August 3 - First it was the discipline of the Japanese, who are taught from a young age a conservative approach to the game, and to not beat themselves. A couple weeks later, it was the Cubans, the slam dunk artists of baseball, swinging for the fences and attacking the game with flair and pizzazz.
For JB Bukauskas, the former Washington Post All-Met Player of the Year from Stone Bridge High School, a summer spent with the USA Baseball Collegiate National Team offered up a variety of opposing hitters from all corners of the globe.
And not many had much success against him.
One of 26 players named to Team USA for a training camp in Southern California, where the team played a handful of tune-up games against California Collegiate League teams before traveling to play in five-game friendship series in Japan, Chinese Taipei and Cuba, Bukauskas was one of the team’s top pitchers last month. One of the nation’s leaders in strikeouts after fanning 111 in 78.1 innings as a sophomore at the University of North Carolina in the spring, he tossed 21.2 innings without allowing an earned run in six appearances during his time with Team USA, striking out 21 to just three walks and limited hitters to a combined .109 batting average.
The 6-foot, 196-pound right-hander also squeezed in another 17 strikeouts in 9.2 innings over two appearances with the Chatham Anglers of the Cape Cod league prior to flying out to meet his Team USA teammates.
“Going into summer ball, the goal is always to get better and enjoy the experience,” Bukauskas said. “Obviously, getting out to California and then going overseas was awesome. The travel was challenging, but well worth it.”
Team USA dropped its series to a Japanese team consisting collegiate players, but won its series against Chinese Taipei and what was essentially the Cuban national team, or at least members of its national team who haven’t defected to play professionally in the U.S.
“Japan was much faster game,” Bukauskas said. “They don't try and hit the ball over the fence, more just try put the ball in play, and they run. They make you beat them. Pitching and defense is very big for them. They manufacture 2-3 runs a game, and it's tough to win games like that. Then you have teams like Cuba, much more free swinging, so that's a change in approach.”
“I think that's why this summer was so big for me to learn how to pitch to different type of hitters.”
Back in Ashburn for a couple weeks before heading back to Chapel Hill, Bukauskas has some time to reflect on a whirlwind couple of months, which began with his perennial power Tar Heels narrowly missing the NCAA Tournament and ended with an already high profile with professional scouts reaching new limits 10 months ahead of the Major League Baseball draft.
“It was disappointing not to make regionals [this spring], but it's baseball and if certain things went certain ways and, we would have been in,” he said. “In California, that was the most scouts I've ever seen in my entire life in one place. USA Baseball tweeted that over 100 scouts in the time we were in California.
“I kind of try to stay out of that stuff and not think about that stuff. If you're worried about that, you're not going to be focused while you're on the field.”
Photo Courtesy/USA Baseball
