Louisville pitcher Burdi chose baseball over football

Nick Burdi's best-laid high school plans never quite panned out, but his journey still placed him at the cusp of a major league future.

First, he wanted to be a quarterback. And he was good enough to earn two varsity football letters as a freshman and sophomore at Downers Grove South High, some 23 miles west of downtown Chicago,

Once he committed to baseball after his sophomore year, Burdi wanted to be a starting pitcher.

Six years later, the 6-foot-4 Burdi is the hard-throwing junior closer on a Louisville baseball team hunting for its second consecutive College World Series berth and first national title.

No. 10 Louisville (37-11) plays one of its biggest games of the year at 18th-ranked Vanderbilt at 7:30 EDT tonight, and Burdi enters the game with two earned runs allowed in 24²/₃ innings.

He's having the kind of junior year that makes college players hot commodities in the Major League Baseball draft.

"He's gotten in tune with himself mechanically," said U of L pitching coach Roger Williams. "You've seen the evolution of Nick. He's commanding (his pitches) and that sets him apart."

Burdi, with his even-keeled, calming delivery, simplified the past six years of his baseball life as he relaxed last week in the U of L baseball lounge on the south end of campus.

He was a pretty good quarterback, a lifelong football fan who was playing the favorite sport of his mother, Debbie.

About his sophomore year of high school, Burdi started throwing a baseball 92 and 93 mph. He'd only started playing serious baseball his freshman year, and the newfound power behind his pitches intrigued him enough to make a life-changing decision.

"I knew this was something I needed to focus on," Burdi said, crediting his dad, Bob, for pushing him to reach his potential from there.

Burdi was always one of the taller kids in his classes, and he grew into one of the top pitching prospects in high school baseball by his junior year.

That's when Louisville noticed him.

"He was oozing with potential," Williams said. "He's a big, physical kid blessed with a great arm."

Burdi finished high school as one of the top 50 high school players in the country, according to Perfect Game USA.

The Minnesota Twins drafted him in the 24th round of the 2011 MLB draft. By then he'd already signed with U of L, and he wasn't changing his mind.

The blue roof at Omaha's Rosenblatt Stadium, the former home of the College World Series, had enough pull to lure Burdi to the college game. He wanted to win a national title in Omaha. He wanted to do it with Louisville.

"I want that dog pile," he said.

Burdi, who switched to his role as Louisville's closer after his freshman year and a successful summer in the Cape Cod League, would be a major reason for his team to return to Omaha for the second time in his three-year career.

The Cards have been to seven NCAA tournaments — six under coach Dan McDonnell — and two College World Series.

This year's team looks a lot like the 2013 edition, which stormed through two super regional games at Vanderbilt to get to Omaha. Burdi pitched in both and got a save in one of his 16 saves those games.

He has 12 saves this year, with a 0.73 earned-run average and 14.6 strikeouts per nine innings.

Burdi came to college with a mechanical glitch in his delivery. He lowered his elbow and threw "under the ball," Williams said, which took away from his velocity and the sharpness of his breaking ball.

He's throwing down on the ball now, and that power and pop to his pitches has him projected by Baseball America as the 27th best prospect in the 2014 draft.

Sounds like switching to baseball was a smart choice. Becoming a closer was just the next step toward that future in professional baseball.

"He makes it pretty clear that he has a goal," senior outfielder Jeff Gardner said. "That's to be the best pitcher he can be. He works hard at everything he does."

Reach Jeff Greer at (502) 582-4044 and follow him on Twitter (@jeffgreer_CJ).