The man behind the mask

If you ask his Kansas baseball teammates and coaches about him, the first thing most of them will point to is junior catcher Augusto Mungarrieta’s ability behind the plate. 

“He’s an incredible blocker,” KU coach Dan Fitzgerald said recently. “He’s so into it. He’s really good with umpires. The pitchers love him. He’s just an incredibly likable guy and a great blocker.”

On Thursday afternoon, however, during the top-seeded Jayhawks’ opening game in the Big 12 tournament, it was Mungarrieta’s bat that made a massive impact in an 8-7, 10-inning win that moved Kansas into Friday’s semifinals. 

Mungarrieta’s 2-run bomb in the second inning gave Kansas an early lead and looked, for a while, like it might be all the Jayhawks needed to advance.

Baylor had other ideas and staged a late comeback to force extra innings. But the Jayhawks won on a walk-off home run by reserve outfielder Savion Flowers, who was in the lineup for the injured Brady Ballinger and hit his first homer of the season.

The win, which moved Kansas to 40-16 on the season — it's just the fifth 40-win season in program history: 1993, 1994, 2006, 2025 & 2026 — was merely the latest wild way these Jayhawks have won during this magical season. And Mungarrieta has been a massive part of the entire run. 

“He’s a worker,” said KU first baseman Josh Dykhoff, who played with Mungarrieta last summer and knows a thing or two about hard work himself. “The amount of work that guy puts him, receiving, throwing, it shows. He’s a worker.”

KU closer Boede Rahe nodded his head in agreement as Dykhoff talked about the guy they all call “Augie.” And he added that Mungarrieta has played a huge role in both his own stellar season and that of the rest of the KU pitching staff throughout the spring. 

“Ever since I got here, we’ve grown a really good bond,” Rahe said of his catcher. “And I think he’s got that with all our pitching staff. … He’s been probably the best catcher who’s ever caught me. So, having a guy like that is amazing. He probably gets us a lot more pitches than we deserve behind that plate.” 

“To have such a personable guy and a guy that you can connect with like that is awesome to have,” Rahe continued. “Every single day. He brings great energy, great teammate, he’s a great person to have on the team.” 

“He’s exactly what we thought he’d be and a whole lot more.”

— Kansas coach Dan Fitzgerald on junior catcher Augie Mungarrieta

There was a time when Augie wasn’t exactly the team favorite. That came earlier this year, when his native Venezuela won the World Baseball Classic, beating Team USA, 3-2 in the championship game. 

Mungarrieta, who hails from Carabobo, Venezuela, came to KU after stints at Rochester Community and Technical College and Northwest Florida State College. He picked Kansas over offers from Hawaii and Western Kentucky and, by all accounts, fit right in with this roster and coaching staff the minute he arrived.

Even during his home country's memorable and emotional WBC run.

“The international thing was so cool, kind of (seeing) his joy and his love for baseball and him celebrating Venezuela’s win in the face of all his American teammates,” Fitzgerald recalled with a laugh. “He loved every second of that and it was a cool thing to watch him and how much joy he had.” 

“He let the group chat hear it,” added Rahe, who noted that there was even a friendly wager between Mungarrieta and Ballinger, where the loser had to pose for social media photos while proudly displaying the flag of the other’s country. 

“A lot of us weren’t allowed to watch the game with him,” Dykhoff explained. “His rule. He put it on at his house and said, ‘No one come over.’ Serious stuff.”

While Venezuela’s run to the WBC title brought out Augie’s serious side, his teammates stress that he’s most often light-hearted and easy going. 

On game days. In the dugout. In the clubhouse. And away from baseball altogether.

“He definitely always brought that silly, goofy mood,” Rahe said. “If you get to know him, you’ll definitely realize that he’s one of the funniest guys you’ll ever meet. He was really easy to get along with right away, that’s for sure.” 

Fitzgerald likes to tell a story about Mungarrieta’s regular batting practice group, which features, as Fitz put it, “three guys that talk the entire time.” 

“And Augie is very focused and that’s the only time he’s not talking,” Fitzgerald said. “So, it’s a very interesting dynamic (that showcases) his ability to really focus.”

In part because of his skills but also because his personality fit the profile of what they look for while recruiting, Fitzgerald said he and his coaching staff walked away from the commitment from Mungarrieta with one clear thought: This guy is our catcher for next season. 

Checking in on how that projection turned out, Mungarrieta has appeared in 54 games and made 48 starts behind the plate, with 14 homers and 44 RBIs while hitting .292 to date. 

“He’s exactly what we thought he’d be and a whole lot more,” Fitzgerald said. “You know what they’re like and you know that they’re good guys, but you don’t really know how much they’re gonna bring off the field and he’s brought a ton.” 

Next up, Mungarrieta and the Jayhawks will take on Oklahoma State at 6:30 p.m. central (on ESPN+) in Friday’s Big 12 semifinal matchup, with a trip to the Big 12 title game on the line. 

— For tickets to all KU athletic events, visit kuathletics.com