Yorkville teen born with heart defect beats the odds, signs to play college baseball

YORKVILLE, Ill. (WLS) -- Dreams became a reality Wednesday for a Yorkville teen who has been on quite the journey.

Kyle Munch was born with a heart defect that led to several open heart surgeries and long stays in the hospital growing up.

Now, he's doing what many said would never be possible: signing to play college baseball.

"He's a great example to never give up," said Kyle's dad, Larry Munch.

"It's kind of just relieved the stress off my shoulders this past four to five months, knowing I'm gonna have a guaranteed four more years," Kyle said.

The heart condition and those necessary surgeries kept Kyle off the field for months at a time.

In fact, he was just about ready to call it quits on his baseball career before mom convinced him to play one more year.

"Mom talked him into giving it one more year and seeing what happened because he's had a few coaches over the years that were doubters but, like I said, he's in the business of proving people wrong and business is good," Larry said.

After proving mom is always right and proving the doubters wrong, the Yorkville high school outfielder now heads to Aurora University next year.

His heart condition is also much more manageable now.

"I've kinda just learned to live with it," Kyle said. "It hasn't really affected me. I don't really think about it too often."

Kyle also got to visualize his dreams back in 2018 when he got hang with the pros in Spring training, signing with the Chicago Cubs for a day at their facility in Arizona.

When asked if he ever thought it would be possible to play college baseball one day while visiting the Cubs, Kyle said, "At that time no. At that time, I didn't think I was going past high school."

Because of the pandemic and Kyle's heart complications, this is actually his first full season of high school baseball -- as a senior.

His coaches said that's a credit to Kyle's work ethic and shows how much work he put into making this happen.

"I think Kyle is the driver of that. He's the one that put in the work, he's the one that put in the time," said Joe Grimaldi, Kyle's travel ball coach for the Reds Baseball.

That work he put in now paying off, while staying close to home for his parents to catch every game at Aurora University.