Brian Flynn

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Brian Anthony Flynn
(Flynny)

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Biographical Information[edit]

Brian Flynn is a pitcher who began his professional career in the Miami Marlins organization and who made his major league debut with the team in 2013.

A huge man at 6' 8", 239 lb, he was selected by the Boston Red Sox out of high school in the 18th round of the 2008 amateur draft, but elected to attend Wichita State University instead. He was All-State during high school, going 9-1 with a 0.79 ERA and 126 strikeouts in 70 2/3 IP. As a college freshman, he struck out 59 in 56 innings but was only 2-5 with a 4.98 ERA. He was redshirted in 2010 but did very well in the Jayhawk League that summer and Baseball America rated him as the league's #2 prospect behind Charlie Lowell. In 2011, he was 6-4 with a 4.63 ERA for Wichita State. In the 2011 amateur draft, he was a 7th round choice by the Detroit Tigers. The scout was Chris Wimmer.

Flynn made his professional debut with the West Michigan Whitecaps of the Midwest League in 2011, going 7-2 with a 3.46 ERA in 13 starts, striking out 57 and walking 23 in 67 2/3 innings. In 2012, he began the year with the Lakeland Flying Tigers of the Florida State League where he continued to pitch well, racking up a record of 8-4, 3.71 in 18 starts. He had just been promoted to the AA Erie SeaWolves and made one start there when on July 23rd he was traded to the Marlins along fellow prospects Jacob Turner and Rob Brantly in return for P Anibal Sanchez and IF Omar Infante.

Brian made a handful of appearances with the Marlins in both 2013 and 2014, going 0-2, 8.50 the first year and 0-1, 9.00 the second, with five of his six games coming as a starter. He spent the bulk of those two seasons in the minors. On November 28, 2014, he was traded to the Kansas City Royals, along with Reid Redmond, in return for Aaron Crow. He did not pitch in the majors in 2015, as an injury limited him to a single appearance with the AAA Omaha Storm Chasers. In 2016, he was 2-1, 3.04 in 9 games for Omaha, including 4 starts, then went 1-2, 2.60 in 36 games for the Royals, pitching 55 1/3 innings.

In February 2017, he made an early claim for the title of strangest injury of the season: as he was ready to leave for spring training, he fell through the roof of his barn in Oklahoma, resulting in a broken rib and three non-displaced fractures in his vertebrae. In spite of the serious sounding nature of those injuries, he was expected to be back in eight weeks. He only pitched one game for the Royals that year, allowing one run in 2 1/3 IP, while going 5-3 with a 5.40 ERA in 22 games in Omaha.

Flynn spent most of the next year in the majors, pitching 48 games for the Royals in 2018. He was 3-5 with 1 save and a 4.04 ERA as a reliable bullpen component, spending the whole season in The Show. His playing time and production fell in 2019 (2-2, 5.22 in 11 G) and he spent part of the year in Omaha (4-4, 4.78 in 11 G). He then pitched for Team USA in the 2019 Premier 12, allowing two runs in 2 2/3 IP over three games. The US missed out on qualifying for the 2020 Olympics but would get another chance.

The southpaw had a 3-1, 1.62 record for the Melbourne Aces in the 2020-2021 Australian Baseball League. He led the league in ERA, was second to Shawn Morimando in strikeouts and only Gunnar Kimes had more wins. His next appearance came with the German national team in the 2022 World Baseball Classic Qualifiers, facing Akeel Morris and Great Britain. He struggled out of the gate as he hit Harry Ford and Matt Koperniak. After Nick Ward lined out, Justin Wylie smacked a three-run shot. Flynn pitched shutout ball over the next four innings before a rain delay, then was succeeded by Duke Von Schamann. The damage had been done, though, and he took the loss.

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