Kerrington Cross is what coaches call a high-energy player.

The Honolulu native and former Brownsburg High School standout does everything on the baseball field full throttle. He’s high-energy in the dugout. He’s high-energy on the basepaths and while fielding his position.

He’s the type of player coaches love, and his ability to harness his energy toward success on the field and in the classroom helped him earn Big 12 Player of the Year as a senior, slashing .396/.438/.545 with 12 home runs, 50 RBIs and 15 stolen bases while graduating from University of Cincinnati’s College of Engineering.

The kid who grew up admiring Ichiro Suzuki and playing in the same Brownsburg Little League that produced Tucker Barnhart, Lance Lynn and Drew Storen hopes his resume will get his name called during the two-day 2025 MLB Draft starting Sunday. He still has a passion for engineering, but getting a chance to play in the big leagues is something he’s dreamed of since he started playing baseball at 5 years old.

“That’s the childhood dream…” Cross said of hearing his name called during the draft. “I’m going to love every bit of the journey. It is a dream, but at the same time it’s what I’ve always wanted to do, and I don’t want to just settle on hearing my name called. I want to make it all the way and give it my all until I’m done.”

Cross’ work ethic and 110% attitude makes him well suited for whatever career path he chooses — Major League Baseball player first, engineer second — but as a sophomore at Brownsburg, the max-effort Cross needed to work on slowing things down.

“Carrington’s a high-energy player, no doubt about that,” Brownsburg coach Dan Roman said. “He could make the flashy play, the big play, the range at shortstop in the hole. But the routine plays struggled for him a little bit, and he just needed to slow the game down.

“He just wanted to do so well on every single play that I just basically harped on it and harped on it ‘slow down, slow down, trust your hands, trust your feet.’ And it all came around for him, not as soon as he would’ve liked, but by the time of his senior year, he was tremendous.”

Cross chose Cincinnati because of his connection with the coaching staff, the campus and the school’s engineering program. Through the school’s co-op program, students can split the school year between being a full-time student and working full time. Cross got the opportunity to do his co-op semesters at L’Oreal’s 24-hour manufacturing site in Florence, Ky.

The rigors of Division-I athletics are tough to juggle for most people. With practice, traveling and playing in games, being an athlete is basically a full-time job. Cross added full-time employment on top of his baseball duties. Leaving in the middle of the night, he navigated the dark and lonely roads to get to his 3 a.m. shift at L’Oreal. Through time management and determination, Cross completed his eight-hour shifts while finding the mental and physical strength to continue excelling on the baseball field.

“I like to say it’s not as hard as people think. It’s more of a mental battle, but it’s just making sacrifices,” Cross said. “I was working unreal hours. And that kind of shaped me into a better person off the field and then it prepared me to be even one step ahead on the field. You’re working tired, and when you work tired your muscles and everything start going into another gear, your muscle memory, it has to work even harder.

“I don’t like to brag on engineering that much, but in reality, it is one step harder as far as course load and tests and stuff like that. So, I like to just say, ‘Do what’s expected of you and you’re going to be on top.'”

Cross credits his parents for instilling a strong work ethic in him. His mother, Miki, a Japanese immigrant, worked two jobs throughout his childhood. Carrington watched his father, Harold, work for more than 20 years in the restaurant business. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Harold worked 20-plus hour days as a general manager at O’Charley’s doing everything from packing up to-go orders to working in the kitchen.

“I would say (work ethic) is something I’ve always had, but then at the same time, you could look at my dad and my mom. They kind of went through struggles, but they never gave up,” Carrington said.

“When we moved to Indiana, my dad was with O’Charley’s for 20-plus years. … It’s kind of in our blood to have that loyalty and that trust with where you choose to end up. Things might go up and down, but it’s kind of trusting that and I think growing up, I saw that in my dad and in my mom.”

Loyalty played an important role in Cross’ college career. He redshirted his first year with the Bearcats and after a fall sit-down with the coaching staff, they let him know he likely would not be traveling with the team in the spring. Instead of entering the transfer portal, Cross continued to work on his game and battle for his spot in the lineup. He made 50 starts as a redshirt freshman, batting .291 with nine doubles, nine home runs and 30 RBIs. He led the American Athletic Conference with five triples and stole a team-high 17 bases in 23 attempts. His numbers took a slight step back as a sophomore slashing .262/.367/.466 before breaking out as a junior with a .321/.451/.534 slash line.

Cross’ .526 on-base percentage ranks third all-time in Cincinnati history. The third baseman was a Golden Spikes Award and Dick Howser Trophy semifinalist, and his 219 career games rank eighth in Bearcats history.

“I kind of took the role of saying, ‘I’m not ready, but how can I prepare to be ready?'” Cross said. “If you’re committing somewhere that you don’t think is the right fit, then you did the process wrong. I thought Cincinnati was the place for me. … I just kind of took it upon myself to be like, I’m not ready. I’ve got to develop in another way. So, I kind of used that as a chip on my shoulder.

“Every year you’re going to have struggles. Every year you’re going to go through a path where it’s like, am I doing enough? And it’s kind of the mindset of not really beating yourself up, but holding yourself to the standard of how can I get better? What do I need to improve on? Every year there was always something better that you could do. There was no room to get complacent.”

Follow IndyStar high school baseball Insider Akeem Glaspie on X at @THEAkeemGlaspie and get IndyStar’s high school coverage sent directly to your inbox with the High School Sports newsletter.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: 2025 MLB draft: Kerrington Cross’ work ethic fuels big league dream