Barnes Becoming a Baseball Player

Tri-City ValleyCats outfielder Brandon Barnes is finally making the necessary mental changes in order to become a true baseball player rather than just another football player playing baseball.

What attracts a lot of baseball scouts toward converted football players is the tools. Football players have two tools that make them so attractive to scouts- speed and strength. That’s what made the Colorado Rockies draft Michael Vick in the 30th round of the 2000 draft even though Vick hadn’t played competitive baseball since the 8th grade.

The strength and athletic ability of Brandon Barnes is most likely part of the reason the Astros drafted him in the 6th round of the 2005 draft. But Barnes struggled his first two years of professional baseball hitting a combined .211 in those seasons.

“I only played one year of baseball in high school,” Barnes explained. “I was a football guy all of my life. When I got to Cyprus [Community College], I asked the head baseball coach if I could try out. I made the team and ended up being a Freshman All-American. When I got drafted in the sixth round I was pretty surprised. I didn’t think that many people knew about me.

“I went out in my first year and started really well, hitting at the top of the lineup. But it got a little harder as people started to figure out what I could and couldn’t hit. I was still playing good defense but the hitting wasn’t there. In my second season I was actually doing okay hitting around .260, but then I bruised a kidney and when I got back from the injury I was rusty.

“In the off-season I hired a personal trainer who was the conditioning guy for the Oakland Raiders in the early ‘90s. He had me doing a lot of plyametrics. We did some mental boxing too, using my mind while I was punching the bag.

“This past spring training, I focused on my hitting and also about my knowledge of the game overall. I sat down with our hitting coach [Joel Chimelis] and talked about what I need to work on with both my physical and mental approach to the plate. It helped a lot working with him one on one. It worked immediately and I hit .400 in extended spring training while I was working on everything.”

His spring season success ran right into the season with Barnes experiencing a breakout season for the ValleyCats at the ripe age of 21. As of August 30th, he’s batting .281/.370/.518 with 10 homeruns, 34 Runs, and 40 RBI I just 55 games.

“From the beginning of the season I went after it,” the right-handed outfielder told HoustonHardball.com. “I knew what I wanted to do and focused on getting good at bats. I guess it’s all kind of falling into place. Part of the improvement was that I was taking my work ethic that I brought to the field, and applying that same intensity into practice.”

Even though Barnes hasn’t played football in over three years, he still sees his old habits effecting him in a completely different game.

“I played wide receiver my whole career, so I like the challenge of going out and getting the ball,” the Orange County, CA native explained. “I try to make the big play and I’m not scared to dive or run into a wall. But I think being that aggressive hurt me at the plate. At first I didn’t want to wait or be patient, I didn’t want to walk. So I would go out and swing at everything. But I’ve calmed my at-bats down. I’ve definitely settled down.”