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P Drew Rucinski (Oakland A's)

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brodybuck21

brodybuck21

THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY
Staff member
BP Recruiting Team
Fantasy Baseball Champ
Ex-sporting goods salesman Rucinski may make Angels
Undrafted former independent ball pitcher impressing Scioscia this spring

SURPRISE, Ariz. -- Four years ago, Drew Rucinski went undrafted out of Ohio State University.

Three years ago, he was making $600 a month pitching in independent ball.

Seventeen months ago, he was working at a sporting goods store, mostly selling ping-pong tables and sometimes answering questions about baseball equipment.

"Guys would come in and buy gloves and be like, 'Hey, you think this one's good for my kid?' I'd be like, 'I would personally take that one,'" Rucinski recalled. "They'd be like, 'Nah, I like this one anyway.' 'All right, I guess I don't know what I'm talking about.'"

Rucinski laughs about that now. The Cactus League schedule is winding down, and Rucinski is still in Angels camp. He excelled for their Double-A affiliate last year and he has a legitimate chance to crack their Opening Day roster.


COL@LAA: Rucinski makes heads-up grab on comebacker
"You can't explain some things," Rucinski said. "Baseball is a crazy game. Sometimes, you just need an opportunity."

Rucinski never really had it with the Indians, who signed him as an undrafted free agent in much of the same way the Angels plucked Matt Shoemaker out of Eastern Michigan University three years earlier. The 26-year-old Rucinski played at four different levels of the Indians' system in 2011, made it until the final day of camp the following spring and got released, because the roster spots would go to the right-handed pitchers who were actually drafted.

Suddenly, Rucinski was wondering if his baseball career was over.

http://m.angels.mlb.com/news/articl...salesman-drew-rucinski-may-make-angels-roster
 
American pitcher credits adversity for instilling work ethic
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Drew Rucinski, pitcher for the NC Dinos baseball club, poses next to the team bus after arriving at Incheon International Airport following the team's spring training in Tucson, Arizona, Friday, 2019. Yonhap

In the award-winning film "Moneyball," based on the best-selling book of the same title by Michael Lewis that chronicled the Oakland Athletics' ground-breaking approach to talent evaluation in the early 2000s, the team's head scout, Grady Fuson, fires verbal shots at general manager Billy Beane for driving the A's to ruin with his analytical ways.

Fuson tells the GM he will be fired and adds, "You're going to have to explain to your kid why you're working at Dick's Sporting Goods."

That was all fictional, of course. Beane still runs the show at the A's and has never had to work elsewhere.

But in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) this year, you'll see an American pitcher who once had to work at Dick's Sporting Goods to make ends meet while playing independent ball.

Meet Drew Rucinski of the NC Dinos.

Before the 2013 season in indy ball, where he was making US$600 a month, Rucinski worked at a pecan farm in Oklahoma, cleaning up debris on the ground before the pecans could be picked up. After that season, he got a job selling ping pong tables and treadmills, among other things, at Dick's Sporting Goods.

He kept at baseball, even as he continued to bounce around different organizations. His perseverance paid off in 2018, when he made a career-high 32 appearances for the Miami Marlins and posted a 4.33 ERA.

As a free agent last winter, Rucinski, 30, decided to add a new chapter to an already fascinating book. The right-hander signed a one-year, $1 million deal with the Dinos in November, taking his journeyman career outside America for the first time.

One thing has remained constant throughout his ups and downs: his love of the game.

"I've seen a little bit of every level of baseball. It's been a crazy ride," Rucinski told Yonhap News Agency Friday at Incheon International Airport after returning from the Dinos' spring training in Arizona. "I love baseball. My family and my wife are super supportive. They've supported me the whole way. And the dream of getting to the big leagues or getting wherever baseball takes you ― you want to go do it."

To say Rucinski has come a long way, figuratively if not literally, would be a gross understatement. Rucinski signed with the Cleveland Indians as an undrafted free agent out of Ohio State University in 2011. He was released the following year and began playing unaffiliated baseball.

Rucinski made his big league debut with the Los Angeles Angels in 2014 and went on to make 41 appearances in the big show before moving to South Korea.

And he said his experiences in the lower rungs of professional baseball shaped him as a person and a ball player.

"It's made me determined to get to the next level, (and do) whatever it is I have to do to figure out how to succeed," he said. "It's made me the hard-working guy that goes out there and figures out the way to get the job done."

Though Rucinski had a solid season with the Marlins in 2018, the big league market in recent years hasn't been kind to middle relievers in their late 20s or early 30s.

http://m.koreatimes.co.kr/pages/article.asp?newsIdx=265055
 
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brodybuck21 said:
6 shutout innings and the W for Drew!
Click to expand...

I mentioned Korean baseball earlier, but did you know that a former Buckeye was featured in the late-night broadcast? Drew Rucinski—who played his college ball at Ohio State and spent four seasons in the major leagues—made the start for the NC Dinos on Opening Day, striking out six batters over six scoreless innings.



Entire article: https://www.landgrantholyland.com/2...-conference-basketball-schedule-released-more
 
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Drew had his second start moved from this past Saturday to this morning (rain out)for NC vs. KT Wiz. He went 5 and 1/3 innings giving up 5 earned in a no decision. NC ended up winning the game 7-6 in 10 innings
 
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