Over the course of 14 years, tom brunansky hit 271 homeruns. He also had 919 rbis. He even won a World Series.
Bruno has played a lot of baseball, but as a teacher, he’s just getting started.
"When I was done with baseball as a player, that was the last thing on my mind was getting back into the game," said Brunansky. "It never really hit home until aafter about 7 or 8 years of coaching high school that the fire came back into my belly about man this is fun, I wanna get back into this game and teach.
So Brunansky, who spent more than 6 years with the Minnesota twins, put in a call to the team’s farm system director Jim Rantz, enquiring about a job. Just so happened, one was available.
"He said you know it’s gonna be in rookie ball and I said that’s not a problem," Brunansky explained. I don’t mind starting at the bottom. I gotta find out if I like it number one, and if I’m any good at it number two."
Turns out both were true, and just a year after starting in rookie ball, Brunansky is the hitting coach in AAA Rochester
"He’s good. He’s good at what he does," said Red Wings manager Gene Glynn. "He’s passionate about it. Number 1 he’s an outstanding person and he’s fun to be around, but the history he brings with the game and being on a world series team and winning the whole thing. Some guys can’t share that and he can.
That experience is what Brunansky hopes will one day land him a job at the big league level.
"I”ve played on a winning team that’s won a world series. There’s been happy times and sad times. There’s a lot in my knowledge that I’d like to pass along. So hopefully at some point I’ll get a chance to reach that goal."
