It’s been a summer of wonder for stellar top 2022 prospect Brandon Barriera, one which bore the fruits of the labors he put in during previous summers and falls of play on the Perfect Game tournament circuit and through his involvement with USA Baseball at the 12u, 14u, 15u and 17u levels.
An athletic 6-foot-1, 170-pound left-hander and Vanderbilt commit out of Hollywood, Fla., who is set to begin his senior year at prep power American Heritage School in a matter of weeks, Barriera spent a busy summer establishing himself as a legitimate early round prospect in the 2022 MLB Draft.
He got the job done here, there and everywhere, it seemed, most recently during outings at the MLB/USA Baseball Prospect Development Pipeline in Cary, N.C., in late July and then at the East Coast Pro Showcase in Hoover, Ala., just last week,
But there’s still a big crowning jewel to come for the kid from South Florida by the way of New York City. He’ll soon make his way to the Pacific Coast to take part in all the festivities surrounding the 19th annual PG All-American Classic, which will be played Aug. 22 at the Padres’ Petco Park in downtown San Diego.
But first, how about a little R&R? How about a little downtime before heading out to an event that is ultra-competitive but with a little more emphasis put on the fun side of the game?
“I’m kind of just taking some time here at home right now,” Barriera told PG during an enjoyable telephone conversation over the weekend before he quickly added that he’ll be ready to get back after it while enjoying the comforts that a late summer weekend spent in Southern California provides.
“Ever since playing in Perfect Game events and starting to play travel ball, being a Perfect Game All-American is one of the greatest accolades to have as a travel ball player; it’s something you strive to be,” he said. “Honestly it’s something that I’ve wanted to do for so long and something that I’ve always wanted to become...To go out and play in San Diego is going to be amazing and to be around all my boys and to finally play with them and not play against them is going to be a lot of fun.”
The son of Sergio Barriera and Melissa Rivera, Brandon Barriera has certainly put in the work that is required to climb to the No. 9 position overall in the class of 2022 national rankings. He is ranked the No. 3 left-hander nationally behind only North Carolina’s Jackson Ferris and South Carolina’s Tristan Smith; those two lefties will join Barriera on the East Team roster at the All-American Classic.
Barriera has been rostered at 30 PG events over the last five years but surprisingly, perhaps, his lights-out performance at the PG National Showcase in St. Petersburg, Fla., last month marked his only PG showcase appearance.
He has, however, been named to a PG all-tournament team 15 times while playing with Pompano Beach-based Cannons Baseball University (previously Cannons Baseball Academy). His head coach at CBU is Nick James, who also was his head coach at Westminster Academy during his freshman year and at American Heritage as a sophomore.
“He’s paved the way for me, pretty much,” Barriera said of James. “He and my parents have told me of all the sacrifices I need to make in order to become successful and that I’m not going to be living a normal teenage life. No teenager is going to be trying to work out twice a day and going to the field to work on his craft and just doing the little things. They were the ones who implemented this plan and have just been pushing me the whole time...
“I love baseball and nothing or anybody will ever take that (love) away from me. I just enjoy it as much as I can.”
While pitching for CBU this summer, Barriera allowed only seven hits and six walks while striking out 24 in 19 1/3 shutout innings, flashing a fastball that repeatedly reached 95 mph.
Over his past two PG seasons, he’s thrown 54 1/3 innings without allowing an earned run on 15 hits while striking out 76 and walking 15. The CBU 2022 Scout Team went 26-6-3 this summer, including a 7-1-0, third round of the playoffs performance at the WWBA 17u National Championship in Marietta, Ga.
Barriera didn’t beat around the bush when he declared that he really did enjoy a great summer, even knowing going in that it was going to be two months of having to produce a top performance every time he stepped on the mound.
He made sure he was always on top of his game. He tried to stay relaxed and just sit back and enjoy himself, intent on having fun and meeting as many new friends as possible while playing against the best competition that was out there.
“It was just being able to enjoy the game one last time before I either go to college or go to the pros,” Barriera said.
Sergio Barriera, also speaking with PG over the phone this past weekend, was effusive in his praise of the Perfect Game model, noting that PG has been great to his family while helping Brandon achieve his long-term goals. If you want your kid to succeed in baseball, Sergio said, PG provides the barometer that can help gauge where he stands amongst his peers.
The reason for that is a simple one: all the best kids are right there on the same fields competing with or against one another. There are the scouting reports, the write-ups, the rankings, the personal accounts like this one and any number of other data points that can help determine who really should be invited to the PG All-American Classic.
“For me as a dad it’s awesome, right,” Sergio said. “You know that all of his friends and his peers are reading Perfect Game articles and your son’s out there; everything that’s ever written is never biased and straight to the point [so] it’s been great.
“The relationships he’s had with his teammates is amazing. Brandon has so many followers and any event we go to it seems like he knows everybody. From a social dynamic you can’t replace that because networking is the basis of life.”
Brandon Barriera spent his early years in New York City where, according to Sergio, his great grandmother was a huge Yankees fan. And possibly through simple osmosis, the rest of the family became Yankees fans, as well. She was Brandon’s primary care-giver during his early childhood while his parents worked at their jobs so Brandon would spend many of his summer days watching the boys from the Bronx on TV as often as time allowed.
Sergio considered himself an avid fan but more specifically he was and a fan of Andy Pettitte, the Yanks’ three-time All-Star left-hander and four-time World Series champion.
“When Brandon was about 5 [years old] he came up to me and said, Dad, I want to be the next Andy Pettitte; that was pretty much the start of it,” Sergio told PG. “We moved down to South Florida [in 2010 when Brandon was 6] and we got him started on one of those rec ball teams for one year and then we started playing travel baseball the year after that.”
Sergio called the journey with his son to this point “a long but rewarding one.” Sergio, whose high school athletic background was with basketball and not baseball, remembered thinking that Brandon just really wasn’t all that good. He spent nearly the first six years of his involvement with travel ball riding the bench and Sergio just didn’t understand what all the hype surrounding his son was all about.
But the kid was now in the company of James, who kept telling Sergio that hey, no worries, one day your kid is going to be a stud. That was difficult for Brandon’s dad to understand because he just didn’t see the potential other talent evaluators were seeing. What Sergio was seeing was a youngster who struggled to throw strikes and was giving up runs in bunches.
“And then one day Nick James said, 'Hey, you guys should do the USA Baseball trials in California,' and that was for the top kids in the nation,” Sergio said. “He convinced us to go and that was the first time Brandon put it all together on that [big] stage. He went out and he made the 12u USA [National] Team and from then on not only did his confidence change but his work ethic changed.
“Being a 12-year-old and putting in the work he had to learn his craft...and wanting to be better, from then on it’s been the most rewarding experience,” he added. “You’ve kind of seen something...grow into what it is today; it’s been a hell of ride.”
Because of everything he’s already experienced through baseball, Brandon Barriera will be surrounded by dozens of old friends once he arrives in San Diego, even though he’s eager to make even more. There are 12 Florida preps on the Classic’s East Team roster, including No. 1 overall outfielder Elijah Green, No. 18 outfielder Roman Anthony and fellow pitchers Jurrangelo Cijntje, Luis Rujano and Jordan Vera.
“If you’re talking about any of the Florida guys I’ve literally grown-up playing against them,” Barriera said through a laugh. “Especially Sal Stewart and Jordan Vera, literally I’ve grown up playing these guys. Every week or every weekend we’re playing in the same league against each other so after a while it’s just like it’s the same people.”
Brandon Barriera’s commitment to Vanderbilt is a source of pride to the entire family, which also includes 14-year-old sister Laila. Sergio said that Vandy has long been his son’s favorite school and that early on Brandon set his sights on developing into a top pitching prospect with the dream of one day pitching for the Commodores.
It makes him proud as a dad to think there really isn’t much the kid can’t accomplish if he really puts the work in, and that applies to the academic side of the ledger, as well. Brandon is proud of the commitment, as well.
“It’s definitely the work ethic; just the way they want to win and want to succeed that made me fall in love with it even more,” he said of the Vanderbilt program. “Obviously growing up when I started watching college baseball I grew toward Vanderbilt watching Walker Buehler pitch and Dansby Swanson play.
“Just the way they take the field and playing together and having this camaraderie and becoming a family on and off the field...And you can’t go wrong academically, too, so it’s a blessing both ways.”
It’s likely to be many months before Brandon Barriera steps foot on Vanderbilt’s Nashville campus and that’s only if the 2022 MLB Amateur Draft doesn’t come into play. Next up for the talented left-hander is the PG All-American Classic, a place where he can go and have fun with all his friends while any outside pressures melt away like ice cream on Pacific Beach boardwalk.
“The one thing you live for as a parent is seeing your kid just smile and enjoy the moment,” Sergio Barriera said. “There hasn’t been a moment yet that’s been too big for him because all he does is smile...For me that’s worth everything in the world, more than the accolades, it’s just seeing your kid have fun pursuing what he loves. That’s worth it just being in the stands.”