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The University of Mississippi Athletics
The Sum of His Experiences
4/1/2015 | Baseball
by Austin Miller, OleMissSports.com
OXFORD, Miss. -- One of the core covenants instilled into the baseball program by head coach Mike Bianco has been belief.
It's that belief that helped the Rebels advance to the College World Series for the first time in 42 years.
And it's the same belief that sophomore right-hander Brady Bramlett held on to during his surgery and rehabilitation from a torn labrum he suffered late in his freshman season that forced him to miss the entire 2014 season, while he watched his team achieve many of their team and program goals.
"I was so immensely proud of our team and the way they fought and battled and the great season they had," Bramlett said. "It lit a fire under me, knowing that the next year we wanted to have a same type of team and get back to Omaha."
When he suffered the injury, Bramlett said it took the breath out of him because baseball had always been his life, but as he made his return this season, he went back in his mind to throwing on the mound at Arlington High School in his native Memphis and throwing on the mound his freshman year.
Still, his first outing back, making his first career weekend start and clinching the series win over William & Mary on February 14, was surreal for Bramlett.
"After the game, I was a little teary-eyed at the end," Bramlett said. "It was not that my work was done, because my work is far from done, but the feeling of knowing that I'm back, I feel great and I'm ready to play again."
Since his return, he's been a model of consistency on the mound for the Rebels, partnering with junior left-hander Christian Trent for a powerful 1-2 punch on the weekend. Bramlett ranks fifth in the Southeastern Conference with a 1.79 ERA. Through his first three career SEC starts, he has allowed just four earned runs in 18.1 innings of work.
His 47 strikeouts rank sixth among SEC pitchers, and he's joined some elite company with some of his individual performances. He became the first Rebel to record double-digit strikeouts in strikeouts since Bobby Wahl in 2012 and became the first Rebel to record multiple double-digit strikeout games since Drew Pomeranz in 2010.
"The thing most underrated about Brady is his fastball command, being able to fill up the strike zone with a really good fastball on both sides of the plate," Bianco said. "He's always pitched with confidence, but now he's done it three weeks through SEC play. And one of the big things is the guys behind him have started to have confidence in him when he walks out on the mound."
But there's more to Bramlett than his play on the diamond.
His mother Amy, Bramlett said, has an incredible voice, and that's where he gets his from. He has grown up in the choir, whether it was the church choir, the high school choir, or now the university's concert singers. He recently took on the role as countertenor soloist in their performance of Handel's The Dettingen Te Deum this past March.
However, when he came to Ole Miss, he thought that was the end of his time in the choir.
"My freshman year, I gave it up, and it was miserable because I had never not done music," Bramlett said. "After that year, I didn't care what it took; I had to get back into music. For me, the busier I am, the more balanced I feel and the better I do in all aspects."
Another one of those aspects is his involvement with the Ole Miss Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, serving as its president, helping lead a Student-Athlete Thank-a-Thon and co-presenting the award for Team of the Year at the Rebels' Choice Awards with Ole Miss Director of Athletics Ross Bjork.
He was also selected to represent the entire SEC as a member of the NCAA Division I Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, a position he accepted last summer. Being one of the strong voices on the committee, Bramlett was chosen to serve as vice-chairman, a position he will step into later this summer.
"I have always had a passion for serving others and being a leader on and off the field," Bramlett said. "I saw the opportunity to serve and jumped right into it. It's been a great experience working with Ross (Bjork) and the other administrators here. And it's been humbling to learn the behind-the-scenes of college athletics."
All those experiences, the highs and the lows, the adversities and the triumphs, are what make Bramlett who he is today, which is a student-athlete with a bright future in any number of aspects.
"Coming back from injury, we know what's wrong now, and it's fixed, but there's the anxiety of the unknown, not knowing if I was going to be same as I was before I got hurt," said Bramlett, reflecting on his labrum injury. "Will I be worse? Will I be better? I am who I am today because of that injury. I wouldn't change anything that happened."
Austin Miller is a writer and blogger for OleMissSports.com. He joined the staff in June 2013 after serving as sports editor of the Daily Mississippian. Follow him on Twitter @austinkmiller.
