Troy Traxler is facing a huge challenge in his first season on the University of Minnesota baseball team.

It’s not learning to hit nasty sliders, block pitches in the dirt or call games.

The most difficult thing for Traxler has been not playing at all.

The La Crescent High School graduate is being redshirted as a freshman for the Gophers. Traxler practices every day, works out, and spends time with his teammates, but he can only sit and watch on game days.

“It’s one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do because I am so competitive,” Traxler said. “To come up here and be on the baseball team and have to sit out an entire year, it’s tough. I wish I was out there. But it’s been a great learning experience, and I have matured a ton over the last year.”

Traxler, a catcher/outfielder, signed with the La Crosse Loggers last September and expects to be with the team when it opens the 2013 season May 29 at Battle Creek, Mich.

Obviously, he can’t wait to play in a real game for the first time in almost a year.

“I’m really looking forward to having fun and playing every day — just getting into a full baseball season,” Traxler said.

Traxler faced another major challenge even before he joined the Gophers and committed to the Loggers.

Late in the 2011 football season, Traxler suffered a torn labrum in his right (throwing) shoulder and had surgery that November.

Traxler was assured by the Gophers baseball coaches that they would honor his National Letter of Intent. He skipped hockey season to rehabilitate his shoulder and was ready to play baseball again by the Lancers’ 2012 season opener.

The only concession Traxler made to his injury was moving to second base for most of the high school season. He batted .357 with 10 RBI and 21 stolen bases and was catching again by the end of the American Legion season.

Now, the shoulder is as strong as ever. Traxler has been working in practice as a catcher, with some occasional time in the outfield.

“It’s absolutely 100 percent; it’s actually doing really good right now,” Traxler said. “It’s a huge sigh of relief. It definitely makes all the rehab worth it.”

Life as a redshirt freshman hasn’t been all bad. In addition to giving Traxler time to bring his shoulder back to full health, it has allowed him to get up to speed on the college game and develop friendships on the team.

“I’ve made all kinds of adjustments,” Traxler said. “Being from a smaller school, I was pretty raw. My talent carried me though, and now we focus so much on fundamentals and technique. There’s so much of baseball to learn that I never knew existed.”

Gophers junior outfielder Bobby Juan, a Central High School graduate who is preparing for his third summer with the Loggers, has helped Traxler make the transition to college baseball.

“I think he’s really taking it well,” Juan said. “He took his redshirt serious, trying to learn the college game and he’s taken a lot of steps to mature, learning from older players and getting tips here and there, and that will help him a lot going into his first collegiate season and with the Loggers.”

Traxler has been waiting a long time to play for the Loggers. His family bought season tickets for the team’s first season, 2003, and Traxler went to dozens of games growing up.

“My dad (Russ) and I went to a lot of the games the first year,” Traxler said. “We would go to the park all the time. I’d be bugging him all day to go to a Loggers game. I was one of the kids chasing after foul balls all the time.”

That fueled Traxler’s dream to play for the Loggers. He revealed it to his mother, Kristi, one day.

“She told me, ‘It’s not that easy. You’ve got to be pretty good,’” Traxler said.

Traxler was certainly good in high school. He took over as a starter as a freshman in 2009 and helped the Lancers win the Class AA state championship. Two more state appearances followed in his career, and he was All-State as a junior and senior.

The Loggers recognized Traxler’s talent and invited him to catch bullpen sessions in the summer after his freshman year. He showed up about a dozen times, when he didn’t have a Legion practice or game, to work with the team’s college pitchers.

“That was a great learning experience,” Traxler said. “It was the first time I got to be around Division I players. I learned a ton about what everybody’s going through to see what they do and the things they focus on.”

La Crescent baseball coach Rick Boyer, who managed the Loggers in 2006 and ’07, thinks Traxler will thrive in the daily grind of Northwoods League baseball.

“He’s going to improve tremendously as a player,” Boyer said. “I know Troy will be able to hit at that level and run and hopefully get an opportunity to catch. He’s going to compete and give all he has every day.”

Said Traxler: “It’s been a dream of mine to play for the Loggers. It’s a great opportunity to mature as a player, and I hope to do just that this summer.”