Dylan Bundy

Dylan Matthew Bundy to his credit. He is Cherokee, born to Lori and Denver Bundy on November 15, 1992, in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Lori Bundy worked as a plumber and pipefitter for the Ford Motor Co. and later at Home Depot in Owasso, Oklahoma. When Lori met Denver Bundy, he was a mechanic and also ran a gym. The two later both worked together at the Ford Motor Company’s auto glass plant in Tulsa, she as a plumber and pipefitter, then later at Home Depot in Owasso.1 Denver Bundy also coached high-school baseball in Owasso.

Dylan’s older brother, Bobby Bundy (b. January 13, 1990), was also a pitcher and had been an eighth-round draft pick of the Baltimore Orioles in the June 2008 draft.2 The boys grew up under the tutelage of their father, and when Dylan was only 8 years old, he “helped his father and brother build a mound and a batting cage in the backyard.”3

Mother Lori was often the one who urged the boys on. Dylan recalled, “Huge baseball fan. Huge. Dad would be gone on a hunting trip or something, and I’d be like 14 or 15 years old and I’d have to play long toss. Well, Mom would get a glove and say, ‘Let’s go. You’ve got work to do.’”4

A graduate of Owasso High School in the Tulsa suburb of Sperry, Dylan was selected as Baseball America’s 2011 High School Player of the Year.5 It was no wonder: it was reported that he struck out 158 batters in 71 innings while allowing just five walks and two earned runs. He won all 11 of his starts and also earned a save.6 His four-year pitching record was 44-3. He recorded 595 strikeouts and had an earned-run average of 0.20. He reportedly clocked 100-mph pitches on radar guns.7

Scouted by Ernie Jacobs, Bundy was selected by the Baltimore Orioles in the first round of the June 2011 draft, the fourth overall pick, and was signed to a five-year contract set to begin the following year for $6.25 million.8 Orioles scouting director Joe Jordan said, “This kid looked me right in the eye and said, ‘Joe, I want to be drafted by the Orioles and I want to pitch in a major league rotation with my brother.’”9

He cited both his father and brother Bobby as key supporters. “Me, my dad and brother, we’ve prepared our whole lives for this whole year, everything. It’s finally coming to reality that I was picked by the Orioles, the same team my brother is on. It’s pretty amazing I get the opportunity to be on the same team as my brother. We’ll see what happens here in August.”10

Bobby had excelled himself, winning the 2008 Small School Tulsa World Player of the Year Award and being named Gatorade Oklahoma Player of the Year. Bobby – then a minor leaguer in the Orioles organization – said, “Having me as an older brother, he’s got goals and things to look forward to and up to. I’m really proud of Dylan. He’s worked his butt off to become a better player. He does things the right way.” Dylan said, “Bobby has always been my inspiration. He taught me how to work hard. He’s someone I have always looked up to and will forever. … I kept track of his accomplishments in high school and it gives me something to shoot for in my career.”11

Hard work was nothing new to Dylan Bundy. A profile in Sports Illustrated said, “As a young teenager Bundy flipped truck tires, threw 75-pound sandbags over his shoulder, pushed wheelbarrows full of dirt around the family’s 15-acre plot in northeast Oklahoma, dug four-foot holes and refilled them purely for the exercise.”12  

Dylan Bundy is listed as 6-feet-1, weighing 225 pounds. He started his professional career in the 2012 season – with the Single-A Delmarva Shorebirds (1-0 in eight starts, throwing 30 innings and striking out 40 batters without yielding an earned run), the Class A+ Frederick Keys (he was 6-3 in 12 starts with a 2.84 ERA and 66 strikeouts in 57 innings), and then in in August with the Double-A Bowie Baysox (2-0, with a 3.24 ERA). Bobby Bundy was with the Baysox as well in 2012, but less successfully. (Starting 17 games, he was 2-11 with a 6.25 ERA.) Bobby’s final game with the Baysox that season was on July 8; Dylan’s debut with the team was on August 14. Dylan was called up to the Orioles in mid-September.

On September 23, 2012, Dylan Bundy had his major-league debut, working the final two-thirds of an inning in a 2-1 Orioles loss to the Red Sox at Fenway Park in Boston. With a runner on second base and one out, he induced outfield flies from the only two batters he faced. Two days later, at Oriole Park at Camden Yards, he worked the top of the ninth inning in a game the visiting Toronto Blue Jays were winning, 4-0.  He walked the first batter, gave up a single, then got a fly ball and a double play.

Bundy didn’t return to the majors until 2016. He was held back by injuries in 2013, and underwent Tommy John surgery on June 27. Bobby himself had surgery for bone chips in 2012 and his own Tommy John surgery in 2013 within three months of Dylan’s.13

In the 2014 season, the two brothers again both wore the same uniform for a while – that of the Aberdeen IronBirds (low Class A) – but not at the same time. They each worked in three games, Dylan in the second half of June and Bobby in the second half of August.

For 2015, the Orioles were content to bide their time and wait in hopes that Dylan would “dominate in the minors again.”14

Bobby Bundy was 1-0 in eight games for the Baysox in 2015. Dylan Bundy likewise appeared in eight games (in his case, all starts) for Bowie, but was 0-3 and required medical treatment in July for calcification in his shoulder.15 This time they enjoyed being teammates for a while. They had both pitched in the same spring-training game on March 12, against the St. Louis Cardinals in Jupiter, Florida.16 With the Baysox, Bobby’s first game was on April 9; Dylan’s was four days later, on April 13. They were both on the team into May, even appearing three times in the same game: April 24 and 29 and May 5. In the April 24 game, Akron batters jumped on starter Dylan Bundy early and scored two runs. He worked three innings. Bobby Bundy pitched two scoreless innings at the end.17 Against Erie on April 29, Dylan Bundy “pitched his allotted three innings” and “threw three perfect frames,” striking out five.18 He was just getting some work in, rather than put too much stress on his shoulder.19 On May 5, Dylan started and worked the first inning before rain delayed the game. When play resumed, Bobby took the mound and worked 3⅓ innings of scoreless relief.20 Later in the month, Dylan was shut down with shoulder stiffness due to the calcium deposits, and Bobby suffered a tear to his ACL.21 Bobby Bundy played for Bowie again in 2016 and 2017.

It was in 2016 that Dylan Bundy finally made it back to the majors, able to work. He was on the Opening Day roster for the Orioles and he earned a hold in both of his first two appearances, on April 7 and 12. His first 22 appearances were all in relief and he had a cumulative 3.08 earned-run average, with a record of 2-1. His first win had been on May 27, when he worked in a tie game in Cleveland and his teammates came through with three runs in the top of the seventh and gave the Orioles a lead, which held.

Manager Buck Showalter gave Bundy his first start on July 17. Though he lost that one, 5-2, he won the next start and finished the 2016 season with a record of 10-6 (4.02 ERA). He had worked a total of 109⅔ innings and struck out 104 batters.

Working exclusively as a starter in 2017, Bundy pitched in 28 games and compiled a record of 13-9 (4.24) for the last-place Orioles. He added another 152 strikeouts to his total, in 169⅔ innings. The gem of his season was a one-hit shutout on August 29 against visiting Seattle, the one hit a fourth-inning bunt by Kyle Seager.

The 2018 Orioles finished the year 47-115. Bundy’s 5.45 ERA represented a lack of success, but his eight wins led the team. (He was 8-16 for the season.) Though he struck out 184 batters (with a career-high 14 on May 25 against the Chicago White Sox), he also surrendered a majors-worst 41 home runs. The 16 losses also led both leagues.22

Bundy’s 2019 was similar – with the Orioles in last place again. Bundy was 7-14 (4.79). Strikeouts dropped in number to 162, and homers allowed to 29.

In December 2019 he was traded to the Los Angeles Angels for four minor-league players.23

The year 2020 was abbreviated due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The team played 60 games and Bundy started 11 of them, leading the staff in wins with a record of 6-3 and a distinctly improved ERA of 3.29. He struck out 72 in 65⅔ innings. On August 6 he threw a complete-game 6-1 win in Seattle.

Bundy’s 2021 season went upside-down, with a 6.06 ERA and a record of 2-9. He became a free agent after the season and was signed by the Minnesota Twins to a one-year, $5 million deal, for what became his last season in the majors. The Twins finished third in the AL Central Division, and Bundy’s record was of a middling nature as well – 8-8 (4.89). Only Joe Ryan had more wins for the Twins that year. Sonny Gray (8-5) matched Bundy.

Late in March 2023, Bundy signed as a free agent with the New York Mets, but was assigned to Triple-A Syracuse, where he was 0-2 in six games, with a 10.08 ERA, and was released in July. His career as a pitcher was over.

All in all, he had won 54 major-league games with a career ERA of 4.74 and had struck out 852 opponents. He had worked 910 2/3 innings and – except in 2016 almost always playing for teams with losing records – had borne 65 losses.24

Bundy was a switch-hitter and, despite working exclusively in the American League, he nonetheless accumulated 14 plate appearances. He singled twice. On June 23, 2018, he led off the fifth inning in Atlanta with a single and scored what was the fifth run in a 7-5 win over the Atlanta Braves. On May 31, 2021, he singled in the second inning. All told, he was 2-for-14 with nine strikeouts, one run scored, and no runs batted in.

He had married Caitlin Smith in November 2020. She had seven years of experience as a lieutenant with the Owasso Fire Department. They may have bonded a bit through art. Both took a painting class and – along with hunting – it proved to be a diversion that helped provide Bundy some relaxation.25

In early 2024, Dylan Bundy left professional baseball to work as a real estate agent with the Ary Land Co. in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. The couple has welcomed a first child into the family.

He remained active in baseball, though, and in early 2025 was a clinic instructor – with his brother, Bobby – at the Sperry (Oklahoma) Baseball Academy.

Last revised: March 1, 2025

Sources

Thanks to Jake Bell, Anne Keene, Bob Lemoine, and Rod Nelson.

Photo credit

Dylan Bundy, courtesy of Keith Allison.

Notes

1 Mike Brown, “Bundy Family Mourns Death of Wife, Mother Lori,” Tulsa World, December 9, 2013: 1. See also Don Connolly, “‘Life’s Experiences Always Shape You, and That One Was Pretty Devastating’: How Dylan Bundy’s World Exploded, and How He Pushed Through,” The Athletic, September 12, 2018. https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/512816/2018/09/12/lifes-experiences-always-shape-you-and-that-one-was-pretty-devastating-how-dylan-bundys-world-exploded-and-how-he-pushed-through/.

2 The Orioles gave him a $4 million signing bonus. John McNamara, “Baysox, Bundy Taking It Slow for Now,” Bowie (Maryland) Blade-News, April 9, 2015: A6.

3 Tom Verducci, “The Bundy Project,” Sports Illustrated, July 30, 2012.

4 Connolly.

5 Nathan Rode, “Dylan Bundy’s Stats, Stuff Turns Heads,” Baseball America. June 27, 2011. https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/dylan-bundys-stats-stuff-turns-heads/. Accessed August 10, 2025.

6 The article by Rode provides effusive quotes from Bundy’s coach, Larry Turner, and teammates. A Tulsa World article credited him with an 11-1 record (1.58 ERA) with 164 strikeouts in 79⅔ innings. Lynn Jacobsen, “Brotherly competition,” Tulsa World, June 10, 2010: B6. Jacobsen wrote that Dylan also ranked second on the team in batting average (.442). The Associated Press’s David Ginsburg had him batting .467 with 11 home runs and 57 RBIs, and agreed with Rode’s reported statistics for pitching. David Ginsburg, “Baltimore Takes Pitcher Bundy with Fourth Pick,” Delaware State News, June 7, 2011: 15.

7 Dylan played shortstop and reportedly drew interest from the Tampa Bay Rays as such, but the Orioles had a higher pick in the 2001 draft and selected him as a pitcher. Bill Haisten, “Bundy’s Standout Career Ends,” Tulsa World, May 15, 2011: B9.   

8 Ronald Blum (Associated Press), “Top Pick Gerrit Cole and Pirates Agree to Deal,” Poplar Bluff (Missouri) Daily American Republic, August 16, 2011: 2B.

9 David Ginsburg (Associated Press), “Bundy Joins Brother’s Organization,” Oklahoman (Oklahoma City), June 8, 2011: 7C.

10 Rode, “Dylan Bundy’s Stats, Stuff Turns Heads.” Bobby Bundy (born January 13, 1990, also in Tulsa) was a right-hander selected in the eighth round of the June 2008 draft. He was 11-5 in Class A+ ball with the Frederick Keys during the 2011 season. He worked nine seasons in the minor leagues, primarily in Double A, in the Baltimore system, through the 2017 season.

11 Jacobsen, “Brotherly Competition.” Bobby won the Gatorade Player of the Year Award in 2008 and 2009, both times with the state champion Sperry High School team, and Dylan won it in 2010 at Owasso High School.

12 Verducci noted that Bundy “swore off hamburgers” and maintained a disciplined diet. For three summers starting at age 15, he left home alone to pitch for a team in Texas. Denver Bundy said, “I’ve been criticized for working the boys that hard. I wasn’t hard because I was doing every bit of it too. I never broke ’em or anything. Most of the time they were laughing.”

13 Jon Meoli, “Orioles’ Family Affair,” Baltimore Sun, August 6, 2016: 1. See also Mike Brown, “Bundy Family Mourns Death of Wife, Mother Lori.”

14 Dan Connolly, “Roster Has Share of Questions,” Annapolis (Maryland) Sunday Capital, February 15, 2015:  C4.

15 Jeff Todd, “Dylan Bundy Shut Down Indefinitely,” MLBtraderumors.com, June 29, 2015. https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2015/06/dylan-bundy-shut-down-indefinitely.html.

16 “Spring Special; Bundy Brothers Pitch in Same Game for Orioles,” Tulsa World, March 14, 2015: B11. Both worked in relief, Dylan first – allowing one run while retiring six of the eight batters he faced. Another Orioles pitcher appeared in between the brothers but Bobby worked in the seventh and retired two batters on a total of four pitches. Dylan was apparently in the clubhouse and did not see Bobby pitch but said it was “definitely special” that they had both pitched in the same game and requested that the box score be framed and sent to their father.

17 “Baysox Win Streak Halted,” Annapolis Capital, April 25, 2015: B12.

18 “Bundy Perfect in Baysox Sweep,” Annapolis Capital, April 30, 1990: B7. Neither article noted the unusual situation of the pitchers being brothers.

19 Don Connolly, Baltimore Sun, “Dylan Bundy Could Get to Majors This Year,” Carroll County Times (Westminster, Maryland), May 21, 2015: B2.

20 Barry Lewis, “Dodgers Official Has ’60s Connection to Tulsa,” Tulsa World, May 10, 2015: 27.

21 Meoli, “Orioles’ Family Affair.”

22 James Shields of the Chicago White Sox also had 16 losses.

23 Subsequently, both Kyle Bradish and Isaac Mattson made it to the majors.

24 During 2012, when he worked in his first two games, the Orioles had a winning record.

25 Jon Meoli, “Birds’ Bundy – Painting More Than Corners,” Annapolis Capital, March 27, 2016: 2C.