Sports Spotlight: CJ Richmond

BISMARCK, N.D. (KFYR) – Western Illinois, Iowa Western, Western Michigan, the Larks— C.J. Richmond has certainly gotten around during his time as a collegiate baseball player.

“It’s an interesting experience, and it’s fun. Not a lot of people get to travel all across the country and play baseball in all these different states, so I take it as a blessing. Each step is like a level-up. I’m getting better at each place, picking up and learning from new coaches and new friends and new teammates. You can take something from everywhere you come from,” said Richmond.

Richmond’s brief time in Bismarck so far has been quite successful. His bat has definitely made an impression on his manager.

“C.J.’s been outstanding. He’s got great power, raw power— it’s unbelievable. I think he’s got to make a little more consistent contact, and if he does that, he’s going to be really hard to stop,” said Larks Manager Mark Weidemaier.

Iowa Western is a JUCO with a well-known baseball program. Richmond, along with his teammates, were there for a simple reason: to find their way to the next level.

“Collective as a team, we knew we had to get out, we knew we had one more year. And if we didn’t find a place to play at the next level, we were going to be done with baseball. So it’s kind of like a sink or swim type of deal,” said Richmond.

And that brings us to the present: after a season at Western Michigan, Richmond opted to enter the transfer portal. He came to the Larks this summer to work on his glove.

“I like to be able to play defense and at Western Michigan. I was stuck in the DH role, so getting in the portal was the best thing for my career. You never know who’s watching out here, and obviously, the MLB Draft is knocking at the door as well. So just showing everybody I can play defense is going to help me be more rounded as a player overall,” said Richmond.

“I think it gives him a better opportunity to get drafted by a professional baseball team. They got to know you can play a position. It’s very rare they would just draft a college designated hitter,” said Weidemaier.

To recap: Richmond came to a brand new city for the summer, is thinking about getting drafted, and has dealt with being in the transfer portal.

“Portal’s not bad. It’s kind of stressful because you have schools from all over the country calling at all different times of the day, different time zones, different coaches. So just got to pay attention and know what you want before getting into it,” said Richmond.

This week, Richmond announced his commitment to play for Purdue University next season where he hopes to compete for a Big Ten Championship and an opportunity to play at Omaha in the College World Series.

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