East Los Angeles, CA – The bleachers are scattered with eager college coaches and several pro scouts. East LA high school is taking on Torrance high this evening, and with the high school season winding down, this might be the last game starting pitcher Brit Cunningham pitches in all season.
Scouts remain divided on Cunningham’s future. As a junior last season, Cunningham was the nation’s top high school pitcher, winning the Golden Arm award. He went 4-1 with a 1.62 ERA, striking out 58 batters and walking just 6. Those are very good numbers for any high school pitcher, but the exciting part about Cunningham is that it was his first year playing organized baseball.
Standing 6’10, Cunningham is used to having all eyes on him when he enters a room. Always the tallest kid growing up, Cunningham naturally gravitated toward basketball like most vertically gifted people. By the time he was in the 7th grade, Cunningham’s name was appearing on top prospect lists. He was almost unstoppable, scoring 30 or 40 points basically every game while leading his team to the state championship.
“I was 6’8 in 7th grade. I wasn’t very coordinated, but from where I had been in 6th grade, it was a big improvement. I just kept getting better,” Cunningham tells me.
He starred as a freshman at East LA High, helping lead them to a state tournament bid while averaging more than 18 points a game. He was ranked the #3 prospect in his class by Rivals following the season. Letters began pouring in from the elite basketball programs in the country. Kansas was interested. Kentucky had been watching. North Carolina sent letters almost weekly. There was little doubt that Cunningham was going to have his choice of which college program he wanted to attend.
His sophomore season was even better, as he led his team to a state championship, averaging 22 points and 6(!) blocks a game. He had grown to 6’10, and the uncoordinated young kid had grown into a force on the basketball court. He could stretch defenses with great touch on his jump shot, he had the ability to dunk over anyone, and he was a defensive monster. He had the makings of a one-and-done college prospect. Rivals had moved him to #1 for his class.
The summer following his sophomore season, Cunningham was playing on one of the elite AAU select teams in California. After a first half in which Cunningham seemed tired and lethargic, his coach lit into him. He told him his work ethic was lacking and he’d need to work harder than he was. Cunningham explained he felt extremely weak and tired, but he was unsure why.
Three minutes into the second half, Cunningham collapsed running down the court. He was unconscious for nearly 5 minutes, and paramedics rushed into the gym. He was wheeled into an ambulance, where he regained consciousness. The gym was as silent as anyone had ever heard it. Everyone was frightened for this young man’s life.
Tests showed what the issue had been: Sudden Cardiac Arrest. Several basketball players had died over the last decade from this ailment, so Cunningham was lucky to be alive. Cunningham had been born with an abnormal heart valve, which caused an aortic aneurysm and led to his collapsing on the court. Doctors informed him this would mean the end of his basketball career. If he continued to play, his heart could give out at any time.
Cunningham was crushed.
“Basketball had become my life. I played basketball during gym class. I played it after school every day in the off-season. Even when I wasn’t working out, a pick up game was my way of unwinding,” he tells me. “It was like there was a huge hole in my heart.”
Or just an abnormal heart valve.
His basketball coach, John Trumble, was extremely worried about him.
“This was a great kid, but I was worried for him. His grades had improved dramatically since his freshman year, and that was because he wanted to play college basketball. I was afraid his grades would take a backseat without basketball motivating him.”
Trumble spoke with doctors privately. Would he be able to play any other sports?
“The first doctors I spoke with were adamant that he wouldn’t be able to play any sports. They were going to perform surgery to fix the heart valve, but that wouldn’t be enough to help him,” Trumble said. “After the surgery, though, I took him to a few specialists.”
Trumble was the assistant baseball coach as well for East LA High, so he specifically asked the specialists if there was any kind of plan Cunningham could follow that would allow him to play baseball, even just through high school. Being a part of a team and competing were two things Trumble felt would really help Cunningham.
Finally, after about two months of tests, the specialists came up with a plan for him. He could pitch, but that was it. No hitting. No playing other positions. And Cunningham would have to learn to put his glove directly over his heart after every pitch, in the event a line drive came back at him.
So as a 16-year-old junior (the youngest boy in his class) Brit Cunningham began to workout as a pitcher for the first time in his life. He was only allowed to workout for 30 minutes a day for the first month, so he spent the entire time perfecting his pitching motion. Even after an entire off-season of building up his heart and improving his mechanics, Cunningham didn’t look like a baseball pitcher.
“His motion was herky jerky, he threw over the top so his ball didn’t have a lot of movement, and worst of all he didn’t really know how to grip a baseball. He had the ball in the palm of his hand,” Trumble informs me. “When we’d put it in his finger tips, the velocity was considerably improved, but he couldn’t find the plate.”
Trumble and the other coaches didn’t think Cunningham had much of a future in baseball, despite some raw talent, so they didn’t worry too much about his grip.
“He was hitting 85-87 MPH on the gun, even with this palm ball type grip. That was good enough for high school, and with his heart issues we felt he’d be done playing after high school anyway, so we just left it alone,” says Trumble. “It had a natural sink, because he was so tall, and it’s been really effective.”
After Cunningham shocked everyone by dominating in his first high school season, the coaches began to plan for a brighter future. They spoke with more specialists. They got specific workouts that would improve Cunningham’s core strength without elevating his heart rate too much. They tried to work with him on his grip, but that proved to be more difficult than anyone had imagined. Cunningham’s control disappeared when he grabbed the ball correctly.
They did manage to teach him a cutter and a circle change up, but neither pitch was expected to be very good. They just wanted him to be able to mix in a few different pitches, and they knew if colleges showed interest, he’d need at least three pitches to be a real prospect.
Cunningham’s senior season was another good one. After throwing 7 shutout innings against Torrance High with everyone’s eyes on him, Cunningham finished 3-0 in 11 starts, posting an even better 1.49 ERA. He struck out just 31 batters and walked 10, a slight decline from his junior numbers, but Trumble insists that’s because some innings the coaching staff made him grip the ball the correct way.
“Once he masters the grip part, his fastball velocity is going to improve like you wouldn’t believe,” Trumble says. “I think he’ll be a mid 90’s type guy by the time he’s in his 20’s, if his heart holds up.”
No colleges have yet approached Cunningham, but if he can stay in one piece throughout the summer workouts leading up to the draft, he’ll likely have several college offers and he might even get drafted.
“We have him as a 3rd round prospect right now,” one scout tells me. “But the potential is there for him to possibly be a top of the rotation starter if he keeps improving. He should be a late inning bullpen guy at worst. Obviously we need to see his medical information, but he’s a real prospect.”
While basketball was obviously Cunningham’s first choice, sometimes life throws you curveballs. Cunningham is doing his best to throw that curveball back.
[Editor’s Note: Cunningham suffered a shoulder injury five days after making his start against Torrance. He’s expected to miss 5-6 months, and will be unable to work out for team’s prior to the draft. What a shame.]
