Daily Pilot Athlete of the Week: Garrett Brant - Sailors’ Admiral

Tony Altobelli

With all the talent from the catcher’s position that’s come out of

Newport Harbor High the past few years, perhaps a sign of “Catcher’s

Inc.” might need to go up on the outside of the Sailors’ clubhouse.

Starting with Sailors’ graduate Charlie Waite, who is now a sophomore

at the University of Mississippi, current Newport catcher Garrett Brant

has taken the torch and run with it.

“There’s some pretty good catchers in our league, and I’d put Garrett

up against any I’ve seen this year,” Newport Coach Jim Kiefer said. “He

not only has some pretty decent physical tools, but his knowledge of the

game is right there, as well.”

Brant, this week’s Daily Pilot Athlete of the Week, showed his stuff

in two hard-fought Sea View League contests.

In a 5-3 loss to Aliso Niguel on April 4, Brant drove in all of

Newport’s runs with a three-run home run, but his best work was yet to

come.

Two days later against defending league champion Irvine, Brant, had

three hits, drove in two runs, scored a run, threw out two runners trying

to steal and managed time to wash the bus and mow the baselines at the

Vaqueros’ ballpark in Newport’s 4-2 upset road win.

“Our pitchers were hitting their locations better than they have all

season long,” Brant said. “Plus, we got some timely hitting when we had

runners in scoring position.”

Brant’s second hit, a sharp single to right field, drove in Cameron

Pemstein with Newport’s first run and after Irvine took a 2-1 lead, he

tied the game with an RBI single to left, scoring Mike Jones.

Put perhaps Brant’s biggest contribution came in the bottom of the

sixth inning. After Irvine’s leadoff hitter reached base on an error,

Harbor’s defensive general made his stay on the basepaths a short one

when a botched hit-and-run attempt allowed Brant nab the runner at second

base.

Brant credits another former Newport Harbor catcher, Zach Biehl, for

his constant improvement.

“Coach Biehl has been great helping me with my technique, along with

Coach Steve Thornhill,” Brant said. “I’m trying to get better at a lot of

different things, like my footwork, framing pitches, blocking the ball

properly, things like that.”

Not only does Brant lead the Sailors with a .460 batting average and

15 RBIs, he’s also a motivator/counselor/listener for the Sailors’

pitching staff.

“Everyone’s different, so you have to know how to effectively

communicate with each one,” Brant said. “I try to get the pitchers

focused and I make sure we’re on the same page out there.”

As a second-year starter and a member of the Newport-Mesa All-District

team a year ago, Brant jumped into the leadership right away this year.

“It was just a natural progression for Garrett,” Kiefer said. “When

Scott (Beerer) and Nick (Langsdorf) graduated last year, Garrett stepped

into the leadership role.”

In addition to his numerous responsibilities, Brant has been given the

reigns on the calling the pitches for the past few weeks.

“Once in a while, I’ve made a bad pitch selection,” Brant admitted.

“But after you’ve seen the same hitters for the past year or two, you

know what they like and don’t like, so I just try to use that

information, plus our pitcher’s strengths to make a selection on the

pitches.”

So far, according to Kiefer, Brant has been right a lot more than he’s

been wrong. “He knows our pitchers and he’s now acquired the ability to

call a pretty good game out there.”

When he’s not playing for the Sailors, Brant can be found playing

drums for the band Angry Iron. “We’re just getting started, but we’re

getting better,” Brant said of the band. “It’s a unique style and right

now, it’s just in the beginning stages. No gigs just yet.”