Brucato and Oakley Add Sparkle to Their Diamonds : Southland Becomes His Playground

Bob Brucato once thought that Southern California was the Promised Land for high school baseball players.

Like most of his friends who grew up and played baseball in the Chicago suburb of Park Ridge, Ill., Brucato had this glorified image of how the sport was played in Southern California.

He saw that most of the players selected in the professional baseball draft each year were from Southern California. He read national baseball publications, which annually listed the Top 25 high school players in the country, and always noticed that about 20 or so would be from Southern California.

So, when Brucato moved from Park Ridge to Mission Viejo prior to his senior year of high school, he was expecting all of the players here to be pro prospects.

He figured the pitchers would throw 90 m.p.h. every day, the hitters would have batting averages of more than .500, and the infielders would never make errors. He thought the high school teams would look like college teams.

What he found were players close to his level.

“I was expecting to see all awesome players, and I didn’t think I’d do that well,” Brucato said. “But after I played a couple of games, I said to myself, ‘C’mon here, these guys are my age, and they can’t be that much better than me. Just go out and play.’

“That’s what I did. I just went out and played with confidence. I was expecting to be overmatched, but I wasn’t overmatched at all.”

What an understatement. All Brucato did in his one season with the Diablos was become Orange County’s most dominant baseball player.

As a pitcher, the right-hander was 12-0. At the plate, Brucato, who also is an excellent outfielder, hit .437 with 6 doubles, 2 triples, 5 home runs, 35 RBIs and scored 29 runs. His pitching wins, RBI total and 45 hits are school records.

Brucato led Mission Viejo to the Southern Section 2-A championship game, where the Diablos (20-8) lost to Diamond Bar, 3-2, Saturday night. For his seasonal performance, Brucato has been named The Times’ Player of the Year.

The 2-A final aside--Brucato was 0 for 3 against Diamond Bar--it has been one of those everything-goes-right seasons for the 6-foot 1-inch, 172-pound senior.

He always seemed to get the big hits and the clutch pitching performances for Mission Viejo.

Late in the South Coast League season, Brucato pitched 10 innings and had two hits in the Diablos’ 6-5 win over Irvine, which moved Mission Viejo into second place and closer to a playoff berth. He earned three pitching victories during the playoffs and hit two home runs against University in a 5-2, second-round win.

He has easily been the Diablos’ most publicized player, having been featured in several Orange County newspapers and named Times’ Player of the Week earlier in the season.

That’s why he seems a little reluctant to receive Player of the Year honors. He’s worried about what people may think of him.

“People think all the publicity will give me a big head, but I try to play it as low-key as possible,” Brucato said. “I think I’ve told one person besides my family that I got Player of the Year. I don’t want to say much because people will start talking about it. They could get the wrong impression of me--that I only think about myself--but that’s not true at all.

“I try to put others above myself and let them know I’m on the same level as them. We’re all humans, and I’m no better. Just because I might be talented in one area, they could be better in another area.”

But once Brucato steps onto the playing field, it’s tough to be just another face in the crowd.

“Off the field, he’s like everyone else,” said Ray Reinders, Diablo catcher and co-captain. “But on the field, he’s on a higher level.”

It’s not just his sheer talent that separates Brucato from most high school players, though. It’s his intensity.

Brucato has been known to stomp around the mound or hurl a batting helmet now and then.

“He’s not rude in any way because when he gets mad, it’s usually at himself,” Reinders said. “He may not talk to anyone for a few minutes, but when he does, he’s polite and cordial. It’s just that when he gets intense, he’s like two different people.”

Brucato says he’s going to try to control his emotions, but he doesn’t think his temper is a major problem.

“A little emotion shows that you care,” he said. “It’s not bad when done in the proper places.”

Brucato has been an excellent hitter throughout his high school career, which began at Niles High in Illinois. He hit .544 after being called up to the varsity team during his sophomore season.

As a junior, he hit .434 and made the all-league and all-district teams in helping Niles to a 26-4 record and the quarterfinals of the Illinois state tournament.

When Brucato’s father, Mike, a dental equipment salesman, moved the family to Mission Viejo last August, he asked Diablo Coach Ron Drake if his son could play on his American Legion team. Drake took Brucato though there were only four games remaining in the season.

“He took infield with us and had a strong arm,” Drake said. “I let him pitch the last inning of one game, and that was all I needed to see. I could tell he threw hard and was around the plate, so I knew he’d be decent.”

Drake got much more than a decent performance from Brucato this season.

“He had great location with his fastball, slider and curve,” Drake said. “He was kind of advanced for a high school kid in that he worked guys in and out, up and down. He kept hitters off balance and guessing. Any time you can do that in high school, you’re going to be successful.”

Brucato can hit with power to all fields, and Drake said he could have played him at any position. Several colleges, including Pepperdine, USC, Cal State Long Beach and Cal State Los Angeles, are recruiting Brucato as an infielder. He thinks shortstop is his best natural position.

Brucato also is quite the natural athlete. He caught 38 passes for 430 yards for Mission Viejo’s football team last fall and also was a member of the Diablo basketball team in the winter.

A sprained ankle suffered late in the football season prevented Brucato from having much of an impact on the Diablo basketball team. During his junior year at Niles High, he started half the games, and averaged nine points.

Baseball, though, is his first love and the sport through which he hopes to earn a living. Years such as this one won’t hurt his chances.

“I’ve been working all my life for something like this--ever since my Dad began lobbing a Wiffle ball to me to hit in our garage when I was 4,” Brucato said. “I’m leaning toward college now, but I’d really like to get drafted.”

If that happens, just think--another kid from Southern California in the pros.

And the reputation would continue.