Bruin player silences his skeptics

  PRIYA SHARMA/Daily Bruin Senior pitcher Jon
Brandt is out to prove his detractors wrong.

By Jeff Agase
Daily Bruin Reporter

Attention Major League Baseball scouts: if you don’t
remember the name Jon Brandt now, you might be reading it in the
box score the day after he beats your team.

Just ask Stanford.

May 19, 2000: UCLA at Stanford. Almost three full seasons after
the Cardinal told the Palo Alto native he would not be offered
admission to the school he aspired to attend, Brandt’s Bruins
faced the heavily favored Cardinal in a marquee Friday night
matchup before a record regular-season crowd at Sunken Diamond.

Bruin ace Josh Karp started the game against Stanford’s
No. 1 pitcher Jason Young, but was pulled after surrendering nine
runs in five innings. The Bruins were down 9-5 and in danger of
losing their chance to share the Pac-10 title.

In stepped Brandt in the seventh inning to stop the
bleeding.

“It was huge,” Brandt said. “They had their
best guy going, we had our best guy going, and then we got into the
seventh inning. (Jim) Hemming hit a home run to tie it and I
started to get loose. We scored in the top of the ninth and I went
out in the bottom of the ninth and closed it.”

Brandt closed more than a baseball game that night. He closed
the book on the doubts expressed by Stanford when they denied him
admission. And he did it in front of a crowd of friends, family,
and, most importantly, those who underestimated him.

“You look over in the dugout and you see all of their
coaches, all of the people who didn’t think you were good
enough to play there,” Brandt said. “And then you see
all of the kids that came in there instead of you.”

“My favorite thing in the world is beating Stanford. It
doesn’t happen all that often, but it’s really ironic:
they’re the best team we play every year usually and I have
had my best games by far against them.”

June 5-6, 2000: The Major League Baseball Draft. UCLA set an
NCAA record with 12 players selected. Brandt’s name was
nowhere to be found.

“I knew going into the draft what was going to
happen,” Brandt said. “I had conversations with teams
and I had let them know what my status was. If I wasn’t going
to go in the top 10 rounds I wasn’t even going to think about
signing.”

Coming from an academic family, with his father a graduate of
Stanford medical school, there were high expectations, and it would
not have been the best decision in terms of his career.

Ten of Brandt’s teammates charted the waters of
professional baseball while he returned to Westwood for his senior
season.

Brandt knew he needed to change some things if he was to be
considered a legitimate pro prospect. He began extensive weight
training, putting on 10 to 15 pounds, and added speed to his
formerly tame fastball.

“I think the growth I’ve made in the last six months
was what really woke me up,” Brandt said. “That’s
what really said, “˜Hey, you’re not good enough to just
go out there on pure athletic ability.’ I wasn’t able
to go out there and just beat people and be a prototypical pro
pitcher.”

Brandt also worked with first-year pitching coach Gary Adcock to
sophisticate his arsenal.

“I think Jon came into the year with a plan of his own and
really just needed someone to help direct him,” Adcock
said.

“We’ve added a couple of pitches to his repertoire.
He’s worked hard on the cutter. As a starter you’re
going to have to have a third pitch to go to late in the ball
game,” Adcock added.

UCLA head coach Gary Adams was impressed with both
Brandt’s physical and mental focus coming into the 2001
season.

“It’s very noticeable,” said Adams of
Brandt’s commitment. “He was the first-place finisher
in our Agoura Hills run, which is a grueling run we put the players
through. That’s a proof of his conditioning. He’s one
of the first ones here (to practice) and one of the last to leave.
Besides, he does things on his own.”

Although he’ll constantly be under a critical microscope,
Brandt is trying not to succumb to the overwhelming pressure to
perform.

“It feels like you’re on stage, because of these
guys (pro scouts),” he said. “It’s important what
they think but then you realize that these guys really don’t
have anything to do with where you’re drafted or who
you’re drafted by.”

“It’s hard to get that idea because you try to
impress all the time.”

January 20, 2001: Alumni Game versus former Bruins now playing
professionally. Those who watched Brandt were impressed when he
struck out American League home run champion Troy Glaus. The
relatively humble Brandt doesn’t bask too much in the glory
of his big K, but the strikeout did bring a sense of affirmation to
his off-season training regiment.

“All of those days when people were like, “˜What are
you doing, Brandt? Chill out!’,” Brandt said, “I
have just been waiting for this season to roll around.”

“Now I can get up there and say, “˜Here it comes, try
and hit it.’ I could never throw the elevated fastball to
people above their hands and try to throw it by guys. That pitch to
Troy Glaus wouldn’t have happened last year ““ he would
have pulled it foul or he would have hit it off the
planet.”

June, 2001: The Major League Baseball Draft. The determined
underdog can legitimize all of the extra work with a selection in
one of the first ten rounds.

“I’m going to play baseball,” Brandt said.
“Unless I get hurt, unless for some reason something happens,
there’s no doubt in my mind. I know the only thing
that’s going to stop me from playing at that level is
myself.”

Watch out, pro scouts. Brandt doesn’t plan to stop himself
any time soon.