Chargers Baseball Alumnus Featured by MLB.com

Alumnus Brandon Barnes is the subject of an MLB.com feature by Thomas Harding which covers his amazing path from Katella High through Cypress College, and finally Major League Baseball, where Barnes is currently finding success with the Colorado Rockies.

The sight of Barnes covered in dirt is a reminder that baseball does have room for the late bloomer.

To think, Barnes, 28, gave up the sport during his senior year of high school — at a time when some folks were being drafted by pro teams — because of circumstances out of his control. Yet here he is. […]

“There are a lot of times when I go out there and I’m like, ‘How did I do this?'” Barnes said. “I step out on the field and say, ‘Wow. This is what I dreamed of when I was a kid, and I don’t know how I did this.'”

Following his lone season at Cypress College, Barnes was a sixth-round selection of the Houston Astros in 2005. He made his MLB debut with the club on August 7, 2012 — at that point, the 17th Cypress College Chargers alum to reach “the show.” With the lone exception of former Anaheim Angels catcher Brian Downing, each of Cypress College’s MLB players have been coached by Scott Pickler, who has won five state championships (1991, 1994, 1997, 2003, 2013).

 

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