Sept. 12, 2006
KANSAS CITY - By Dick Kaegel/MLB.com
When Ryan Braun made his Major League debut pitching for the Royals, he took a minute just to gaze around from the mound at Kauffman Stadium.
"I was just trying to take it all in as it was happening," Braun said.
Then he turned to his work, specifically Sandy Alomar Jr. of the Chicago White Sox. He got him to ground out. Rob Mackowiak got a single and was thrown out stealing. Then Tadahito Iguchi lined out.
"I was still playing the same game, or trying to pretend it was no different than the other games I've thrown," Braun said.
He seems like a thoughtful guy, this rookie right-hander.
Braun was easy to spot in the Omaha Royals' clubhouse this season. He was the one with his nose buried in a book.
"I like reading books," he said. "It's a curse of graduating from college maybe."
He's been into some deep spiritual subjects, too.
"Since my dad was a minister, religion and Christianity fascinate me," he said.
What fascinates the Royals about Braun is his ability as a relief pitcher, notably in the closer's role. He did a lot of that this year for Double-A Wichita and later with Triple-A Omaha.
"He's pretty bulldoggy," said Omaha pitching coach Tom Burgmeier. "He's, 'Give me the ball, I want to pitch.'"
Braun could figure in next year's battle for the Royals' closer job now that his old Wake Forest University pal, Mike MacDougal, has been traded to the White Sox.
"Like almost everyone, fastball command is the key," manager Buddy Bell said. "I like him OK. He's got a little perkiness, which a lot of relievers have."
So far, Braun has appeared in three Kansas City games, giving up two hits and no runs in 3 2/3 innings. In his last outing, in Boston, he gave up an RBI double to Wily Mo Pena on his first pitch of the game.
"I wish I could have my first pitch back," he said. "Other than that, I'm pretty happy with what happened."
He retired the next five Red Sox batters in a game the Royals finally won in 12 innings. And he won't have any trouble remembering his first strikeout victim -- it was David Ortiz.
Just who is Ryan Braun? Well, let him give you the Reader's Digest version, starting with his birth on July 29, 1980, in Kitchener, Ontario, in Canada.
"I was just born there," he said. "My parents went to college in Kansas, my mom was an American citizen, my dad's from Canada. So anyway, we moved over here, I grew up in California, went to school at Wake Forest, played one year with MacDougal, had Tommy John surgery in my elbow in 1998, went to UNLV and got drafted out of there in my senior year and that's it. That's who I am."
Whew! Those 26 years flew by in a hurry, didn't they?
Just to fill in some gaps: His parents, Ted and Barbara, went to Tabor College, operated by the Mennonite Bretheren Church in Hillsboro, Kan. His father was a minister, but now runs a construction company building custom homes in North Carolina.
Ryan has a brother, Garrett, a high school senior, and an older sister, Jamie, who is married.
In Fresno, Calif., he was a good hitter as well as a pitcher for Edison High, but he pitched three years for Wake Forest (9-7 record) before transferring to Nevada-Las Vegas (5-3, seven saves). He was a sixth-round draft choice of the Royals in 2003.
Until his rapid progress this year, his best season was 2004 when he had 23 saves for Class A Wilmington. But he missed most of 2005 because of shoulder surgery.
This year, though, Braun had 10 saves and a 2.21 ERA in 26 games for Wichita, ringing up 58 strikeouts with 16 walks in 40 2/3 innings. After being promoted to Omaha, his ERA in 17 games was just 2.16 and he had three saves.
Sometimes his best pitch is a 95-mph fastball.
"It goes back and forth. Sometimes my fastball feels as good as it ever has. And other times, it's my off-speed curveball," Braun said.
Whatever he throws, doing it in the pressure job of a closer is his preference.
"I love it," he said.
