After a successful run in Aztec baseball Brandon Meredith said yes to his second shot at the big league.
Meredith, 21 known for his hard hitting offensive game was a junior at San Diego State University, and though comfortable in his position he felt now was the time to leave college and go on to the next phase of his career.
The major league amateur draft agreed; Meredith was selected on the second day of the major league baseball draft by the Houston Astros to play left field.
Meredith’s first shot came in 2008 after a high school career at Montgomery that garnered an offer from the Tampa Bay Rays who selected Meredith in the 15th round. Meredith passed because he wasn’t quite ready for that leap at the time.
“I was caught off guard and felt that my maturity level then wasn’t as it is now, I have grown as an individual, Meredith said.”
Meredith was named secondteam All West-Mountain Conference and despite hitting .268 this season down from previous years still had an impressive resume of accomplishments stemming from hard work he put in
to the game for several years.
From the time he was 9 years old Meredith said he was actively involved in sports and played baseball year round for several teams in the South Bay. He tried all sports except football. “Mom wouldn’t let me play football,” Meredith said laughing.
“I didn’t let him play football until he was a freshman in high school,” his mom Patty Meredith said. “He was too big and would have had to play with older kids and I didn’t want my little man to get hurt, she said laughing.
Funny yes because her little man now stands 6’2” and weighs in at 225 pounds.
Baseball was the sport that stuck though he had passion for it and excelled in it. Meredith played for a while with the San Diego Stars baseball academy as teenager and felt that he learned a lot from the coach, Joe Sanchez that sticks with him today.
“He was dedicated to the game and was a big inspiration,” said Meredith, who still lives in Chula Vista.
Like Sanchez, Tony Gwynn, former Padre and head coach of the men’s Aztec baseball team also made an impression with Meredith.
“Working with Tony Gwynn was a great experience and I learned a lot,” Meredith said.
Meredith was ready to move on after his third year of play even though he enjoyed working with his teammates and Coach Gwynn at San Diego State. This time around he believes it is time to take the next step and his coach and former teammates all wish him well he said.
Now Meredith is satisfied with what he has to offer a major league team and the goal will be to make it to the majors, a feat that will take hard work and patience Meredith acknowledges.
He realistically expects to be in the minor Leagues for 3-5 years putting in hard work hard he said.
“I plan to keep my nose clean work hard and end up in the majors,” Meredith said.
