My name is Brendan Grant, though my player profile deems me a centerfielder/second baseman/pitcher, I'm actually a utility man, I can play any position on the field (with the exception of catcher), and I can play it well. I belong to the class of 2024 at Seaquam Secondary, in Sunshine Hills, Delta, BC. It seems to me that everyone else's personal statements seem to contain information about the kind of person they are, and how long they've been playing baseball, so I'll include that, and a little more about me, and how I play baseball. Growing up I was always the small kid, short scrawny, not particularly powerful or fast, really not your typical A grade athlete, so I learned to play baseball at a high level a little different from most people. As a kid you're always going to grow up watching your heroes in the MLB hit home runs, or throw 100 mph fast balls, and of course you want to emulate them in the things they do, but it took very little time for me as a kid to realize that for me at the time that wasn't going to be the case, I wasn't going to hit multiple home runs in a season, or gas people up, I had to play different to succeed. At the time the number of players who were similar to me playing professional ball was limited, so I decided to emulate the scrappiest ball players in the game, the likes of which at the time were player like Brett Gardner or especially Dustin Pedroia. I learned to play scrappy, put the ball in the outfield, get on base, and take advantage of any little miscue, physical, or mental error. On the field there's never been a moment where I haven't been willing to put my body on the line to make the play for the team, laying out, diving around tags, and jumping over players in order to make a tag on a stolen base attempt are many of my favorite parts of the game. Now there's a case to be made about a player who grows up playing that way getting to high school and finally growing, to a point where he's even sized, or larger then all of his peers, because I developed something that a lot of people don't have, and that's a drive to win. I want to win, every second that I'm on the field I give my everything for the team so that we can do that, win. I hate losing, with a passion, and I know what it tastes like, to lose when everything you want in that moment is to win, you realize pretty quickly just how bad you want it when you lose like that. I love every second of putting work in on or off the field, taking ground balls, shagging baseballs during bp, going to the weight room, hitting in the cage, every moment that I'm doing something even remotely related to baseball I'm beyond happy, because I love this game. I love the way that as soon as I step on the field my mind is clear, or the smoothness off picking up a ground ball, or just the crack of the bat, or the crunch of cleats on the dugout floor, I love it all. My goal as a player and a person is to pursue my athletic, and academic career, hopefully receiving an offer to play collegiate baseball, while being able to perform in the classroom. In the end, anywhere that I can play baseball post secondary school would be a dream come true, and I guarantee that given the opportunity I would stop at nothing to become the absolute best baseball player that I can be.
