Pitching in a new place

As a kid, Brendan Delgado knew that the sport of baseball could take him anywhere he wanted to go.

Across the country, Canada — even to the island of Puerto Rico, where the 2106 Coeur d’Alene High graduate recently wrapped up a stint with the Bandits in the Puerto Rico Collegiate Baseball League.

“It was a cool experience,” said Delgado, a 5-foot-10, 220 pound, left-handed pitcher. “I’d never been there and it was definitely different from anything I’ve seen before. We stayed at the Albergue Olimpico training facility in Salinas, Puerto Rico where a lot of the athletes from that area train and stay. It was a cool experience and they had a lot of really good food. We had to Uber around if we wanted to go to the beach or for a walk, but it was a really cool experience.”

At first, Delgado had to adjust to the humid temperatures during gametime.

“With being a pitcher and the humidity, my hands get sticky,” Delgado said. “And I hate that. I kept putting my hands in the grass to try and smooth my hands out and so the ball didn’t stick to my hand and I didn’t spike the ball into the ground. It took a little bit of time to get used to that.

“My first and second outings, I felt good and felt fresh. I’d feel fine and ramped it up a bit, but was so sore from throwing. I’ve never been a fastball pitcher, and am more of a finesse guy. One of the catchers that I preferred to have catch me, he’d have me throw an elevated fastball for a waste pitch and I was able to get a lot of swing and misses. After those games, I didn’t want to get out of bed.”

The condition of the pitching mound also took some time to get used to.

“They don’t have a lot of the red clay that we’re used to here,” Delgado said. “It kind of helps to hold up the mound. There, it was rough and like a sandpit. My second and third games were my best games because I got more used to it and they watered down the field a little more. Usually, if we were the home team, I’d throw a couple of pitches and the mound would shift and I’d hit the sand again after I threw it.”

But it wasn’t all baseball in Puerto Rico for Delgado, who was able to get out and experience some of the culture around the area as well.

“My mom came down with her boyfriend and watched me pitch a couple of times,” Delgado said. “We went to San Juan because we were staying on the southern part of the island. We went to the beach, went zip lining in the mountains and had some fun. It was really hot and humid there.”

Delgado will continue his playing career at NAIA Presentation College in Aberdeen, S.D., this fall.

“I knew that baseball would help me travel a little bit and see the world a bit more,” Delgado said. “I haven’t gone anywhere overseas, but have been to Canada and all over the United States. When I was in Little League, I figured I was good enough to at least do well in high school, travel ball and summer ball. I felt I was good enough to go play somewhere in college.”

Injuries to his pitching arm have derailed those hopes in recent years.

“I have tendinitis in my bicep tendon,” Delgado said. “In my sophomore year of high school, I tore my rotator cuff and bicep tendon almost all the way through. I’ve never had any surgeries because the doctor basically told me not to throw for 11 months. Before I got hurt, I was throwing 84 miles an hour and doing really well. When I came back, I kind of overdid it. I wanted to go to Cal-State Fullerton, but just didn’t throw hard enough. I had the grades, but just didn’t throw hard enough.”

Now, Delgado is just happy to still be playing the game he loves.

“My sights have always been on if I was going to get drafted,” Delgado said. “Going through what I’ve gone through, I realize that there’s a lot better players out there than me. I’m just trying to do my best and trying, although I’ve been struggling with injuries the last couple of years. Growing up, I always wanted to be on the field and getting better. I was fortunate that my dad — 95 percent of the time — wanted to go to the field and helped me to get better. The last couple of summers, I didn’t work out as much as I should have, didn’t condition and didn’t train like I should have. And I really wish I would have, because I could have been setting myself up for a better senior year. I just wish I would have still had that fire, but after a couple of injuries, I really just need to find that fire to get out and condition again.”