As part of Perfect Game's recurring 'Before They Were Pros' series David Rawnsley will take a look at some of the top prospects in minor league baseball and their impact on the sport prior to their professional careers. This will be done in a six-part series, one feature for each division in Major League Baseball while identifying one of the top prospects for each team. Links are provided below to past installments of the 'Before They Were Pros' series for other reports on prospects, both past and present.


Cincinnati Reds

Before They Were Pros, 2013-14 – Robert Stephenson, Billy Hamilton, Jesse Winker
Before They Were Pros, 2014-15 – Michael Lorenzen, Ben Lively, Nick Travieso, Phil Ervin

Amir Garrett, LHP

The vast majority of the time a baseball player is referred to as a dual-sport or two-sport athlete the other sport is football. Occasionally there is a prospect such as the White Sox shortstop Tim Anderson, who was profiled earlier in this series, or top 2016 PG All-American pitcher Matt Manning who also excels at basketball.

In high school, Garrett barely qualified as a two-sport athlete because he hardly played baseball.

The 6-foot-6 Garrett attended high school for two years at Sierra Vista High School in Nevada before moving to California and attending Leuzinger High School as a junior. He pitched in five varsity games that year for Leuzinger, going 0-3, 5.83 with 16 walks in 18 innings. He transferred to Findlay College Prep in Nevada for his senior year, a school that did not have a baseball team. During this time Garrett had established himself as a four-star basketball prospect with a commitment to play at St. John's.

Garrett still tossed a baseball around and was convinced to participate in a workout in front of some local Nevada scouts during the spring of his senior year. Imagine their surprise when a 6-foot-6 lefthander stepped to the mound and started throwing 96 mph. Garrett's commitment to play basketball was strong, though, and most teams were intrigued but decided not to take the risk. The Reds, however, picked Garrett in the 22nd round of the 2011 draft and gave him a $1 million signing bonus to play professional baseball in the summers while he continued his college basketball career.

Garrett played for two seasons at St. John's, averaging 5.4 points and 4.3 rebounds a game as a part-time starter as a sophomore. He left St. John's to transfer to Cal State Northridge and sat out the 2013-14 basketball season due to transfer rules. At that time he decided to dedicate himself to baseball full-time and has exploded as a prospect since.


Chicago Cubs

Before They Were Pros, 2013-14 – Javier Baez, Albert Almora, C.J. Edwards, Dan Vogelbach
Before They Were Pros, 2014-15 – Kris Bryant, Billy McKinney

Duane Underwood, RHP

Duane Underwood

Luke Weaver