Kansas City Royals: Prospect Q&A pitcher Brandon Marklund

Brandon Marklund had an amazing journey to the Kansas City Royals and was terrific this season. I had a chance to catch up with him.

Originally from North Vancouver, Brandon Marklund played his college ball at Bryan College. He went undrafted and made his way to the Kansas City Royals via the Australian Baseball League. In his first season within the organization, Marklund made 24 appearances out of the bullpen for Single-A Lexington and spun a ridiculous 0.46 ERA in 39.1 innings of work.

He showed the ability to work multiple innings and allowed opponents to bat just 0.162 off him while converting 6 saves in 7 opportunities. Marklund was a critical piece in Lexington’s championship run this season, collecting 3 saves while allowing opponents to bat just 0.069 off him. I had the chance to catch up with him.

Q: Being from North Vancouver, what ultimately led you to play your college ball at Bryan College in Tennessee?

A: During the fall of my senior year of High School, I was named to Team British Columbia for the inaugural Tournament 12 (T12). This tournament was designed by the Blue Jays Baseball Academy and Roberto Alomar to give the top 150 amateur baseball players in Canada a chance to showcase themselves to Major League Scouts and College coaches. I threw on the first day of the tournament where pitching coach, Clint McAuley, from Bryan College saw me pitch. He contacted one of my Team BC coaches and we stayed in contact throughout my senior year.

A couple of months later I went down for a visit to Bryan and I knew immediately that it was where I wanted to spend my college career. The coaches, current players, and the school faculty and staff were more than welcoming and encouraging. As well, the baseball program was designed in a way where I knew I could flourish developmentally as a pitcher. It was a perfect fit on all fronts.

“It was a ton of fun to travel across both New Zealand and Australia and view the other side of the world, all while playing baseball”

Q: The draft obviously didn’t go the way you had hoped it would. How did you find an opportunity with the Auckland Tuatara and what was it like playing/living over there?

A: During my senior year of college I made the transition from a starter to a relief pitcher and became our teams closer, where I found a lot of success. Statistically, it ended up being my best year out of the four I spent at Bryan. Due to the success I put up, I was given a chance to continue to play with Morehead City Marlins in the Coastal Plain League summer ball league while I looked to sign a Free Agent deal.

During that summer, I found a lot more success and became a back end bullpen arm and helped the team win the leagues’ championship. Unfortunately, a deal never worked out with a Major League team, but I continued to look at other potential opportunities to continue to play. However, the success I had that previous summer led to my next opportunity. My father and I read online that two new teams were entering the Australian Baseball League (ABL) for the 2018 season. Geelong-Korea and the Auckland Tuatara.

I reached out to Ryan Flynn, the General Manager of the Tuatara, sending him a video and my statistics from my past couple of years. Ryan responded back and sent my contact information to Stephen Mintz, the Tuataras Manager and we were able to reach a deal for me to join the Tuatara for their inaugural season last winter. It was a super exciting experience to be apart of New Zealand’s first professional baseball team. On Auckland, I was fortunate to learn from some ex-MLB pitchers, Josh Collmentor (Arizona Diamondbacks 2011-2016 and Atlanta Braves 2016-2017), who I was able to have as a throwing partner for the season.

As well as former MLB pitchers John Holdzkom (Pittsburgh Pirates 2014) and Scott Richmond (Toronto Blue Jays 2008-2009 & 2011-2012). I was able to pick their brains a bit about what it was like to play for an MLB team, the ins and outs of minor league baseball, etc. It was an experience that most players my age, outside of professional baseball do not get the chance to have, so I tried to make the most out of it. As well, it was a ton of fun to travel across both New Zealand and Australia and view the other side of the world, all while playing baseball.

Q: For fans that aren’t aware, can you walk us through your process of getting signed by the Royals?

A: Following a couple pitching appearances in Sydney, Kansas City’s Australia Scout, Neil Burke, introduced himself and gave me his contact information. The next days following I had talked to both him and the Royals Pacific Rim Coordinator, Phil Dale, discussing the Royals in further. At the time I was actually headed back to Vancouver for a couple of days before flying out for several workouts for other MLB teams.

However, during my time at home in Vancouver, my agent and the Royals had worked out a deal and instead I flew to Kansas City to meet the rest of the 2018 Draft Class at the Royals first Orientation week at Kauffman Stadium. Once I got to Kansas City, I went for my physicals and a couple of days later I officially signed with the Royals.

“I love pitching in high-pressure moments when the game is on the line”

Q: You had a breakout year for Single-A this season. A 0.46 ERA in 24 appearances is incredible. What do you think led to having so much success this year?

A: I believe both pitching towards my strengths and taking every appearance one batter at a time led to my success this season. I think that sometimes players can look at a full season (whether it be 50 college games or 140 professional games) and become overwhelmed with the undertaking. At the beginning of every year, every player has specific goals that they want to achieve, and I think the players can get too caught up in these goals.

I had my own goals coming into my first professional season, but I reminded myself that I need to have the mentality that every appearance is going to be my best and that I am going to give every pitch I throw my best effort. I knew that if I had that mentality every appearance and not worry about the specifics, then I would have a season that I would be content with.

Q: Can you speak a little bit about what the playoffs were like or for you to be able to collect 3 saves in the process?

A: From a pitchers standpoint, I think as a team one of our strengths was our dominant starting and bullpen arms. It was exciting coming to the ballpark every day knowing the type of pitchers we had starting and available out of the pen day in and day out, but especially in the playoffs. There was so much trust within our pitching staff that we knew no matter who took the ball that they were going to give us a chance to win.

I think we all knew that if we took the lead, that it was going to be very hard to take it from us and I think that ended up being something that made the playoff atmosphere a lot of fun. It was exciting to be able to come out for three save opportunities especially when the games mean a bit more in the playoffs.

But those opportunities are not possible without the previous pitchers and position players doing their jobs both in the field and at the plate. We had a lot of big defensive stops in the field and some timely hitting all postseason that led to those types of opportunities.

Q: Do you see yourself as a bullpen guy or is there a level of interest in starting again?

A: I have a history with being both a starting pitcher and a reliever and I will always be most comfortable with whatever the Royals have planned for me. Ultimately it does not matter whether I am asked to get 18 outs as a starter or three outs as a reliever, my job is to get outs and help our team win and I am willing to do that job in any form. Personally, I want to be on the mound pitching during the stressful innings.

I love pitching in high-pressure moments when the game is on the line and I think that is where I am at my best when the pressure is at its most critical point. The greater the pressure the more potential success that awaits and the more fun you have while doing it. I started working on my mental game and preparation had a relatively young age compared to most and there is not a situation that I am not mentally ready for.

A special thank you to Brandon (@bmarklund13) for taking the time to speak with me.