Cut Off at the Knees, Cut off the Team

Let's face it -- if the kid can't cut it, you have to cut him loose. There's no crying in baseball, so shed no tears for Anthony.

Anthony Burruto looks in the mirror and sees a resilient teenager. He is strong. He is able. He is a baseball player.

He has been playing the game since he was 8 years old, using prosthetic legs. His parents Vinny and Diane saw no need to coddle him because of his circumstances. Doctors amputated both of Anthony's lower legs as a baby because he was born without a shinbone in his left leg and without a fibula in his right leg.

His dad, a big New York Yankees fan, put a uniform on him since he was a baby. He's been wearing one since, and was hopeful of playing for the varsity team at Dr. Phillips High School this season.

[...]

Anthony, a sophomore, was cut on the second day tryouts. Coach Mike Bradley's main concern was that Anthony can't field bunts, and that teams would take advantage of his inability to jump off the mound quickly.

But that's never been an issue before. The kid can play. Little League, fall team at Dr. Phillips, up through the natural progressions. He's been on the cover of ESPN the Magazine. He can throw a fastball around 80 mph. He's got a wicked curve.

And besides, how cheesy would it be for any team to try to take advantage of a kid battling out there like Anthony? Would a coach be so obsessed with winning that he would order every player to bunt?

[...]

"He was given the same opportunity as everyone else," Dr. Phillips principal Gene Trochinski said Wednesday. "Unfortunately he wasn't only one who did not make the team. There were 23 others who tried out and didn't make it. … At this level you try to win ballgames."

[Orlando Sentinel]