Born and raised in the heat of Texas, read how Jason Krizan is adjusting to a Grand Rapids summer.

The Detroit Tigers prefer to draft the high school senior who has a big profile and could be considered high risk, high reward. Well, normally they prefer that, but not in their 2011 draft class.

Detroit selected a lot of college kids, who were low risk, high reward types. One of which being their 8th round selection, Jason Krizan, an outfielder out of Dallas Baptist University.

Jason was born and raised a Texas boy, but a Red Sox fan and attended a Christian university, now how many people can say that.

Read what he had to say after the jump!

1. Born in raised in Texas, were you a Rangers or Astros fan? If not, who was your favorite team as a kid? Your favorite player growing up?

JK: Actually, I was neither, I grew up playing shortstop and one of my favorite players growing up was Nomar Garciaparra. So I naturally started following the Red Sox. Then about 10 years ago, we moved into a house in Pflugerville, Tx that was named Fenway Park. So growing up I would say I was Red Sox fan.

2. Not many people attend Baptist or Christian Universities or Colleges, what was that like?

JK: It is a lot different than your normal 4 year school. Don’t get me wrong, I would never have gone to any other place in the world because of the impact that place left on me, but since it is a private school, DBU has 30-60 people in a classroom. That is a big help when the teacher actually knows the students in the class. Another thing is Chapel and the Theology classes, a student has to get so many Chapel hours per semester and you go two to three times a week. You have to have I think 12 religion classes if you are not a Christian studies major and for any other major that doesn’t require more. It is a lot different, everyone knows everyone, but it was a great place for me, and I wouldn’t have chosen anywhere else.

3. What was it like to be drafted into the Major Leagues? How did you celebrate the 8th round selection?

JK: It was a surreal feeling, I had heard from teams that I was going to go in rounds 7-10, so I was really watching the draft around those rounds to see what was going on, but we were at a team lunch for DBU since we were about to travel to California for the Super Regionals, and the lunch ended around the time the 7th round started. I got the call from my agent telling me congratulations on my way home from the lunch.

4. You are off to a pretty good start at Single-A West Michigan, what’s the biggest difference between pro and college ball?

JK: I would say the pitching, everyone has pretty good stuff here, and in college most people just have stuff that gets them by. I would say that in pro ball pitchers have the ability to command at least two of their pitches on most nights and in college most of the time it is just the fastball.

5. Have you adjusted to the Grand Rapids area yet? Missing the Texas-summer?

JK: Haha, the weather is a lot cooler here, it’s pretty hot in Texas right now. I have been home maybe 5 days since January, so naturally I am missing home some.

6. What are your future baseball goals?

JK: Be an everyday player in the big leagues, that has been my goal since I was 5 years old.