His hard work in the weight room and on the field allowed him to be in the starting lineup a couple games into last Baseball Season and allowed him to be in this year's Dandy Dozen at #6.
Krouse made his way all the way to routinely batting 2nd in the lineup after being left off entirely at the start of the year that included Michael Bianco and William Elliott being off the lineup due to Basketball and an injury respectively.
Among all that regularly batted last season, Krouse was second the team in Contact % - which is calculated from if Krouse made contact with the ball at any point during the at bat divided by the number of plate appearances - at .850 (85%). He led the team (along with Hunter Roth) in putting the ball in play, doing so 89 times, but did so in 8 fewer plate appearances than Roth.
Putting the ball in play makes the defense field the ball to get him out - usually it happens, but sometimes it doesn't. Krouse led the team in reaching base because of a defensive error by the other team, because he puts the ball in play and makes the defense put him out on the base paths instead of the pitcher at the plate. Krouse was also second on the team in sacrifice bunts - which is necessary for a two-hole hitter to do when the leadoff hitter gets on base so that the 3-hole and 4-hole hitters can score him with a base hit.
All this is because he likes to swing the bat - which has its disadvantages. He was dead last on the team in walks issued (with just 4 in the whole season). He was pegged 11 times to reach first base which was third on the team, an amazing number given that Krouse saw 20 less pitches throughout the season than Alabama signee William Elliott who missed a dozen games this past season due to the previously mentioned injury and a facial injury he suffered during the year. Krouse only missed two games (early in the year due to the coach's decision to not play him).
This past year he played Left Field the majority of the time and played Second Base when the lineup allowed it. With two outfielders leaving due to graduation, he will return with the most experience in the outfield.
If Krouse continues to do the hard work in the offseason in the weight room and on the field - like this past summer in the games I saw, he went 7-for-14 - he will be much more effective come February.