SIOUX FALLS, S.D. - After an offseason of adjustments and reflection, 2022 Augustana baseball alum Thomas Bruss has signed to play for the Detroit Tigers organization. 

The 6-8 fireballer from Rochester, Minnesota, becomes the 14th Viking to play in a Major League Baseball organization. Bruss will make the jump from the Ottawa Titans, a member of the Frontier League, an independent baseball league which is a Partner League of Major League Baseball. In two Frontier League seasons, Bruss struck out 54 batters in 56 innings. 

"Thomas is the first former player we have had go from independent baseball to sign with an MLB team," said Augustana head coach Tim Huber. "It's an awesome opportunity for him.  He keeps working and progressing, so this is a logical next step for someone who throws as hard as he does."

He is currently in minor league camp at spring training going through daily workouts and utilizing resources to improve on and off the field. Bruss has been assigned to the FCL Tigers for the beginning of spring training, but where he ends up for the start of the season is still yet to be determined.

With Bruss, this past offseason has been about improvement. He knew the velocity was there and worked on building off of it. 

"This offseason I dedicated the time to recreating myself as a pitcher," said Bruss. "I went back to what I was comfortable with, pitch-wise. I started putting less emphasis on velocity training, and directing focus on pitch design and mobility work."

While at Augustana, Bruss was an electric arm out of the bullpen, striking out 114 in 93 ⅔ innings from 2018-2022. He ranks fourth all-time with 64 career appearances and is top-15 in program history with an 11.0 K/9 rate. 

Bruss' reinvention was in a combined effort with Tread Athletics, an online sports performance platform that has worked with over 100 MLB pitchers. 

"Something that my coach and I worked on were improvements on my numbers over the past two seasons," said Bruss. "We made a few tweaks with my slider and worked towards showing that the previous numbers were not indicative of who I am right now in my athletic development. 

"I am a much different pitcher than I was even eight months ago, and the Tigers organization really liked that."

For Bruss, it's a new beginning, continuing a path that no other Viking has taken. As he displayed during the offseason, a challenge is not something he will shy away from. 

"I'm just looking forward to getting used to the routine, and slowly building into live outings and games. I'm excited to show the team what I can do."