Dream Summer for Trevor Kilinski

By Aaron Arnstein / NJ College Baseball Nation

From a young age, Trenton Generals infielder Trevor Kilinski loved boating.

Growing up, Kilinski spent his summers on grandma’s boat on Michigan’s Lake Macatawa. The memories made off the shores of Holland, Mich. proved influential to Kilinski’s career aspirations.

“Trevor really loves his major,” Bob Kilinski, Trevor’s father, said. “I’ve never seen a sophomore so excited about naval architecture and marine engineering.”

Trevor explained the naval architecture and marine engineering major as a mix of designing boats, fluid dynamics (decreasing a boat’s drag) and thermodynamics (how an engine works).

“Naval architecture is building boats: stability, flotation and general arrangements like where the engine and crew rooms go,” the rising junior at the University of Michigan said. “The marine engineering part goes more into fluid dynamics and thermodynamics, like engines.”

“I’ve just always loved boats and been good at math, so I just put the two together, and that's what I do,” he said.

Back in the spring, Trevor reached out to the New Jersey-based Viking Yacht Company. The company, better known as Viking Yachts, builds high-end luxury yachts used for sportfishing like in marlin and tuna tournaments. After emailing with the human resources department and speaking with the company’s vice president, Kilinski landed the internship.

Until recently, the infielder shadowed quality control engineers inside Viking Yacht’s factory in New Gretna, a small town located off New Jersey’s Bass River. He helped make sure various components of the vessel such as the propellers and shafts (which positions the engine), are ready to be placed in the boat. Now Kilinski is involved in the basic installation of the boat such as laying down wires and hoses.

Between balancing two online summer courses, playing summer ball and interning at Viking Yachts, the rising junior maintains a “pretty crazy” schedule, as he describes it. From Monday to Thursday, he wakes up at 4:30 in the morning to get to work by 5:45 a.m. and works 10-hour days. He tries to attend all Generals games except on Tuesdays.

Kilinski, a big fan of retired Navy SEAL and now-author and podcaster Jocko Willink, said reading Willink’s book “Extreme Ownership” has helped him maintain his rigorous schedule.

“Listening to the Navy SEAL mindset and making sure that I’m on top of everything like a Navy SEAL would be is what’s keeping me going,” the infielder said.

As late as mid-May, summer ball wasn’t part of Kilinski’s summer plans. Thanks in part to his father’s help, he landed with the Generals.

“I said [to Trevor], ‘you need to stay in shape and be ready when you arrive back on campus in the fall and I highly suggest you play summer ball,’” Bob said. When Rutgers came to Ann Arbor for the Big Ten regular season finale, Trevor’s father asked the Rutgers’ team managers for recommendations of collegiate summer leagues in New Jersey and they recommended the Atlantic Collegiate Baseball League (ACBL).

“I did a little research and found Coach Olshin had a couple teams…and he [Trevor] ended up on the Generals,” Bob said. “It’s great that he's getting extra reps in during the summer.”

After spending last season driving two hours to most games in the South Florida Collegiate Baseball League, Trevor’s drive to most ACBL games is about an hour away from his internship, located about 25 miles north of Atlantic City. The league’s schedule also fit well with his internship schedule, with doubleheaders being played on Saturdays and Sundays.

Not only is the University of Michigan product excelling both in the (online) classroom and at his internship but on the baseball diamond as well. Kilinski was named an All-Star earlier this month.

He is tied for the team lead in homers and is top five on the team in RBIs despite playing less games than any other player in the top 10. At the time of the All-Star break, he was third on the team with a .321 average.

As for the All-Star game itself, Trevor put on a show. He went 2 for 3 with three runs and three RBIs, including a go-ahead two run single. He capped off his night with a solo shot in the eighth en route to garnering MVP honors.

The rising junior had never received an individual recognition like that before but attributed the award to his teammates’ performance. “At the end of the day, it was only possible because the guys on the Wolff Division team were crushing balls so I had a lot of chances to hit,” he said. “They could’ve given it to anyone that day.”    

What made his performance even more memorable was that his dad was there to share the moment with him.

Bob made the 11-hour drive from Michigan for a weeklong trip to watch his son play in both the All-Star game and a handful of regular season contests.

“Baseball is such a humbling sport,” said Bob Kilinski, who coached Trevor from tee-ball until he was 14. “To see him dial in against the best competition in the league and have some success, it was a super proud moment as a dad,” he said.

The two toured the East Coast on Trevor’s off days, catching a Red Sox-Yankees game, touring the city’s 9/11 Memorial and visiting the Statue of Liberty. They also saw the Rocky Statue, the Liberty Bell and toured Independence Hall in Philadelphia.

“It was a real special time, just to share that week with Trevor,” his father said. “It was really rewarding to hear the excitement in his voice as he explained how his internship was going.”

While Trevor has had a busy summer, he’s had a meaningful one, too.

“He’s making his love for boats and yachts all the more special,” Bob said. “He’s fallen in love with his major and it’s getting reinforced on his internship, yet he still gets to share his love for baseball.”

A summer filled with baseball and boats.