Baseball: Closer Role Creates Opening for Kenwood Grad

There is never a bad time for a minor league baseball player to be promoted up a level.

But Bruce Pugh, 22, a former baseball, football and track standout at Kenwood High, could not have planned his recent move from the Class A Florida State League to the Class AA Eastern League any better.

A native of Pasadena and former Essex resident, the right-handed pitcher began this season for the Fort Myers Miracle and had nine saves in 11 chances as a closer and had appeared in 16 games. Then on May 28, he was promoted to New Britain (CT) of the Eastern League, and less than a week later the Rock Cats made their first road trip of the season to Bowie to face the Baysox, a farm team of the Orioles.

The New Britain team bus arrived at its hotel in Annapolis around 12:30 a.m. Friday. Pugh's girlfriend picked him up, and he was able to spend that night at his apartment in Bowie.

He was also able to spend that Friday afternoon with family members before reporting to Prince George's Stadium around 3:30 p.m. with his team in preparation for a three-game series with the Baysox. The same day, New Britain manager Jeff Smith learned that Pugh had been named to the Florida State League All-Star team, though he most likely will miss that game later this month since he is now at Class AA.

Pugh, after not pitching on Friday and Saturday, got into his second game with New Britain this season on Sunday afternoon at Bowie. He recorded five outs, entering in the eighth, without allowing a run or hit and fanned three batters and walked one.

Bowie won in 10 innings, 4-3, and Pugh was not involved in the decision.

"I was going after guys," Pugh told Patch on Monday. "My fastball was down in the zone. It was a great thing." Pugh said he had about 50 family and friends at the game on Sunday, including his parents. His Kenwood baseball coach, Jay Diggs, was at the game on Saturday.

"It is a great adrenaline rush to come in and clean up the game when we are ahead," Pugh said about being a closer. "You can attack the hitters more. It is a great role and I love doing it now that I have been on both sides [as a starter and reliever]. I could see making a career of it."

That outing on Sunday helped make up for his first outing this season at the Class AA level, when he gave up eight runs and five hits while recording four outs on June 1 for the Rock Cats. Sunday was by far his best outing in the Eastern League after two rocky starts last year and the game on June 1.

"I got roughed up and threw a lot of pitches," he said of the June 1 outing against the Portland Sea Dogs. "It was their night. When they say don't leave the ball up they mean it. It is a huge jump [from Class A]. Double A is the cream of the crop and the Eastern League is a league onto itself. Guys here are very talented. I just have to put my tools to work and get past it."

"He has a very good arm," Smith said of Pugh. "He has a power fastball and a good slider. His slider has good depth."

Smith said he plans to use Pugh out of the bullpen as the closer.

His performance on Sunday came before several family and friends at Prince George's County Stadium, where the starting pitcher for New Britain was former Oriole minor leaguer Brett Jacobson.

Pugh has also lived in Glen Burnie and Crofton, and his parents moved onto the base at Fort Meade in late May.

Pugh, a slim 6-foot-3 right-hander, began this season as the No. 26 prospect in the Minnesota system, according to industry leader Baseball America. After playing baseball at Kenwood, he played one year at Louisburg Junior College in North Carolina and then one year at Hillsborough Community College in Florida before he was drafted in the 19th round by the Twins in 2008.

He played in the Gulf Coast League that year and had an ERA of 3.20 in 13 games, all out of the bullpen. Pugh was 4-5, 2.86 in 38 games (eight starts) with Beloit in the low Class A Midwest League in 2009. He was 7-10, 4.03 in 20 games (19 starts) with Fort Myers in 2010 and made two starts for New Britain last season in which he was hit hard—15 hits in seven innings for a record of 0-2 and an ERA of 15.43.

Pugh found out in spring training that the Twins planned to make him a closer.

"They felt I could get to the big leagues quicker," he said. "I feel like this is the best fit for me."