UCLA baseball coach John Savage doesn’t care where you come from, as long as you have grades, skills and character. That’s why he had no problem Wednesday signing a junior college player from Switzerland, right-handed pitcher Fabio Bundi, who has a 95-mph fastball. He was one of nine players to sign to grant-in-aids.
Bundi, 22, is in his second season playing for Monterey Peninsula College. In Switzerland, he said he got bored playing tennis and soccer, so he turned to baseball when he was 7.
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“My life is baseball,” he said.
The sport is so little known in Switzerland that Bundi said people ask, “What sport? Do you hit or do you throw?'”
He’s 6 feet 2, 200 pounds and has been gaining velocity as he grew in his teenage years. Last season as a freshman, he was 8-2 with a 2.20 ERA and 101 strikeouts in 86 innings. Savage saw him pitch in a Northern California showcase.
Now the question is how good Bundi becomes as a pitcher. With his signing with UCLA, he’s certain to attract additional interest from pro baseball scouts this spring. A good season will give him options.
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He’s been accepted as a student at UCLA but still needs to pass an English test. He’s fluent in English, so that shouldn’t be a problem.
He said he admires Cy Young Award winner Paul Skenes of the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Dodgers’ Yoshinobu Yamamoto.
No one would guess he’s from Switzerland because his baseball knowledge is high. He does have a little bit of an accent. But when people see his fastball and 12-to-6 curveball, they can only conclude he’s a pitcher to watch.
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
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