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College  | Story | 4/9/2010

Crack of the Bat: Spotlight on Bryce Brentz

Patrick Ebert
As detailed in previous columns, I recently had the opportunity to travel to the state of Tennessee to try and catch some of the best draft-eligible talent the state has to offer. The first target on my visit was Bryce Brentz in a game between Middle Tennessee State and South Alabama in Murfreesboro, Tenn. He took batting practice before the game and was announced in the starting lineup for Middle Tennessee State, but it wasn’t Brentz who took centerfield as the national anthem was played.

Just before the game, he injured his ankle in what was later determined as a hairline fracture. It caused him to be a last-minute scratch, and also forced him to miss that entire series and the week that followed.

Brentz entered the year with lofty expectations as a potential first-round pick. Coming off a strong freshman season, Brentz posted even bigger numbers as a sophomore, leading the entire nation in batting (.465), home runs (28), slugging percentage (.930) and total bases (214). That success led to him being a part of the Team USA Collegiate National Team, a team that posted a 19-5 record and finished the summer by winning the World Baseball Challenge in Prince George, British Columbia.

He finished third on Team USA in batting with a .366 average, proving that he could hit the ball just as well with a wood bat.

No one expected him to repeat the same kind of collegiate numbers this season, but he was off to a very strong start and seemingly was gaining momentum as conference play began. And as good as he is at the plate, he also has doubled as one of Middle Tennessee’s best pitchers. He served as the Friday ace a year ago, but had not taken the mound this year. He may do so once he returns and proves he is fully healed from his ankle injury.

His future is brighter as an outfielder, and Brentz sees himself in the batter’s box and in the outfield on an everyday basis at the next level.
I recently spoke to Brentz about his injury, his swing and his approach as well as some of the things he is working to improve upon.

Perfect Game (PG): Let's get the unpleasant question out of the way first: How is your ankle feeling, what is the diagnosis and how did it happen?

Bryce Brentz (BB): It’s actually feeling really good. I can hit, I can throw and I can throw off the mound with no problems. I can’t totally explode and run around right now. I can do a light jog, but that’s about it. We’re going to re-evaluate it next week.

How it happened, we goof around before games to stay loose and stuff, and one of my teammates fell on my leg the wrong way. It didn’t feel right and I couldn’t play.
It’s a hairline fracture. It’s so small that it didn’t even show up on the X-ray. It’s on a non-weight bearing bone, so I can walk on it fine but I can’t put a lot of weight on it, so I can’t run. That’s why I’m being held back right now.

PG: Is there any talk about easing you back into the lineup by having you DH?

BB: I haven’t really talked to Coach P (Peterson) about it yet, so we have to sit down and make a schedule. I expect to get back quickly, but I may have to wait a few more days until I play again, so like you said, I’ll probably DH for a few days and see how it feels.

PG: You followed up an amazing season as a sophomore playing for Team USA last summer. What did you take away from that experience leading into this year?

BB: Last year’s done with. (The success) isn’t something I grasped until it was done. I still have a hard time grasping it sometimes. Is it going to be a failure if I don’t hit over .400 and don’t hit 20 home runs? No. Before I got hurt I was hitting .350 and had eight home runs and was looking pretty good, and I was starting to get hot and starting to get rolling and then (the injury) happened. It was a little hiccup, and I’ll come back from it.

The experience from Team USA was awesome because I was playing with the best of the best and I made some really good friends. I learned a lot, especially hitting with wood. As far as power goes, I only had two home runs, but with Team USA we had a lot of great guys. Even the guys that sat on the bench were All-Americans. One bad game or a couple of bad games and the next guy was going to be in there.

So what I did, I just spread out and worked on hitting a lot of singles and doubles and focused on getting on base to stay in the lineup. In the last two games, I was like, ‘Forget this, I’m going to go out and stand back up like I normally do and swing like I normally do.’ I only had a couple of home runs for a reason, as I hit two home runs in our last two games. I didn’t care what park we were in, I didn’t care how big that park was, they weren’t going to hold ‘em.

It was good to see the power still be there with wood. That was a good question for me since I didn’t really play with wood since I was in high school.

So if this is my last year it’s my last year, but I still have a year to play. There’s nothing set in stone just yet. I still do my same old stuff; spend my hours in the cages and work hard to get better.

PG: Speaking of swinging a wood bat, you played in several Perfect Game and World Wood Bat Association events while in high school with the Knoxville Yard. What were the biggest things you learned from participating in those types of events?

BB: Back then I was actually playing three sports in high school. After my junior year I had no (baseball) scholarships whatsoever. I had a small wrestling scholarship for a school up north, but I didn’t want to be a wrestler in college. So we went down (to Marietta, Ga.) and Garth Iorg told me, “You’re going to be my centerfielder, I’m going to cut you loose and I want you to steal as many bases as you can and let your ability take over.”

He would work with me a lot on my hitting. I look at some of the pictures now of me hitting with the Yard and I don’t even know how I hit. I was on my front foot, and I just had terrible mechanics. Every time I got on base he said, “If you want to steal, go. If you can get to it, catch it.” So he just let me play all-out.

We went down to East Cobb (Marietta) and played with the 17-year-old team and finished ninth. In another week we went down with an 18-year-old team and finished fifth. That fall we went to Jupiter (Fla.) and finished really high. Middle Tennessee was looking at me really hard and it was the perfect fit. It was the best decision I ever made, and from there on I concentrated on baseball. I didn’t play football, I didn’t wrestle; it was strictly baseball. Playing in those tournaments was the best thing that ever happened to me.

PG: Given a few of your comments about your stance and your mechanics, do you go to certain at-bats and have a different approach by widening or shortening your stance, looking to make contact or to drive the ball?

BB: All last year, actually all my career, I’ve got the same mindset every at-bat. If there’s a man on third with no outs, or a man on second, that’s when I try to put the ball in play and get the guy over to third or get him in and we get an easy run and I feel like I did my job. But mostly I’m not up there to hit singles. I’m going up there to absolutely crush the baseball.

Sometimes I get into this pattern, kind of like a Jeff Francoeur, where I get swing-happy. It sounds good, but you’ve got to have some kind of approach, and you have to have a better approach than that because you can get a lot of strikeouts that way.

It doesn’t matter where it is, inside or outside, I’m not looking for a certain pitch, I’m just looking to hit it hard. If it’s straight, don’t miss the fastball, and if it’s a curveball, or an off-speed pitch, and if (the pitcher) leaves it up in the zone, adjust, sit back, and stay on it and drive it wherever it’s pitched.

PG: Last year you played on an outfield corner but this year you’re back in center. How is your transition to playing center field going, and is that a pretty seamless transition for you to move to different spots in the outfield?

BB: My freshman year they started me out in left because it’s a shorter throw and I was pitching. I started out being the Friday night guy before I hurt my arm my freshman year. Before that even happened I told coach that I played right for three years in high school and center the summer before my senior year and during that season. I can play right and I can play center, but left was just giving me a hard time as far as judging balls. I got to them but it just wasn’t the most athletic outfield play you have seen. (Head Coach Steve Peterson) switched me up with Nathan (Hines), who was a red-shirt junior at the time, and he put him in left and me in center and we were home free within a week later.

Last year playing in left I really worked on tracking balls and their flight path in BP, and that’s what I played all year and I was comfortable with it. After that I felt comfortable playing all three spots.

Coming back to center was easy because the action is right in front of you. You can see the balls, you can get good reads, you can get good jumps. If it’s to my left it’s probably going to slice away from me and if it’s to my right it’s probably going to hook away from me. Plus, from center I can see the batter and their swing and their timing, and I can see where our catcher sets up. If the catcher sets up outside I can cheat a little bit towards the outside corner, or if he’s trying to come in I can cheat a little bit to the left. It really helps me out with my adjustments playing center.

PG: I know the ankle injury has set you back a little, but do you expect to pitch again this year?

BB: Actually yeah, I think I was due up to come in there against South Alabama before I hurt my ankle. I threw a relief inning in inter-squad and threw really well. It was just a blow to me because I was really looking forward to coming in and closing out a game. When I come back, pitching should be a part of the plan, but I know the first thing coach wants to see is that I can run and we’ll go from there.

PG: If all things were even, would you prefer to be a centerfielder and an everyday player?

BB: Oh yeah. As far as pitching, I’m not really a pitcher, I’m more of a thrower, but God gifted me with a pretty good arm and some good off-speed stuff. Most times with my natural ability I’ve been able to get it by people and get people out. Even in college you have good hitters and even great hitters, and you have to be a pitcher. You have to be able to locate and change speeds. I’ve never been one to change speeds, everything for me has been all out: Here we go, it’s me and you, let’s see if you can hit it. That mentality doesn’t work out on the mound sometimes, and I like it better as a hitter because I think it’s easier to make adjustments at the plate than I do on the mound.
PG: If you had the chance to break down your own game, what would you categorize as your strengths and weaknesses?

BB: Strengths would be athletic ability and upside. Obviously I have pretty good bat speed, and good strong hands – I give a pretty firm handshake (laughing). My prowess at the plate is what I’m best at.

A weakness for me is my discipline at the plate. Sometimes it’s up and sometimes it’s down. Like I said, sometimes I get a little too happy at the plate and try to hit a five-run home run instead of making a solid swing and making solid contact. Sometimes I take too big of a swing, I’m talking a come-out-of-my-shoes swing. That’s something I need to control more, but sometimes you get in those 2-0, 3-0 counts and Coach gives you the green light and I try to hit the ball 600 feet instead of 400 feet. I think that will come with maturity, especially at the next level if I’m lucky enough to get there.

Another weakness of mine would be nutrition. I think nutrition really helps a player out as far as staying healthy and reaching your maximum potential. Being in college and staying on a diet isn’t easy.

I’d like to be a little bit faster. I run about a 6.7, 6.75 60 and I would like to be a little bit faster than that, especially in the outfield. I think I have a lot more strengths than weaknesses, honestly.

PG: If you could talk to yourself a few years ago, or if you were talking to someone in high school looking to follow a similar career path, what kind of words of wisdom would you share with them?

BB: First off, if I were talking to myself when I was in high school, and if I would have told him where I would be in four years, that kid probably would have laughed in my face and walked away.

I actually just ran across a good friend of the family, and his son was facing the same thing. He wanted to play football, but he was getting basketball scholarships and football wasn’t really coming. He wanted to play quarterback. I talked to him and I said, ‘Look, when I was in your shoes, the biggest thing I wanted to do is go somewhere that I could play.’ If I went somewhere to play, then I already will get to do something that a lot of people don’t get to do, play a college sport. My dad played football at Michigan State, so I definitely wanted to play college sports. (Laughing) I love my dad to death but I wanted to be better than him. And I knew I had to get to college to do that.

Go somewhere where you can play, have fun, enjoy the game. I didn’t want to go somewhere where I would sit for maybe two years or red-shirt and play my junior and senior years. I wanted to go somewhere where I could come in as a freshman and have a chance to start and make an impact right away. Coach P told me when I took my visit here that he wasn’t promising me a starting position, but he felt that if I came here and settled down and got to work, that I had a chance as a freshman to make an impact. And that’s what I was looking for.

The thoughts and opinions listed here do not necessarily reflect those of Perfect Game USA. Patrick Ebert is affiliated with both Perfect Game USA and 5 Tool Talk, and can be contacted via email at pebert@5tooltalk.com.


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