BYU baseball recruiting: Oklahoma LHP Kenny Saenz to transfer to the Cougars

BYU baseball announced the addition of Oklahoma transfer Kenny Saenz to the Cougars pitching staff today. Saenz is a 5-foot-8, 165-pound left-handed pitcher out of Moody High School in Corpus Christi, Texas.

Saenz comes to BYU via the University of Oklahoma where he spent two seasons working out of the bullpen for the Sooners. Over those two seasons, Saenz accumulated a 3.46 ERA, striking out 10 batters, walking seven, and giving up nine hits and five runs in 16 appearances and 13 total innings of work.

Before joining the Sooners, Saenz was a three-time First Team All-State selection in Texas and a two-time All-South Texas MVP at Moody. He helped lead Moody to three District 31-4A Championships. Despite being relatively small for a pitcher, Saenz struck out over 500 batters during his high school career and went 10-1 with a 0.10 ERA as a senior.

According to PerfectGame.org, Saenz was hitting 87 mph on his fastball back in high school. It will be interesting to see if he has added any velocity to that pitch during the last two years at Oklahoma.

Saenz was recruited by Houston, Texas A&M, Texas Tech and BYU out of high school. BYU head coach, Mike Littlewood seems pretty happy that Saenz has finally ended up with the Cougars:

“We recruited Kenny intensely during his high school years and we couldn't be more excited he decided to attend BYU after a couple years at Oklahoma”

Saenz becomes the second LHP that has transferred to the Cougars. Junior college transfer Aaron Cross joined the team about a month ago. Unlike Cross, Saenz will not be eligible to play immediately and will have to sit out the 2016-17 season due to NCAA transfer rules.