Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes
HONOLULU — Brayden Marx said he didn't initially have coming to the University of Hawaii on his radar.
But everything changed when he took his first official visit and saw what third-year head coach Rich Hill was building in Hawaii. Now, he's become an indispensable part of one of the deepest, most formidable pitching staffs in the Big West Conference.
The No. 2-ranked pitcher in Utah coming out of high school at Pleasant Grove has made an instant impact for the 'Bows; in his six appearances so far this season, he's allowed only two runs and five hits, striking out 10 batters.
He's not allowed any runs or hits in his last three innings thrown, including a recent outing where he got his first collegiate win in Hawaii's midweek staff game Tuesday against Chaminade.
"I admire Brayden so much," Hill said of Marx. "He's never made an excuse or blamed anyone; he's just tried to get better every day."
Dedication to his craft
It was a work ethic born at Pleasant Grove High under head coach Darrin Henry, who called Marx "a workaholic."
Marx got a taste of that early in his high school career — Henry inserted him into the 6A state championship series as a sophomore, which Marx said helped his development; he learned quickly to not let the moment get too big.
"We know that when it clicks for him, it's going to be something special," Henry said. "As he gets more appearances, he'll do better and better, just like he did in high school."
And true to Henry's words, Marx is getting better with every appearance, with Hill saying Marx is "night and day" from his debut against 2022 national champion Ole Miss on Feb. 18.
That improvement has also come thanks to pitching coach Keith Zuniga, whom Marx said "loves to understand his players and what they think." Zuniga is also looked to by Hill as the Rainbow Warriors' analytics expert.
The core of his analytics, Zuniga said, comes down to analyzing players' strengths and weaknesses, and when combined with the way Hill can change a game with his coaching decisions, it becomes a lethal combination.
"We all understand it takes a village to win a game," Marx said. "You give it all you've got and then hand it off to the next guy."
Contributing to the culture
It only makes sense, then, that Hill dubbed the Rainbow Warriors bullpen the "Tropical Swarm," taking the moniker from "The Matrix," where the main character, Neo (played by Keanu Reeves), was on the run from about 50 of his enemies.
And Marx, like most of the pitching staff, has embraced that mentality to "smother the opponent," saying they feed off that energy.
But you wouldn't know it from the way he carries himself. Marx won his first collegiate game Tuesday against Chaminade, but Zuniga said Marx "didn't even know, and it probably didn't even matter."
Marx's character development is a result of the mentorship program that Hill has created at UH with the help of recruiting coordinator Dan Cox, which Hill created during his time at San Diego, believing "to feel comfortable in a new community, we needed to create connections."
Marx is currently being mentored by the well-known Eldredge family, most of whom are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, including David Eldredge, who serves as a counselor in the Honolulu stake presidency, and home to the local young single adult branch, where Marx attends Sunday services when he can.
Zuniga said he overhears Marx using the local slang, known as "pidgin English," with the Hawaii-born players, showing that he's bought into adapting into the environment.
"What we're trying to do is develop young men through the game of baseball," Hill said. "When we're doing anything outside of that, we're wasting our time."
It's something Hill has been doing since taking over on June 18, 2021, as the third-ever manager of Rainbow Warriors baseball. He recalled feeling "elated and energized" when he was offered the job, but since then, it's turned into humility and a sense of pride to uphold tradition.
Hill said he was "in awe" as a player at San Diego State, Hawaii's main rival in the old Western Athletic Conference, at how the 'Bows dominated the conference in the 1980s and '90s, when Les Murakami led the Rainbow Warriors to multiple NCAA regionals and a College World Series, coming within one victory of winning a national title in 1980.
"Anyone that knows baseball knows coach Hill," Zuniga said. "That's what I try to tell recruits — Rich Hill is a competitor; he dominates every single day."
And Marx embodies it, both on and off the field. It's no wonder, then, that Zuniga said Marx have a "special future" ahead — one that Hill said could lead to a career in Major League Baseball.
"It's an honor to play for the state of Hawaii," Marx said. "This is what we play for; we play for Hawaii, and we play to make them proud."
