Nick Gaudi
By Seth Rubinroit / Special to The Malibu Times
This profile on Pepperdine University’s men’s volleyball coach Marv Dunphy is one in a series on individuals in the community who are involved with the world of sports.
Nick Gaudi’s road to professional baseball was anything but glamorous. While most future professional ballplayers enter college heavily recruited, Gaudi was barely recruited and had to walk-on to Pepperdine’s team. In 2005 during his freshman year of college, Gaudi did not get into a game so he decided to redshirt, giving himself an extra year of eligibility. In 2006, as a redshirt freshman, Gaudi only appeared in one inning of one game, giving up four hits and two runs.
“It was tough not playing,” Gaudi said last week in a phone interview. “I knew most of the other guys were better than I. I just had to stay focused and work hard in the weight room. I wondered if I would ever get to play or be good enough.”
As a college sophomore, Gaudi began to show what he was capable of, posting a 3.86 ERA in 14 relief appearances.
Gaudi credits his change in fortune to mastering a new pitching windup that he developed with Pepperdine assistant baseball coach Sean Kenny. Gaudi described the windup as “deceiving. I twist and the ball comes from behind my back,” he said. “I try to do as much as I can to get an edge on the hitters.”
Gaudi also adjusted his persona on the mound. “When I am off the field, I am the nice guy. When I am on the mound, my mindset changes to being aggressive and no-mercy, attacking people no matter what,” he said.
As a junior, he earned Pepperdine’s closer role, led the West Coast Conference with 15 saves and was named first team All-WCC. As a senior, Gaudi was again first team All-WCC. He finished his career with 24 saves, second all-time in school history.
This summer, Gaudi was drafted in the 30th round of the 2009 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft by the Los Angeles Dodgers, the team he rooted for growing up in Lancaster.
“I was shocked and thrilled to be drafted by the Dodgers,” Gaudi said.
However, as a player drafted in the later rounds, Gaudi did not come to the Dodgers with a lot of money or expectations. He did not make enough money to buy much more than a new dress suit, and he is pitching with the Dodgers’ rookie-league partner, the Ogden Raptors, in Ogden, Utah. To make the major league roster, Gaudi will have to be promoted from the rookie league to Class-A to Double-A to the Triple-A level. Gaudi is at best five or six years away from making the Major Leagues, if he is fortunate to make it that far. While many of his peers on the Raptors have not faced adversity on the baseball field, Gaudi has already overcome steep odds by being drafted after being a walk-on in college.
“In the Dodgers organization, I have to start all over again. It took me back to my freshman and sophomore years [at Pepperdine],” Gaudi said. “It helps to know what I have to do-stay focused and work hard. It makes everything more worthwhile when you do succeed- being somebody who had to come from the bottom and work his way up.”
Gaudi has plenty of people to turn to for advice. Two of his uncles played college baseball, and both his manager and pitching coach with the Raptors played in the Major Leagues. The advice Gaudi has received has helped him become a smarter pitcher.
“I am a strike thrower and a pitcher’s pitcher,” Gaudi said. “I can locate my fastball and try to outthink hitters rather than overpower them with raw power or talent.”
Gaudi has had success with the Ogden Raptors this season. Through Sunday, he appeared in 16 games, striking out 34 batters in 24 innings. He has an earned run average of 3.00 and has held opposing batters to a .237 batting average.
Dodgers’ starting pitcher Randy Wolf, who also went to Pepperdine, had some sage advice for Gaudi.
“You should try to get better every year,” Wolf said. “There are going to be some tough times, and you have to get through them mentally. The difference between the Major League players and the Minor League guys has less to do with talent than the mental ability to get better and better, and not be satisfied with where you are. As long as you try to get better, and you have the talent, you have a shot to do something big.”
If Gaudi were to make it to the Major Leagues, he would join a long list of Pepperdine pitchers, including Wolf, Mike Fetters, three-time All-Star Dan Haren, Noah Lowry and Will Ohman.