Brandon Buchan won the 2018 Diamond Award, given to the best pitcher in Nassau County, for his performance in the 2018 season. Up until a few weeks ago, however, he wasn’t planning on continuing playing baseball anymore.
The SUNY Maritime-commit came into his senior season as not just an under-the-radar player, but almost completely unknown outside of his school. He was rarely used as a junior on a team that featured several other accomplished senior pitchers. Buchan burst onto the scene in his senior year in a big way.
Buchan attributes much of his improvement to his offseason workouts. “Last year I was told I was very thin,” the lefty said, “so I was able to put on 15 to 20 pounds throughout the offseason.” The increase in strength helped Buchan increase his fastball velocity from about 80-82 mph all the way up to the high 80s–which proved to be simply too intimidating for Nassau County hitters. Coach Steve Costello stated, “as soon as I saw his first bullpen session I said this kid is going to win the Diamond Award.”
The statement proved to be prophetic.
In his senior campaign, Buchan posted an unblemished record of 8-0 as a starter and a minuscule 0.46 ERA. MacArthur has had no shortage of recipients of the prestigious award in this decade alone Adam Heidenfelder won back-to-back awards in 2013-14, Jesse Tuozzo won in 2011 and Josh Barry won in 2010.
Before his breakout season Buchan did not know if he was interested in playing college baseball. “Coming into the season I didn’t really expect to be good enough to play in college.”
Buchan said, “I just really wanted to focus on my academics.” After the incredible strides Buchan made in his game, he committed to play baseball for SUNY Maritime College, where he previously was committed exclusively because of his academics.
Buchan’s goals for his inaugural season at Maritime are to start as a freshman, be a good teammate and to win the Skyline Conference.
On the diamond is not the only place Buchan has shown his athletic skill. For his performance playing high school soccer, Buchan was named an All-County honorable mention as well as the county championship Most Valuable Player. The success he had in his senior baseball and soccer seasons earned Buchan “Athlete of the Year” honors at MacArthur High School.
With little time left before college, Buchan decided not to play baseball this summer as he wants to spend as much time as possible with his friends and family before he leaves. He has, however, been working hard individually to improve his control and velocity.
His ultimate goal in the game of baseball is to learn from his experiences playing the game and eventually be able to teach his son.
