YOU NEED TO KNOW…
September 16, 2015
Should I stay or should I go now?
September 16, 2015
Everyone loves a good fairy tale – a story where the good guy wins, the bad guys lose and everyone lives happily ever after when it’s done.
But, of course, in real life, things don’t often go like they do in the movies. Sometimes the true champions in this world are those who fall off a steep perch, learn from the adversity and become better in the long run because of it.
Such has been the case for Houma native Brady Domangue.
Domangue made his dreams come true in 2013 when he signed a scholarship to pitch for the LSU baseball team – something he said he’d wanted from the minute he watched the team play in person at the College World Series in 2009.
The Houma native arrived in Baton Rouge with momentum and MLB aspirations. He was dynamite in his earliest collegiate days at LSU-Eunice. He posted a 14-2 record as a sophomore in 2013, while owning a miniscule 1.34 ERA – numbers that put him on the radar of professional scouts around the world.
But instead of continuing that collegiate glory on college baseball’s biggest stage, Domangue’s years at LSU were a grind. He lost his mechanics in 2014, which hurt his pitching. Domangue got them back a year later, but then got hurt – an injury that ended both his senior season and his career.
Domangue admits it’d be easy to pout about his time in Baton Rouge. He concedes that there are days that he wonders what could have been if all of the dominoes fell the way that they could have.
But the local said he doesn’t regret his time at LSU, calling the decision to attend the university one of the best that he’s ever made in his life. It was a time filled with adversity, yes. But this pitcher said it was a time where he grew into a man. That, he said, is bigger than baseball and is the perfect ending to his fairy tale story.
“I have no regrets about anything,” Domangue said. “I don’t have any ill will toward anyone there. I love those guys. They have a great program full of some awesome people. My time there wasn’t always good in terms of my performance, but I’d still consider it to have been successful. It was two of the most difficult years of my life. But I learned a lot about myself, and I am better because I had to experience and go through it. I love LSU, and I always will. That will never change. That’s the place where I learned how to be a man.”
“Brady Domangue is a leader,” LSU baseball coach Paul Mainieri said last season. “He’s a guy who helps us succeed – either on the mound or in the clubhouse. Guys like that are very important in college baseball.”
A SUCCESS-FILLED PAST LEADS TO LSU
Brady Domangue was on top of the world in 2013. Many assumed that he was on a one-way track headed straight to a career in professional baseball.
He was a pitching beast – one of the brightest gems in the Tigers recruiting class.
Domangue initially signed with Southeastern Louisiana University in 2011 – a scholarship offer he earned after a star-studded All-State and All-District career at Vandebilt.
The local pitcher sat out 2011 with the Lions, then transferred to LSU-E – a program known around college baseball circles for fielding one of the best junior-college baseball teams in the country.
Domangue was a big part of that success. As a freshman, he posted a 8-1 record with a 3.48 ERA in 77.2 innings, while recording 97 strikeouts. As a sophomore, he was even better with the aforementioned 14-2 record, which included a
school-record 118 strikeouts. Domangue also recorded five complete games and three shutouts.
The pitcher said he had offers to go just about anywhere in the country that he wanted to, but he chose LSU for sentimental reasons. Domangue said he watched the Tigers play in the College World Series as a high school junior, and decided at that time that if he ever had the chance, he’d play for LSU.
“The passion, the energy and all of the electricity around the program is just something you can’t beat,” Domangue said. “I left the stadium on that day as a high school kid saying, ‘You know what? I can play for those guys.’ That was the day that I was first interested in LSU and Tigers baseball. I put in the work, and got the chance to make it happen.”
Domangue’s arrival was celebrated around the program. LSU coach Paul Mainieri lauded the pitcher’s abilities throughout camp for the 2014 season. Mainieri said multiple times on-record that he thought Domangue would be the team’s closer.
“I was told that the job was mine to lose,” Domangue said. “I knew if I took care of business, the job was mine.”
MECHANICAL ISSUES AND EARLY ISSUES
Domangue remembers his first pitch in purple and gold like it was yesterday.
On Feb. 15, 2014, he took the ball for the Tigers during a road game against UNO. It was the first weekend of the series, and LSU was up 7-1.
It was the bottom of the sixth inning.
“I get chills thinking about it,” Domangue said.
Domangue was fired up for the appearance, though he said he wasn’t nervous. Once he got to LSU, the pitcher said coaches urged him to change his pitching mechanics in an effort to protect his arm. At his peak, Domangue said he weighed just 150 pounds, and coaches were worried that he’d be injured unless he changed to a more arm-friendly delivery.
On that first outing, Domangue said he was a mess, and the results showed it. He allowed a hit, recorded a strikeout and then hit a batter and walked three more before allowing three runs.
“My first time out there was terrible,” Domangue said with a laugh when asked to relive it all. “It was a pretty helpless feeling to be out there and unable to find the zone.”
Not finding the strike zone was a theme for Domangue in that season.
He said he never quite got used to the change in mechanics, which slowly affected his confidence and body language on the mound. When LSU recruited Domangue, it was because of his elite control and deceptively quick fastball. But during the overhaul, Domangue completely lost the ability to throw that pitch with any confidence.
Because of that, he lost his chance to be the team’s closer, and was instead a “troubleshoot” reliever who’d come in when the team needed a few curveballs in pressure situations.
“I lost my fastball,” Domangue said. “I completely lost it. I could throw a curveball any time, any place. And I did. That was my job. To come up and throw a few curveballs to help us get out of a jam here or there. But I couldn’t locate my fastball. I didn’t believe in it. I didn’t have any confidence in it, which was such an odd feeling, because that was a pitch that was a strongpoint to me in my career.
“It’s so hard to pitch without a fastball.”
Even with the struggles, Domangue made the most of his junior season and finished 2-0 with a 5.59 ERA.
He entered the 2015 season in the same situation as he was to start 2014 – he had a chance to be a contributor.
Domangue did, but then got it all taken from him before he ever got the chance to enjoy his spot in the sun.
INJURY LEADS TO LEADERSHIP ROLE
The baseball gods gave Domangue back his fastball command about two months after the 2014 season ended. He said that through bullpen work and strength training, he got comfortable on the mound again, and had become better than ever.
“I got it back. I found it again,” Domangue said. “I was throwing harder. I had my same accuracy. I headed into 2015 knowing it’d be a big year.”
But things changed for Domangue during a routine workout about a week before the 2015 season. The pitcher said he was lifting weights, then felt a sharp pain in his back.
“I thought it was a pulled muscle in my back,” Domangue said. “I sat out a while, but didn’t think much of it. I thought the pain would just go away.”
It didn’t.
After a few weeks of impatient waiting, doctors diagnosed Domangue with a bulging disc. With strenuous rehab, Domangue was able to pitch one game in 2015, recording two outs on three pitches. But the pitcher said he knew walking off the mound on that day that it was over. His velocity was down and the pain which had once eased was starting to come back again.
His playing career was over.
“That’s a pretty big loss to our ballclub,” Mainieri said at the time it happened. “He’s an experienced arm in our bullpen.”
“That was hard to deal with,” Domangue said. “I am a competitor. I don’t like sitting on the sidelines. I wanted so bad to be with my team going into battle, but I just had to change my mindset and evolve into a different role.”
Domangue said after his injury, he became a leader and mentor for LSU’s younger players. He said he attended every single 5:30 a.m. workout and every home game – even though he wasn’t required to do either. He was a mentor to the team’s younger players.
LSU went to the College World Series this past season – the icing on the cake of a 54-12 season that was one of the best in school history. Domangue’s on-field impacts were minimal, but his off-field leadership did have its effects.
“I did everything that I could to be a part of the team – all the way to the end,” Domangue said. “I helped them every step of the way. I was proud of our guys for making it to the World Series. It killed me to be at home while they were in Omaha.”
BIG DREAMS LIE AHEAD
Today, Domangue’s back feels better. He’s able to enjoy a normal adult life.
The Houma native earned a business degree from LSU, and is in the early stages of his young career in the field. Domangue said he plans to work for a while in an effort to accumulate assets – namely land – for a project that is near and dear to his heart.
He said that someday he wants to create a facility where he and others can teach baseball to the next generation. Since graduating from LSU, Domangue has taken an active role in mentoring several young players, especially CCA senior pitcher Connor Bates, who is heading to LSU-Eunice, and who calls Domangue an inspiration.
“He’s a great guy – a good person to look up to,” Bates said this offseason.
For Domangue, helping out others is a passion – something he said would make him feel good. He said he’s been through the wars, seen almost everything that there is to see. He thinks he has a natural ability to help others.
Those lessons and that experience are why he said he never looks at his LSU career with a frown.
They are why he thinks he lived a fairy tale – even if one with a bit of an unconventional ending.
“I’m so fortunate to have been able to do some of the things that I’ve done and to have been able to see some of the things I’ve seen,” Domangue said. “They won’t be retiring my jersey at LSU. My career there wasn’t what I wanted it to be. But I made the best of it, and it was a heck of a ride. E3
Houma native and Vandebilt Catholic graduate Brady Domangue fires a pitch during a game in the 2014 college baseball season. Domangue enrolled at LSU with loads of promise and potential. But a few mechanical issues slowed his progress during his junior season. After getting those problems cleaned up, Domangue missed almost all of his senior season, thanks to a back injury that he sustained in the weight room. Domangue said he’s grateful for his time at LSU.
