A high school legend, Twins starter Dylan Bundy goes from flamethrower to pitcher

FORT MYERS, Fla. - Dylan Bundy's high school starts used to be big events in little Owasso, Okla., about 15 miles northeast of Tulsa. The stands would fill with major league scouts and awed baseball fans, there to behold baseball pitching in its purest form.

"He was one of the most highly regarded high school pitchers of all time," testified Rocco Baldelli, and the fictitious-sounding numbers back him up. Wielding a fastball that occasionally reached 100 mph but mixing in an unfairly sharp curveball, Bundy pitched 71 innings as an Owasso senior, and 158 of the 213 outs he recorded — an incredible 74.2% — came via strikeout. Only five batters managed to draw a walk all season, and only twice did an opponent manage to score a run off Bundy. ERA: 0.25.

A three-time Oklahoma high school player of the year, he won six national player of the year awards in 2011, when he went unbeaten in his 11 starts. And he was drafted by the Baltimore Orioles with the fourth overall pick, signed a contract that guaranteed him more than $6 million, and reached the major leagues for a couple of innings while he was still only 19.

"It was fun," Bundy understated with a wry smile in the Twins' clubhouse on Thursday. "It was a lot of fun."

But a decade has passed since then, and very little of it has been as much fun as those joyful days. Injuries, surgeries and too much bad pitching have jostled the infinite promise out of him, have left him a borderline journeyman who wasn't completely certain he could find a job when he reached free agency last fall. Yet the confidence borne of those Owasso days remains.

"It's still in here," Bundy said, tapping his chest.

That's what the Twins think, too, which is why they were willing to guarantee him $5 million on the eve of the lockout last December, $4 million for this season and another $1 million if they let him walk away next fall. If they want to keep him? Bundy will earn another $11 million next year.

Baldelli, for one, expects the Twins will want to pay up.

"This guy can really spin the baseball. There's just a lot to like there, and he's a guy whose makeup also fits," the Twins manager said. "He can be a bit of a bulldog on the mound. We got very good reviews from [people] who have spent time with him."

Skepticism abounds among Twins fans, though, many of whom equate Bundy with failed reclamation projects of the past, such as Matt Shoemaker or J.A. Happ last season.

Bundy's results, after all, have never matched the buildup. Even as he battled injuries through his minor league career, Bundy was rated the Orioles' top prospect by Baseball America for five consecutive years, triggering such intense anticipation in the Baltimore fan base that Sandy Koufax would have had problems living up to it. So when he finally arrived in 2016, he had little chance of meeting expectations.

"I heard some of it, social media or whatever, but I never looked at it like pressure. I can't control what people expect of me," said Bundy, who pitched only 63 innings from 2013-15 because of Tommy John elbow surgery, forearm soreness and a calcification in his shoulder that stumped doctors for months and cost him his 2015 season, too. "I just wanted to get back to where my arm felt good and I could throw all my pitches like I used to."

Well, almost like he used to. Bundy's 100 mph fastball is long gone, but he still can reach 92 or 93, he said. By developing a useful slider and changeup, he's shown flashes of the ability that has now faded into legend. He posted a 4.02 ERA as a rookie with the Orioles, but it was never that low again in his four seasons in Baltimore. When the Orioles flatlined in 2018, going 47-115, Bundy led the American League in losses (16) and home runs allowed (41).

A year later, Bundy was sent to the Angels for four prospects, and his career was revived. In the shortened pandemic season, his ERA melted to a career-low 3.29 and he seemed to be living up to his ace potential at last. He even received Cy Young consideration, finishing ninth.

"I had my best year during the worst year. It was such a weird year all around. I didn't have my velocity that year at all, but had my best year," he said. "It just shows you don't have to have 100 mph. You don't have to have 95. It helps. But if you can pitch, you can get guys out."

It didn't last. After enjoying his best season in 2020, he suffered through his worst last year, his 6.06 ERA finally getting him removed from the Angels' rotation. "You get into bad counts with a guy on first and second, it's not going to end well," Bundy said. "No excuses, I just didn't make as many pitches as I needed to last year."

He hopes the Twins can help.

"They had good things to say about the kind of things they might be able to help me with," Bundy said, especially his slider. "Everyone around the league knows that's one of my better pitches. Using that better, and locating my four-seamer and two-seamer better, those are my main goals. I'm excited to get started."