OMAHA, Neb. – Darren O'Day is spending the weekend where he spends much of his summer, hanging out in the bullpen at Camden Yards until the phone rings. An 11-year major league veteran, O'Day's Baltimore Orioles are hosting the Miami Marlins in a three-game series. He tossed a scoreless inning in Friday night's opener.
In his seventh season with the Orioles, O'Day is a right-handed reliever who has appeared in 573 big league games. O'Day's story
is a good one.
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Darren O'Day
The former Gators pitcher, who enrolled at UF on an academic scholarship, didn't make the team as a freshman walk-on. He tried again the next year – after lowering to a submarine-style delivery – and over the next four seasons became a workhorse out of the bullpen, highlighted by 8 1/3 scoreless innings at the 2005 College World Series here at old Rosenblatt Stadium.
More than a decade into his professional career, O'Day continues to keep a close eye on the Gators. The Orioles hosted Boston on Monday night as the Gators played Auburn at McKethan Stadium for a trip to the CWS.
O'Day was taking a postgame shower when
Austin Langworthy sent the defending national champion Gators back to Omaha with a game-winning walk-off home run. O'Day couldn't contain his excitement.
"I ran around the clubhouse screaming, so yeah, I was pretty excited,'' he said Thursday on a rare off day. "What an ending. I've been on both sides of that. I know what that feels like."
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The 35-year-old O'Day grew up in Jacksonville and played at Bishop Kenny High. Undrafted following his senior season at UF in 2006, O'Day signed as a free agent with the Angels and made his major league debut on March 31, 2008. After brief stints with the Angels and Mets, O'Day solidified his place in the majors with the Rangers, pitching in the 2010 World Series.
He joined the Orioles in 2012 and prior to the 2016 season, signed a four-year, $31 million contract. When O'Day heard about Florida's plans to build a new $50 million baseball stadium that is set to open prior to the 2020 season, he wanted to pitch in.
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"Being a Florida Gator is a point of pride. I think if the former players can stay invested and help support it, it's only going to help perpetuate that cycle of guys going from the University of Florida into the major leagues and being successful and giving back."
O'Day recently committed to a significant Leadership Gift through Gator Boosters for the naming rights to, well, the bullpen of course.
"I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be playing pro baseball and have the ability to make a gift to the university if it wasn't for that baseball program,'' O'Day said. "It was an important period in my life, learning to be an adult, A, and learning how to be a baseball player. I learned a lot on both sides of that from people who influenced me in the Florida baseball program.
"Now, with all the success the program is having, it's easy wanting to stay a part of it."
O'Day played for the Gators under former head coach Pat McMahon. However, he has gotten to know UF head coach
Kevin O'Sullivan over the years and has worked out at UF during the offseason with O'Sullivan's help.
The Gators are playing in the CWS for a school-record fourth consecutive year and face Texas Tech on Sunday night at 7 ET.
O'Day, an American League All-Star in 2015, is impressed by the talent O'Sullivan and his staff recruit year in and year out.
"I'm not even sure I could make the team anymore,'' he said. "You think I'm joking. I'm not sure I would even get a look to get on the team because I don't throw 95, 97 that all these kids are throwing today. It's fun to watch but it's just a different level of talent than it seemed like we had in college baseball when I was there."
O'Day's ties to UF and Gainesville stretch beyond McKethan Stadium. He met his wife, national TV news reporter Elizabeth Prann, during a speech class.
"Gainesville is a special place in our relationship and in our hearts,'' he said.
When O'Day first mentioned the idea to make a contribution to the Gators' new baseball stadium, Prann was on board. She played lacrosse for the Gators when the program was a club sport.
In talks with Erick Reasoner, director of development for Gator Boosters, the focus of O'Day's contribution soon focused on another place close to his heart.
"I thought the bullpen was fitting,'' he said. "I spent a lot of time in that bullpen. It will be a different bullpen, obviously. Ours used to be down the right-field line up against the wall. Students and families could come up and stand behind you and talk to you. I just felt like it's where it seems like I've spent half my life, sitting in a bullpen."
O'Day's journey at UF was one he never envisioned when he stepped on campus for the first time. Back then, he envisioned a career in medicine as perhaps a plastic surgeon or veterinarian.
Instead, he developed a new pitching motion that helped him carve out a successful major league career.
He hopes his story might inspire other former players to pitch in to help a Florida baseball program that has reached new heights in the 11 years since O'Day made his big-league debut and O'Sullivan took over as head coach.
"We are in such a good spot in college baseball to be a competitive program every season. It's just something that when you talking to your teammates in the major leagues and they ask did you go to school did you come out of high school. I say, no, I went to the University of Florida. They all know immediately what kind of program it is. It's something to be proud of even as a major leaguer.
"Being a Florida Gator is a point of pride. I think if the former players can stay invested and help support it, it's only going to help perpetuate that cycle of guys going from the University of Florida into the major leagues and being successful and giving back."
