2001, when his hometown team selected Honel 16th overall out of Providence Catholic High School.
“When that phone call came, I had a feeling it was going to be them, but when Kenny Williams is on the other line telling me they were going to take me, that pretty much stopped time right there,” Honel said.
In Honel’s head, he was ready for the big leagues right then and there.
“My first live batting practice session was against Frank Thomas, Carlos Lee, Magglio [Ordonez] and Ray Durham,” Honel said. “And I’m sitting there, 18 years old like ‘holy cow,’ I have posters of these guys in my room.”
But making it to the majors alongside those Sox stars never happened.
Honel worked his way up the farm system as the Sox top pitching prospect before Tommy John surgery in 2005. By 2009 he was out of affiliated ball altogether, playing three more seasons in independent leagues before calling it quits at age 28.
“Little bit of sadness, little bit of depression knowing how big of a buzz I had building up from such a young age, I mean people were following me from the time I was in high school,” Honel said. “Getting drafted by the White Sox made it even bigger. Everyone was just waiting for me to get to the big leagues because I was pretty much right at the doorstep at 20-21 years old.”
Like many athletes, Honel fell into an identity crisis when his playing career finished. He had burnt out on the game he loved.
A decade passed before he started volunteer-coaching at Kankakee Community College, then umpiring little league games, before taking dozens of clients on to coach.
But there was still a part of the game he wasn’t fully ready to throw away.
“There were a couple times when my lesson left, I walked up to the mound, there was no catcher, and just started letting it rip,” Honel recalled. “I was like alright, I got to start throwing. So I went up there and threw a bullpen and I was just lighting up the radar gun.
“I was in the upper 80s, I figured I would be 81-82 [mph], I haven’t picked up a ball in 10 years you know what I’m saying? I was sitting 88-89 [mph]. I was like woo, alright we got something here.”
That “something” led to a spot on the Beecher Muskies, a collegiate summer league squad facing hitters half his age, and the Kris Honel comeback was officially started.
“The only thing I can tell you is one of the games I saw him pitch in at Diamondpoint in Bourbonnais I was shocked,” said Kris’s dad, Mike. “I stood behind the back stop and saw him break off a couple curveballs and was like ‘wow, where did that come from.’ It looked like he was 20 years old that day.”
So where could this lead to?
“I’m starting to feel good again where am I crazy enough to make a ‘Rookie’ 2?” Honel said, referring to the 2002 movie “The Rookie” staring Dennis Quaid. “It takes a lot of energy, effort, training, discipline to accomplish a comeback like that, which I don’t think is out of the question right now, but takes some serious hard work.
“That’s where I like the kids I work with can see what I’m doing. If you take care of yourself and do things right, you can play this game for a pretty long time and have fun doing it.”
Honel hopes to pitch long enough so his 5-year-old daughter Bryn Leigh has memories of watching dad play and maybe one day making his own Hollywood story.
“I’m not gonna sit here and count it out, but I got to be realistic, just see where it goes,” Honel said. “If it happens, it happens. [If] it doesn’t, it doesn’t. I had an amazing run, a pretty blessed life, every kid kind of dreams of especially being drafted by the hometown team. Now I’m around my own community giving back, helping kids around here.
“Just letting them know someone cares about them, building relationships, just letting them know you’re there for them and they can do it, anything is possible.”