Recruitment Came Quickly For Bryant Commit Gustafson

CHESHIRE, Ct. - Growing up Max Gustafson had a different outlook on baseball than others.

“I lived in southern California up until age 12 and I saw right away I wanted it more than a lot of the other kids,” Gustafson reflected. “Most of them thought the odds for them were so low, but I didn’t think that way. I put positive thoughts in my mind.”

The end results were … well, positive … with a recent commitment to play Division I baseball at Bryant.

“It all started during the Underclass Games in August,” the Chesire junior said in reference to the PBR event. “I showed there pretty well on the showcase side and in live games. The Bryant coach reached out to my Clubhouse coach after that. Two weeks later I pitched well in a championship game and they reached out to Matt Burns, the recruiting coordinator with Clubhouse, again. After that we talked every week.”

An offer and commitment followed for the fifth-ranked 2022 New England third baseman, who has been a two-way player up to this point in time.

“I fielded really well during the showcase and had a good round of BP, but I think the game helped me more,” Gustafson related about the Underclass Games which sparked the initial interest from Bryant. “I had some solid outs and then hit a home run and I had some good plays in the field.”

Bryant saw a lot of promise in the 6-3 175-pounder, whose future at the Northeast Conference school is playing on the left side of the infield.

“They’re really big on projectability and they like my frame,” Gustafson explained. “I move well now and I’m loose. They said I’m very loose moving and they also like my actions in the field. Once I put on some strength they think I can be pretty special.”

Gustafson sees Bryan, located an hour and 40 minutes from home, as the right fit.

“Trust definitely stood out with the recruiting coordinator,” the 82nd-rated New England junior said about what he liked with Bryant. “He made me feel good trusting everything he said.”

There is more that helped sell Gustafson on the university located in Smithfield, R.I.

“I didn’t want to be in a big city, so there will be less distractions there with 3,500 students,” Gustafson explained. “Another thing that attracted me to Bryant was they’re a winning program and I love to win. They win their conference almost every year and having a chance to make the College World Series there would be awesome.”

Gustafson - who also considered Bucknell while getting interest from schools such as UMass-Lowell, Fairfield, UMBC and West Point - has made improvements in his game to get to the point of being a D-I commit.

“I think I’ve come a long way with my swing,” the left-handed hitting Gustafson noted. “I still need more strength, but I’ve definitely improved with some swing adjustments. Clubhouse has helped a lot with that.as far as hitting and timing.”

The 17-year-old, whose goal now is to add 20 to 25 pounds before college, believes he can be a huge benefit to the program at Bryant.

“I consider myself a leader,” related Gustafson, who pointed to his father and coaches with Clubhouse as the biggest influences in his baseball journey. “Coming in as a freshman I’ll be a good teammate. I definitely think I can make an impact with my bat, but my glove doesn’t sleep. I’ll also bring a lot of energy to the dugout for sure.”

A 4.0 student sophomore year in high school to move his accumulative GPA to 3.3, Gustafson is uncertain in regard to a college major with business one consideration now that his recruiting process has come to an end.

“I thought it would be different, I really didn’t know how all the phone calls worked,” Gustafson said about recruitment. “It literally all came in a week after the Uncommitted Games. I was overwhelmed after the first call but after that it felt normal.”

But the feeling of making a commitment is anything but normal.

“What a relief off the shoulders,” Gustafson concluded. “I was always playing with a purpose. Now I can focus on getting better and better rather than where I’m going so I can be the best I can be when I get there.”