So much has gone according to plan for UL shortstop Kyle DeBarge.
In leading the Ragin’ Cajuns to an outright Sun Belt Conference championship last season, DeBarge became the second UL player to earn first-team All-American honors (along with Jace Conrad in 2014) and won Sun Belt Player of the Year.
The next box to check comes Sunday with the first day of the 2024 Major League Baseball Draft from Arlington, Texas.
“I’m more just excited, honestly,” DeBarge said. “I’ve been wanting to do this my whole life. I’ve always wanted to hit baseballs for a living. I’m finally going to be able to do that.”
There’s still a piece of paper on the dashboard in his truck listing his goals.
“Sun Belt Player of the Year, first-team All-American and win a gold glove,” DeBarge said. “I ain’t going to get a gold glove, but I hit two out of three of those.
“My expectations were high, but I might have exceeded those expectations in my eyes, honestly.”
Throughout UL’s season, DeBarge declined to speak publicly about his draft prospects, saying all of his focus was on the Cajuns’ progress.
But once the Cajuns were eliminated in the finals of the College Station regional by eventual national runner-up Texas A&M, surveying the mock drafts became a big part of his routine.
“Yeah, I’ve looked at them a ton, honestly,” DeBarge said. “I’m going to land where I’m going to land. It’s going to be what it is. You want to go first round, but if that doesn’t happen, it just gives me a chip on my shoulder to play with throughout the minor leagues and at the big league level.”
DeBarge has a chance to become the earliest Cajun ever taken in the regular draft. Charles Bordes was taken 15th overall by the Texas Rangers in the 1972 January secondary draft and Garrett O’Connor was No. 41 in the 1985 June secondary draft.
Darrin Babineaux at No. 50 in 2014 by the Los Angeles Dodgers was the earliest Cajun picked in the regular draft.
“I know he can play short,” UL coach Matt Deggs said. “But I think one of the many positives about DeBo is he can play anywhere. He could settle at second and be a power hitting second baseman. He could play third.
“He could play anywhere on the field and there’s a ton of value in guys that are shortstops by trade. It’s not like you’re taking a nobody and moving him around.”
DeBarge said his future position has been a major topic of conversations with clubs.
“Yeah, for sure, I’d love to play third, second, shortstop, it doesn’t really matter,” he said. “I think it’s better that I have played those positions rather than not.
“It kind of just depends on what the team needs, I guess.”
DeBarge isn’t buying the rationale behind a potential move to second base.
“Just from talking to them, I feel like most are thinking I’m going to translate better at second base more than shortstop,” DeBarge said. “The majority of people move to second base because their arm’s not as good, but my arm is maybe my best asset defensively.
"So to me, it wouldn’t really make sense to move me to second because of arm.”
Another potential adjustment at the next level is DeBarge's aggressiveness at the plate.
He batted .355 with 21 homers, 72 RBIs and 10 stolen bases last season. He had a slugging percentage of .699 and a .418 on-base percentage. He struck out 30 times but walked only 24.
“They just want me to be more selective at the plate,” said DeBarge, who said Houston, Cleveland and Arizona have contacted him the most. “I played for coach Deggs, so we’re going to swing the bat.
“Going forward, I talked to a few teams that said they weren’t going to change how I am, but then talked to a few that said they wanted me to walk more, so I’d have to change my approach. It kind of depends on where I land and what they want me to do.”
No matter how the draft plays out, DeBarge is content with his UL legacy.
“The pride is knowing that we didn’t make a regional for six years and then when our group got there in ’22, we got it back to where it needed to be — on a national stage, getting nationally ranked this year all the way to 14,” he said. “I think we got UL baseball back on the national stage.”