As a first-year varsity quarterback, Libertyville’s Brady Buenik is fully immersed in football.
Route trees and coverages are on his mind, not arm slot and spin rate.
But Buenik is also one of the nation’s top-ranked pitchers in the junior class, and the 6-foot-3, 215-pound right-hander unplugged from football long enough to end his relatively brief but high-profile recruitment by committing to 2024 Men’s College World Series champion Tennessee last week.
“A goal of mine for quite a while was to play Division I baseball, so, yes, I’ve accomplished that step,” he said. “I put aside a couple of days to enjoy it with my friends, family and everyone who’s helped me get to this point. But it’s only the first step in my dreams.”
Buenik’s short celebratory period was necessitated by the fact that he made his first start at quarterback for Libertyville on the same day he announced his commitment publicly. He also frowns upon idle time.
“My mentality is that I know if I take a day off that someone is working hard and getting better,” he said. “It keeps me motivated to become the best.”
Buenik, who wants to pitch professionally, will be pushed to reach his potential at Tennessee. During his visit Sept. 6-7, he attended the Volunteers’ football game against East Tennessee State and watched baseball workouts.
“I went down there the first weekend you could take official visits, and it was such a great experience,” Buenik said. “It’s just different down there. The stadium is absolutely beautiful, the staff is a bunch of great dudes and the players are great guys to be around who are all very gifted.
“The whole time I was there, I was thinking, ‘This feels like home.’”
Bueunik was impressed enough to cancel pending visits to Texas and Oklahoma State, where former Libertyville standout Quinn Schambow is a freshman catcher. Buenik had leaned on Schambow during the recruiting process.
“August 1st is the first day coaches can contact you, and he helped guide me through that, which can be stressful,” Buenik said. “I still felt a little rushed, but he told me to make a list of who called and to sleep on it before responding. That way, I’d take time and thought in managing how to respond.”
Buenik was so popular in part because his fastball was clocked at 95 mph during his sophomore season.
“I’ve never seen that type of an arm,” said Libertyville baseball coach Matt Thompson, who has known Buenik for years. “We brought him up for a couple of games as a freshman, and he struggled with control. Going into sophomore year, we were kind of concerned, but he really never struggled with it, which was a huge leap for him.”
Buenik made some mechanical changes last offseason, and his numbers for the Class 4A state champion Wildcats — he went 5-0 with a 1.24 ERA and 34 strikeouts in 28 1/3 innings — reflected his evolution.
“I’ve always been more of a four-seam guy, but we were looking at some of the statistics with my fastball and noticed it was a little flat,” he said. “Changing to two seams gave it some downward tilt to the inside on righties, and it became pretty filthy. Even between 91 and 94, that gets really uncomfortable.
“If I’m throwing a first-pitch strike, I want hitters to be thinking, ‘Oh no.’ No one cares how hard you throw ball four. You just need to get batters out.”
With his long-term plans firmly established and preseason workouts still months away, Buenik likely won’t pick up a baseball again until the winter. That time will help him try to fulfill his considerable upside at quarterback.
“He obviously has a great arm, and something he also brings to the table is that he’s a big body,” Libertyville football coach Tim Budge said. “He’s athletic enough to run the ball and elude people, but can also run people over.
“He’s got all the skills, and it’s a matter of him getting more experience. He’s got an extremely high ceiling.”
One that Buenik is committed to reaching.
“I’m all football right now, day in and day out, every week,” he said. “It’s not easy. It’s hard preparation. We’re watching film, getting everything down. We get after it at practice, and we want to win.”
Steve Reaven is a freelance reporter.