By Jordan Kimball, Beat Writer
In the driveway outside their grandparents’ Sacramento home, Ryan and Kyle Seo didn’t just learn to play baseball — they figured out how to beat each other.
Armed with a 27-inch wooden Red Sox bat, the brothers belted tennis balls into neighbors’ backyards or hit their grandparents’ cars stashed in the garage.
They became so forceful over one another that their grandparents covered their automobiles with blankets for protection. Their mother, Audrey, grew accustomed to asking neighbors if she could search their backyards to find missing balls that had been launched.
The days filled with playful fights and back-and-forth smack talk continued, but when Ryan turned 11 and Kyle turned 9, they ramped up. One time, Kyle, facing his brother, went “absolutely mondo” on him, Ryan said, striking a pitch a few houses down the block.
Kyle’s first instinct was to run inside and grab a Sharpie. He sprinted back outside, signed the Red Sox bat — where the signature still sits — and proceeded to let Ryan hear it for the rest of the day.
“They are not shy about digging into each other, talking smack to the other one,” Audrey said. “I think they always (were like that) and they will always continue to (be like that).”
Now, over a decade later, that competitive fire has forged Ryan and Kyle’s relationship with baseball. Ryan is entering his second year at Cal State Fullerton. Kyle is set to begin his first season at Chaminade University of Honolulu. Though they’ve taken different paths, their growth has always been rooted in each other.
“If (Ryan) wins, I win. And vice versa. Every good outing, I felt like I was right out there with him,” Kyle said.
When Ryan was 8 and Kyle was 7, there was potential for more than their front-yard baseball battles. One day, the brothers were walking with their mom through Sports Authority when they approached a table.
At the front sat a poster advertising their local baseball program. The brothers were unsure if they wanted to sign up, but when the two people at the table mentioned they looked like baseball players, they were hooked. Ryan signed up first, while Kyle came around a year later.
In his first season, Ryan fell in love with the sport, he said. He would practice with his father, Derek, while Kyle watched from the side. That’s all it took for Kyle to decide to give sanctioned baseball a try.
His passion was just as intense as Ryan’s. While he didn’t qualify for T-ball in their Pony League because of his age, Kyle’s skills matched other kids as soon as he stepped on the diamond.
Years of practices in opposite directions and games at different times briefly ended when Ryan and Kyle were on the same team at ages 12 and 10, Audrey said.
Derek was the team’s head coach, and Audrey was a team parent and served on the North Natomas Little League board. But the grind remained the same, and the odd schedule for the Seo family still existed.
“When you've got kids that play sports, your lifestyle revolves around that,” Audrey said. “Dinner time is either at 4 p.m. before practice or 9 p.m. after games.”
Even after years of Little League, Audrey wasn’t convinced baseball would last. She never forced the boys to play; it had to be their decision. They had a “natural athletic ability,” Audrey said, so staying committed to the sport came easily.
At age 15, Ryan began playing travel ball for the Sacramento Sports Center. It was an all-in-one facility that had in-house physical therapy, batting cages, a pitching lab and more. Kyle joined him soon after.
They began attending showcases while at Inderkum High School, and baseball became a serious endeavor. Ryan entered high school, knowing he wanted to play college baseball. If he couldn’t play Division I, he’d stay close to home at Sacramento City College, he said.
Kyle’s junior season and Ryan’s senior year marked the only time they shared the field at Inderkum, though. After months away from baseball during COVID-19 — when both had shifted their focus to golf — the two were unsure of where their baseball future lay.
However, one talk between Ryan and his dad rekindled his love for the sport.
“It was my dad saying, ‘Hey, don’t give up on this yet,’ and I think that really sparked the fire again,” Ryan said. “That might’ve been the conversation that honestly changed my life.”
Ryan and Kyle Seo pose with their parents following a game during their time at Inderkum High School. Though both went on to play college baseball, the brothers only shared the field for a handful of games during their high school careers. Courtesy of Ryan Seo
Kyle, who his teammates considered a better golfer than a baseball player, was also on the fence. But he followed his heart, which was an easy choice.
“There’s something you just can’t get anywhere else than on a baseball field. That feeling when you’re in a banger game and you’re on the mound and you get the job done,” Kyle said. “There’s no better feeling. That’s what keeps me coming back, and that’s why I love it.”
In one of the few games they played together, Ryan caught the first five innings with Kyle on the mound. They then switched roles. It was the only time they formed a battery in high school, and while the result against TCU’s Braeden Sloan-led Woodcreek wasn’t worth noting, they joked, they still say nothing can top that moment.
When Ryan graduated from Inderkum, the offers he hoped for hadn’t materialized. So he enrolled at Sac City, aiming to develop for two years and earn another shot. The first step was to boost his velocity. While pitching over the top, Ryan was sitting at 86-88 miles per hour. His pitching coach referred to him as “vanilla ice cream,” pushing him to find something different.
Ryan’s coach wasn’t asking for a “gourmet pistachio ice cream.” He just wanted some “sprinkles.” So with a background as an infielder, Ryan began experimenting with a lower arm slot. The shift to a sidearm delivery helped him stand out in a way traditional mechanics hadn’t.
But just a week after the adjustment, Ryan tore his UCL. It could’ve been a sign to abandon the experiment, but instead, Ryan continued, considering it one of the best gambles he ever made.
Meanwhile, at Inderkum for Kyle’s senior season, he started feeling elbow pain. After getting checked out, he discovered he also sustained a UCL tear. The brothers were in the same spot at different stages, but they rehabbed together.
They’d attend Optimum Athletes, a training program based out of SSC, where they rebuilt their strength. Despite being out for a season, they’d participate in practices and events for their respective teams to the best of their ability. But the whole time, they were itching for their return.
“Going from the top of your game to instantaneously, on the bench, sitting there with your arm in a brace was not easy for either one of them,” Audrey said. “Being unable to physically participate was challenging.”
Ryan Seo chats with Cal State Fullerton teammate Jayden Harper before a Stompers game in early June. In his lone season with the Titans, Seo posted a 2.12 ERA over 17 innings pitched.
The script for Kyle continued to follow Ryan’s. Following his graduation from Inderkum in 2023, Kyle played for Sac City. It was the first real time since that Little League season, coached by their father, that they were on the same team.
And the duo showed out. In 20 appearances, Ryan struck out 40 batters and sported a 3-1 record. Kyle held the team’s second-best ERA at 2.91 and allowed a team-low 12 runs for qualified pitchers over 20 innings.
The result was a deep playoff run where the Panthers won the Super Regional Championship. Kyle pitched two innings in the first round against Modesto and four in the second round against Feather River. Ryan watched from the bullpen with pride.
With Ryan’s new delivery opening D-I opportunities, he committed to Cal State Fullerton. After one of their worst records in recent memory — 16-38 — Ryan wanted to return the Titans to glory.
He completed his first season there with a 2.12 ERA through 15 appearances, even pitching at Angel Stadium on April 29 with his whole family in the crowd. CSUF finished its season with renewed success, finishing third in The Big West.
As Ryan begins another year with the Titans, Kyle will take his talents across the Pacific to Chaminade University of Honolulu, which plays its home games at Les Murakami Stadium — home of the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors.
But first, the two will enjoy one last time playing in the same bullpen with the Stompers this summer. And even when they leave, their love for baseball and their competitive bond — shaped by front-yard battles in Sacramento — remains stronger than ever.
“We’re always gonna be brothers,” Kyle said. “It’s always gonna be competitive… It’s always good to see him succeed and have a good day, and I’ll always be a huge supporter of his, but it’s nice to one-up him once in a while, too.”