Saturday, September 14th was a big day for Nick Buss. Instead of suiting up in his Albuquerque Isotopes uniform, he found himself in Los Angeles putting on his first major league uniform. The Dodgers called Buss up from the Triple A team to replace one of their injured outfielders. In his major league debut, Buss went 1-3 against former Cy Young winner Tim Lincecum in front of the Dodgers home crowd and then the next day, he faced the Giants again going 1-4 while starting in right field. Buss (or Chili as he is called by his teammates) got the nod to be the starter again that following Monday in left field in his first away game against the Arizona Diamondbacks.
The former Mesa centerfielder had an outstanding season with the Olympians. Buss was an offensive weapon hitting .382 with 22 RBI's and scored 30 runs while stealing 21 bases successfully out of 25 attempts. He was named to the 1st Team All Pacific Coast Athletic Conference selection and also received high praise from the state as he was named to the All Southern California Team. Although he was only in the blue and gold for a season in 2006, he was given a scholarship to USC where he was the 109th Trojan to play in the major leagues. From USC, he entered the draft and was the selected by the Dodgers in the 8th round in 2008. He consistently worked his way up from single A minor league to his current assignment in the triple A league where he was batting .303 with 17 homeruns and 100 RBI's during the 2013 season. In his postgame interview Nick Buss commented, "It was very exciting. But suprisingly I felt calm. You get so used to stepping into the batter's box. It was probably a little more nerve-wracking on deck then it is once you step in there. It's just back to business as usual." To follow Nick's stats and see the video of his first major league hit with the Dodgers click here