By: Max Able
(Left to Right): Brandon Pfaadt throws a pitch for the Amarillo Sod Poodles in 2022. (via @MLBPipeline on Twitter); Deylen Miley throws a pitch for the Fayetteville Woodpeckers in 2022. (via @deylen.miley on Instagram); Matt Higgins signs a contract with the San Francisco Giants in 2022 (via @matt_higgs10 on Instagram).
Every February, the world’s best baseball players report to training facilities scattered around Florida and Arizona. They come from all over the globe, and this year, three players will come from Bellarmine University.
Each player who reports to spring training comes with hope. Some hope they’ll end the season as a World Series champion, while others hope they’ll make it to the end of the season without being released. Some players show up to camp with the hope this will be the year they fulfill their lifelong dream and make it to the big leagues. Brandon Pfaadt is one of those players.
Pfaadt, a Louisville native, committed to play baseball at Bellarmine after a stellar career at Trinity High School. Pfaadt made a name for himself as one of college baseball’s top strikeout artists, racking up 135 punch-outs over 111.2 innings in a three-year career.
Following the COVID-19-shortened season in 2020, the Arizona Diamondbacks selected Pfaadt in the fifth round of the MLB Draft. Pfaadt shot through the minor leagues, reaching Triple-A Reno after 48 professional appearances.
Pfaadt said one of the key contributors to his success has been his ability to stay levelheaded. In his second-to-last start of the 2021 season, Pfaadt allowed five home runs in six innings of work against the Frisco RoughRiders. Pfaadt said that the outing, while painful in the moment, was a valuable experience for him.
“It [the outing] made me a better pitcher. I was like ‘Oh crap. Man, I really gotta figure it out,’” he said. “That’s the part with baseball, though. You can’t be results-driven. You can’t dwell on the good and dwell on the bad. You just have to stay even-keeled.”
Larry Owens, Bellarmine’s head coach from 2013-2022, said that Pfaadt’s even demeanor was something that stood out during his college career.
“He’s [Pfaadt] always had this calm presence to him, and you couldn’t really tell if he was really geeked up, or nervous, or whatever,” he said. “There are a lot of things have helped him, and I think having a good demeanor and a good, calm presence about him has really helped.”
Thanks in part to his even-keeled approach, Pfaadt enters 2023 as the fourth-best prospect in the Diamondbacks’ organization, and the 59th-best prospect in all of baseball, according to MLB.com/pipeline. He is projected to make his MLB debut in 2023, and in doing so, he would become the second Knight to make it to the MLB — the first since Todd Wellemeyer, another right-handed pitcher, who retired in 2010.
“I take it as motivation, being from Bellarmine,” he said. “I’ve played with Lord knows how many other players that would’ve loved to be in my position. To have that [being the second BU player to play in MLB] accomplishment, that ability, that opportunity, it’s a dream come true.”
As Pfaadt chases history, another former Knight, Deylen Miley, looks to make a name for himself in one of baseball’s best organizations.
Miley, a right-handed pitcher, transferred to Bellarmine prior to the 2019 season from Division II Tiffin University near Toledo. At Bellarmine, Miley joined two other future professional pitchers, Pfaadt and Shane Barringer, in the Knights’ weekend rotation. Miley said getting to work with pitchers as talented as Pfaadt and Barringer was a key part of his development.
“We definitely fed off each other, and we pushed each other,” he said. “It worked out, I think, for all of us.”
Barringer, a left-hander from Saratoga Springs, New York, has spent the last two seasons with the Chicago Dogs of the American Association of Professional Baseball. He’s currently rehabbing from elbow surgery and will miss the 2023 season.
Miley’s high strikeout totals and explosive fastball caught the attention of the Houston Astros.
Over the last five years, the Astros have experienced more success than any other organization in baseball, thanks in large part to their ability to develop young players. Having the opportunity to develop in the same system that has produced some of the best players in baseball isn’t something Miley is taking lightly.
“To be with that org[anization] and to be with that front office that’s working with those guys [Astros players] every day, and they chose me. That’s definitely special and not taken for granted,” he said. “To be one of their potential products, so to speak, it’s eye-opening, and it’s fun.”
Miley spent the 2022 season with the Fayetteville Woodpeckers, Houston’s Single-A affiliate. Miley put up impressive strikeout totals despite a mid-season slump in his first full season of professional baseball. He ended the season throwing the ball as well as any pitcher on the Woodpeckers’ staff, posting a 2.97 ERA over the season’s final two months.
After a strong finish to the 2022 season, Miley is confident that he’ll pick up where he left off in 2023.
“I have a full season under my belt, I worked my rear off [during the offseason] and knew what I needed to do to get ready for spring training,” he said.
Miley isn’t the only former Knight trying to go from undrafted free agent to major leaguer. Matt Higgins, Bellarmine’s all-time home run leader, has been hard at work preparing for his first spring training.
After starring at Trinity High School, Higgins came to Bellarmine and made an immediate impact. As a freshman in 2018, Higgins appeared in 38 games, producing a .322 batting average and .444 slugging percentage. It would prove to be his least productive season as a Knight. Over a five-year collegiate career, Higgins hit over .370, smashed a program-record 45 home runs and drove in 185 runs.
Owens said that Higgins’ success at the plate comes as much from his mindset as it does from his physical talent.
“I think a lot of it [hitting] is a mindset and a confidence thing, and there’s not as much doubt in maybe his mind as there is in the average college hitter,” he said. “He has a knack for hitting.”
At Bellarmine, Higgins worked tirelessly with then-hitting coach Chris Dominguez. Higgins said Dominguez, an All-American at the University of Louisville and former major leaguer, brought valuable experience that was a big part of his development.
“It [working with Dominguez] was a tremendous help. Just getting to hear his perspective,” he said. “Just by the way he speaks, you can tell that he’s seen things and been there and done that.”
Higgins signed as an undrafted free agent with the San Francisco Giants in July 2022. He appeared in 10 games in short-season rookie ball, so 2023 will be his first full taste of professional baseball. Higgins said the biggest piece of advice he’s gotten from coaches and veteran players is to approach the season like a marathon, not a sprint.
Higgins’ marathon will likely start with the San Jose Giants, San Francisco’s Single-A affiliate.
“They’ve [coaches and veteran players] been telling me I’ve never had a season like this. It’s 150, 160 games, so they’re like ‘Listen to your body, and if you feel like you should take it easy at some point, take it easy,’” he said. “It’s kinda weird coming from college where everyone’s like ‘Go! Go! Go!’ You only have 50 or 60 games, so you’re not worried about your body as much."
The best way to keep track of Pfaadt, Miley and Higgins this season is to download the MiLB First Pitch available on the app store and Google Play. The app provides live scores and stats for all levels of minor league baseball. Follow them on Instagram @bpfaadt, @deylen.miley and @matt_higgs10.
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