Former Baker University baseball player Vidal Nuno was promoted from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre to make his first appearance in the major leagues with the New York Yankees.
“It’s unreal. It’s just all the hard work, drive, lonely times in the hotel, doing extra work, opportunities from what I had and what they gave me,” Nuno said. “I was never thinking ‘what if,’ it was just pushing forward in whatever happens.”
On Sunday, Nuno said he didn’t want to be a name on the Yankees’ roster for just a game or two and get moved back down, so when he did get his first shot out of the bullpen he was going to do whatever it took to impress the Yankees.
He got that chance Monday as he pitched in his Major League Baseball debut against the Houston Astros. In the top of the seventh inning Nuno came in the game to replace right-handed pitcher Adam Warren. The Yankees lost 9-1, but Nuno accomplished what he set out to do upon arriving in New York. He pitched three scoreless innings.
“It’s getting the opportunity to get in games and producing,” Nuno said. “It’s all about consistency. You can’t be perfect all the time but consistency is possible.”
The former Wildcat isn’t alone in his excitement about making his MLB debut.
Nuno posted on his Facebook page Friday that he, “just got that (call). Heading to New York (Saturday). Dream came true!!!!” After word spread about Nuno’s chance to pitch for the Yankees, he had to silence his phone because of the countless calls and text messages of support he was receiving. Many of those, he said, were from former teammates and friends from Baker.
One of his biggest supporters is Baker University head baseball coach Phil Hannon, who coached Nuno during his two seasons for the Wildcats and still talks to Nuno regularly.
“He pitched very effectively and was just a fierce competitor on the mound,” Hannon said. “We knew he had good stuff, but when it came time to compete, he had just a little bit more of an edge than any other NAIA pitcher that I saw in our conference.”
Nuno’s promotion to the Yankees isn’t the end of something he’s worked for his whole life – it’s just the beginning.
“It’s going to be a tough journey,” Nuno said. “There’s a lot of people out there in the same boat and only a few that organizations actually take.”
Despite the small percentage of players who eventually end up with a career in professional baseball, Nuno is proof that players from the NAIA can accomplish their dreams of going pro.
Former Baker University pitcher Chris Cummins has also continued playing baseball after leaving BU in 2011. Cummins is playing for the Frontier Greys of the Frontier League, an Independent Professional Baseball League, and had a chance to pitch alongside Nuno at BU.
“When he was at Baker, he was like a role model for myself, teaching me things he had picked up as he pitched through his career,” Cummins said. “To see him now at the top of the game is amazing and awesome to see.”
The Yankees will be in Kansas City to play the Royals May 10-12. Nuno hopes he’ll get support from Baker fans and the chance to reconnect with former classmates, many of whom he hasn’t seen for about five years.
“It’ll be nice to go back and see them and enjoy the time with them,” he said.
The former Wildcat had been scheduled to start Saturday for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, where he posted a 2-0 record with a 1.54 ERA and 26 strikeouts in four starts, prior to getting called up by the Yankees.
Nuno was named the International League Pitcher of the Week for the week of April 15-21 and was also selected as the James P. Dawson Award winner, which is the honor for the Yankees’ best rookie in spring training.
After his senior season at Baker, Nuno was picked in the 48th round of the 2009 Major League Baseball draft by the Cleveland Indians but was released in March 2011. He was picked up by the Yankees’ organization three months later.
When pitching for the Wildcats in 2008 and 2009, he was a first-team all-conference selection twice and the Heart of America Athletic Conference Pitcher of the Year. Nuno was 15-7 with 15 complete games in his two years for the Wildcats.
