Of course, the article doesn't mention the possibility, but I'd bet that the kid just simply isn't good enough to make the team on merit, which the coach won't say outright. If so, that puts the coach in this no-win situation. Either he does wrong by the team and keeps a player who isn't good enough, or he gets buried in this kind of press.

If he's one of the top pitchers in tryouts, then he deserves to make the team. If teams start bunting on him and it becomes an issue, then you take him out. Something tells me that a high school team wouldn't do that.

To go along with number 1, he was a sophomore trying out for the Varsity team. Doesn't this school have a JV team?

I don't care if his cutter is Mariano-esque, if he has no legs AND no heart, I don't want him on my team.

This came up in 2004 ALCS game 6. People still say the Yankees should have bunted on Schilling, without ever thinking about the fact that about 8/9 of the lineup had not bunted for years. Same thing here, but in a different way. It's very hard to bunt in a way that makes the pitcher field it AND makes it a close play at 1B.

And besides, how cheesy would it be for any team to try to take advantage of a kid battling out there like Anthony? Would a coach be so obsessed with winning that he would order every player to bunt?

I don't know why, but this kinda irks me. I don't think any coach would have every guy bunt, but I can see one doing it in strategic situations. And would that be so bad? I would think the last thing handi-capable people - particularly athletes competing at a high level - want is people taking it "easy" on them. They want to be challenged just like any of us.

The whole outrage over him being cut seems to make him out as more of a team mascot than a legit athlete. I think they are undermining his case rather than making it for him.

This just sounds like a situation where he agreed to go on waivers and get re-assigned to JV temporarily. I mean, he can't come out and say that because of union rules, but it's what makes the most sense.

Come on, for a guy with no legs, you have to take your damn hat off. I am sure the coach could reasonably get by. This is high-school athletics, not the World Series.

This coming from Dr. Phillips high school, already under scrutiny from covering up a fair bit of bad hazing business with their football team earlier this year (the Mom was also arrested for driving her car onto the field during a practice). And considering this privileged bunch of sods provided key cogs for N'SYNC and the Backstreet Boys, they should have a pretty good idea of showmanship and good PR.

That the coach would reportedly use Anthony as an example to push his other players-- what a jackass.

Edit: Oops. Vid link in TFA.

I don't know why, but this kinda irks me. I don't think any coach would have every guy bunt, but I can see one doing it in strategic situations. And would that be so bad?

I understand your point, but I'm confused about what irks you exactly, because it wasn't said it would be bad to bunt in regular situations, just in every at-bat.

I'm sorry James, but I just can't offer you that last spot in the bullpen as a situational lefty mop-up reliever. I gotta give it to the guy with no legs.


It's not fair! It's just not fair!



FWIW, as far as I know none of my Tampa area high school's had JV baseball programs. Wouldn't be surprised if that extended to Orlando.

So, if this kid pitched around the other team's best hitter to get to Romney, it would be okay for Romney to bunt, right?

Of course, the article doesn't mention the possibility, but I'd bet that the kid just simply isn't good enough to make the team on merit, which the coach won't say outright. If so, that puts the coach in this no-win situation. Either he does wrong by the team and keeps a player who isn't good enough, or he gets buried in this kind of press.

Not so. All the coach has to do is say, "You're cut," without giving a reason, and if pressed, say, "You're not good enough." Why not? If indeed he came up with that can't-field-a-bunt logic, then he ain't too bright on perhaps multiple levels.

23 other guys got cut.

Let's just take a moment to contemplate how truly awful that headline is, if reader comprehension is your goal. "Dr. Phillips," "cutting" "amputee," and "no heart" all in the same 12-word headline?

Let's just take a moment to contemplate how truly awful that headline is, if reader comprehension is your goal. "Dr. Phillips," "cutting" "amputee," and "no heart" all in the same 12-word headline?

awful? Seems like a strong audition for the New York Post headline writing staff.

Wow. The tryouts for getting onto my high school team were "everybody that showed up at the initial team meeting made the team".

Wow. The tryouts for getting onto my high school team were "everybody that showed up at the initial team meeting made the team".

I wish it was like that for me. I went to high school in Southern California where 120 kids tried out for 25 spots. On the freshman team. I was amazed when I went to college in the Midwest at the skill level of some kids who had played 4 years of varsity baseball out there.

having all 4 seasons puts a damper on playing warm weather sports year round

It's just unfortunate that they cut the kid before he was able to get his sea legs.

It seems to me there are two possibilities here:

1. The coach is essentially discriminating against Burruto because he is afraid that his handicap will become a... handicap — despite this never being the case before, and despite the pitcher's other qualifications.

2. The media, eager to jump on a feel-good story about a kid overcoming physical setbacks, is overrating his actual baseball ability. He can throw a fastball "around 80 mph" — does that mean 76 mph? That's very good, but nothing special for Florida high-school baseball. He's been on the cover of ESPN The Magazine — do you think that was for his sports achievements, or his backstory?

Maybe the kid just isn't quite good enough to make the team. That hardly makes the coach heartless.

23 other guys got cut.

My Junior High's (now Middle school) tryouts were a farce, 60 kids, 25 were cut after 1 day. (Not complaining about me being cut, I know I wasn't good enough). The year before virtually everyone trying out had been in little league- the best kid in my little league - far and away the best baseball player of the 60 kid trying out- was also cut after 1 day

he got one chance that day to swing the bat- he took two pitches- the coach was like, "swing the damn bat we don't have all day", then he popped up the next pitch, and the coach yelled "next"
he was probably the only kid who didn't drop the ball during the fielding portion, but the coach really didn't seem to be paying any attention.

The Junior High team, was like 18 kids, most of whom I'd played against- were they the best 18 out of the 60 who tried out? No, not even close. Were they the best athletes? Possibly, for the most part the guys who made it could run faster than those who didn't and throw the ball harder...

The kid who didn't make it? He ended up on the High School JV team a week later (that team's coach had been involved with the local Little League was actually familiar with many of the players)- and a week after that his friend, the Junior High's best pitcher (i.e., hardest thrower) dropped off the Junior High team and was also scarfed up by the JV Team. (Was the Junior High coach upset? I had a friend on the Junior High team- he told me the coach's attitude when the pitcher left was, "good riddance, I don't want any quitters anyway")

Coach Mike Bradley’s main concern was that Anthony can’t field bunts, and that teams would take advantage of his inability to jump off the mound quickly.

Maybe the coach is forgetting who has the ball in his hand. If I had no legs and could throw an 80 MPH fastball in high school, right about the time that the second guy in a row laid down a bunt, I'd be telling the third, fourth, and fifth guys to get ready to duck real quick.

I wish it was like that for me. I went to high school in Southern California where 120 kids tried out for 25 spots. On the freshman team.

I went to an all-male prep school in New England; the freshman class was roughly 300, and close to half of them went out for freshman baseball.