Drafted in the 17th round by the Washington Nationals, Gavin Bruni has nothing left to prove as a college pitcher. (Press Pros Feature Photos)
After four years at Ohio State, the Buckeyes Gavin Bruni was selected recently in the 17th round of the major league baseball draft. What remains to be seen is whether Ohio State’s loss is the Washington Nationals’ gain.
I was out of town during the MLB draft, ten days ago, and watched interestingly from the road to see what would become of one Buckeye pitcher in particular.
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And sure enough, after what seemed like an interminable wait lefthanded starter Gavin Bruni, from Alliance, Ohio, was taken in the 17th round by the Washington Nationals.
You don’t get a lot of video, or profile conversation on air, when you’re taken #17. That’s usually reserved for pitchers drafted in the top three rounds. Those they can’t say enough about. But in such an absence, I want to take a moment here to pay what I feel is some badly needed respect for a guy who’s talented, who’s yet to find his groove, and who could turn out to be one of those picks that in three years appears at the top of the food chain, prompting everyone to ask then, “What’s this guy’s story?”
Here’s my version of that story.
Bruni, as a lefthander, is one of best examples of untapped potential seen in my 12 years of covering Big Ten baseball. And for his physical presence, and tools, alone, I might consider him among those who eventually turn up golden. The Big Ten, you see, is a tough place to impress people when you’re pitching in 40 degree weather, and on a .500 team.
He throws as hard as any lefthander I’ve seen in the conference. Not as accurate, mind you, but the stuff is there.
His breaking ball, slider or curve, is the kind that makes hitters look foolish, especially if he’s throwing the fastball for strikes. And that fastball will eventually top out in the 96 to 98 range. You have to sit on that kind of velocity, and when you do you’re screwed by the breaking pitch.
His willingness to compete should not be questioned, even during a struggling spring like ’24 when nothing seemed to click. He finished with a 3-3 mark, an earned run average of 6.13, and his walk-to-strikeout ratio was abysmal…42 walks in 52 innings, compared to 54 strikeouts.
But on those choice days when the fastball played, he looked every bit the part of a major league prospect. At 6’3″ and 220 pounds he’s built like a headstone, and when he steps toward home plate he looks like a freight train coming at you. His best season was 2023, when he finished 5-3 with 74 strikeouts in 57.1 innings, and gave every indication that he would be one of the Big Ten’s top six starters come 2024. But it just didn’t happen.
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“I know I have to throw more strikes,” he said back in February, prior to his first start of the year, against Southern Cal. And he did throw strikes in that game, but struggled thereafter.
But scouts don’t look for strikeout-walk ratios, necessarily. They look for talent, velocity, and that willingness to compete. And with that Washington took a flyer on Bruni, who has a year’s eligibility left had he wanted to come back for a senior year to improve on his metrics and move up in the draft. That’s not the plan.
“My representative and I have pretty much decided I’m going to sign,” he said last week, a sense of moving on in his voice, and confident that whatever it is that’s prevented him from finding the strike zone heretofore…at the next level they make a living out of fixing things like that.
“I’ll probably spend the rest of the summer at their rookie camp in Florida.”
I’m glad. Bruni is one of the nicest people you’ll ever meet, as well as being talented. What he needs, I believe, is a shot of mechanics and a boost in confidence. And it couldn’t happen to a better person.
I’m happy for him, and to those who’ve shared his frustration from the stands these past three years I’ll share this. Gavin Bruni deserves this opportunity. He should sign, get fixed, and go out and see just how good he can be.
In a rare irony, he has nothing left to prove at Ohio State.
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The state notices Minster…..
Monday mornings are usually the time when we look at online metrics for stories posted over the weekend. And with kudos to feature writer Alan Brads, and photographer Julie Wright, the numbers for this past weekend blew away any previous year where we covered amateur community baseball events for kids just learning the game, like in Minster and Versailles.
Our three days’ coverage drew nearly 350,000 page views, total, of which two-thirds came from within the five-county area of Auglaize, Darke, Shelby, Miami and Mercer counties. The rest was shared by at least 30 other Ohio counties. And along with that, some very kind remarks about the culture of community baseball in west-central Ohio.
“I smiled the whole time I read,” said Terry Rosing, writing from central Ohio.
“Minster is to be congratulated for the values it teaches its young people,” added Bill Winkler. “What better thing can you do for kids than play baseball?”
Well Bill, you could say the same for Russia, Fort Loramie, New Bremen, Versailles, Maria Stein, St. Henry, Coldwater, Parkway and a host of other communities that showed up to play. And how do they do it? Two-parent homes, commitment, patience, and expectation for something more developmental than PlayStation. They teach their young people how to win. And as we wrote about on Saturday, there are about 20 state baseball titles, alone, since 2007 among those communities.
What they’re doing is obviously working.
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