April 28 - 'Catching Up' is a monthly feature by NOVA Baseball Magazine where we connect with a player or former player with Northern Virginia roots for a question and answer session. This month's player is Brandon Guyer, who is a 2004 graduate of Herndon High School and was a fifth-round draft pick by the Chicago Cubs out of the University of Virginia in 2007.
After being traded to the Tampa Bay Rays prior to the 2011 season, Guyer homered in his first Major League at-bat on May 6 of that season. The 6-foot-2, 200-pound outfielder is currently hitting .250 with a homer and seven RBI in 16 games in this, his fourth big league season.
Guyer was a part of three NCAA Tournament teams at Virginia from 2005-07, hitting .370 with eight homers and 43 RBI to earn first-team All-Atlantic Coast Conference honors in his final season in Charlottesville. In high school, he was a two-time 1,000-yard rusher for the Hornets' football team, setting school records with 285 yards rushing and seven touchdowns during their Homecoming game during the fall of his senior year before hitting .483 with a school-record eight homers and 23 RBI for Herndon that spring.
NOVA Baseball Magazine - What was your fondest memory of growing up playing ball in the area?
Brandon Guyer - "Something I always think about is Little League ball, and the Reston American Little League team. We won the districts and we won the states and we went down for regionals in Florida and we were two games from getting to the Little League World Series. We got knocked out by a team from Texas, but that's something that has always been something special in my career that I can look back on. That was back at a time when it was such a free spirit, such a fun game, you're just going out there and playing with your buddies at such a young age.
"The coaches were Coach Foley and Coach Kubin. Jared Kubin [who later starred at Oakton and played the the University of Florida] and Matt Foley [the 2003 All-Met Player of the Year at Madison who played at Virginia Tech] were both on the team. So we were a stacked team, and very close to the Little League World Series."
Mag- The best game that never happened in 2002 was the match up everyone wanted to see, your Herndon team against the Madison team that went undefeated and won the state title. How disappointing was that?
Guyer - "Our team was definitely stacked that year. We had a lot of great players, guys that just came to the park and worked hard and had fun. We definitely thought that with the pitchers and hitters we had, that we could have had a chance to get after Madison and give them a good game. But it never ended up happening. I honestly can't remember who we lost to, but it was a tough loss and I wish things could have been different and we could have played Madison and tried to end their streak, but it wasn't meant to be." [Editor's note: Herdon fell to Robinson in the regional quarterfinals. Madison then defeated Robinson in the semifinals.]
Mag - The 2004 University of Virginia team with current big leaguers Mark Reynolds and Ryan Zimmerman kind of got the ball rolling with the program, with the Cavaliers making their first NCAA Tournament appearance under coach Brian O'Conner that season. Then you were on the next three Virginia teams that made the tournament. How fun has it been to watch the program's evolution under O'Conner, who has led them to the NCAAs every year since and to the College World Series in 2009, 2011 and 2014?
Guyer - "It doesn't surprise me at all. When I went down there to visit, I was thinking about UVA and a couple other schools, and they were all kind of even. But in meeting the coaching staff and hearing the way they coach and they want their players to play, I knew that was the place I wanted to be.
"It really does not surprise me one bit that they are a perennial Omaha contender. They constantly work hard, they get after it, and the coaching staff instills fundamentals in you, and to do the little things to help the team win. They stress the whole team game - and you know it can be very individual at some points - but they stress playing as a team, and that attracts players there. I think what they have established there now is really a testament to the coaching staff and the work they put in. And I'm so happy to see how they're doing, and I'm cheering for them."
Mag - You are in-and-out of the lineup with the Rays the past couple years platooning with other outfielders, this year generally starting when the other team is throwing a left-handed pitcher. How hard is that in preparing yourself and staying ready to play?
Guyer - "Last year was my first year really having that role. You come up your whole life and you're used to playing every day in college and in the minor leagues, and you come up to this level and you'e not playing every day. So you've kind of got to find a new routine, you've got to see what works. Last year, early on, I really didn't have a routine, so I didn't know how to deal with this role. I found myself doing too much, whether during the game or in pregame. Just taking too many swings and getting tired.
"It's definitely a challenge, because you want to be out there every day, but really just want to do what you can to help the team win. So the first five innings of the game you're there just cheering your team on, and then in the fifth inning we'll usually go up to the cage and get stretched and ready, and have an eye on their bullpen to see if they're warming up any lefties, and just get ready from that standpoint. And when there's a lefty starting, I'm usually batting leadoff or somewhere near the top of the order this year, so I can have the same routine as I used to have when I was starting when going to the field.
"As hard as it is, I'm very grateful to be in the big leagues. Obviously, I want to be an everyday player, but at the end of the day, I'm just trying to make the best of every opportunity I have. And if that's just playing against lefties and every now and then playing against righties, you know, so be it and I'm going to make the most of it. I'm just going to go out there and grind and do what I can to help the team win."
Mag - You have been primarily a middle-of-the-order hitter for most of your career. What kind of adjustment has it been for you hitting leadoff like you have been this year?
Guyer - "I never really led off that much in high school or college. I did a little in the minor leagues, but not too much. For me, my approach isn't that much different. I'm usually an aggressive hitter, and obviously as a leadoff hitter, you just want to try and get on base. My approach is, I don't care how I get on base, by hit or walk or whatever. Realistically, I might just leadoff that one time that game, I might not leadoff again the rest of the game. So it's not too much different. Wherever the coach puts me in that lineup, I'm just happy to be in it.
Mag - What has been your favorite experience as a big leaguer?
Guyer - "There's been a lot, but I would have to say Game No. 162 back in 2011. We were playing the Yankees in the last game of the season, and at the same time the Red Sox were playing the Orioles. The Orioles had just beaten the Red Sox a couple minutes prior, and we're in extra innings with the Yankees and Evan Longoria had just hit a walkoff home run to put us into the playoffs. And it all happened within a 10 or 15 minutes stretch. Just being a part of that, playing in that game, being a part of that atmosphere at Tropicana Field and to make the playoffs and have a champagne party in the big leagues is definitely something I'll never forget."
Mag - Your wife, Lindsay, had a busy schedule as well with her career locally as a reporter with Fox5 before having your daughter, Riley, in December and now moving down to St. Petersburg to be with you during the season. How were the two of you able to manage your two careers while your were dating and then after initially being married?
Guyer - "Ever since I was drafted back in '07 - we had started dating a couple months before that - we were long-distance for the past seven years. We've been married for just about four years now, and you know, it was definitely challenging at times. In the minor leagues coming up, she would try to fly down whenever she had off-days and get a couple trips in a month, maybe. So it definitely was a challenge, but I think the one thing was I was always busy with baseball, she was always busy with her job and career, so it made it a little easier. We had been talking about it for years, that whenver we did start a family, we're going to live together. We were blessed to have a child this offseason, and it was a tough decision for her because she loves her job and what she does, but we're going to be together as a family. So she's down here and she's definitely planning on working during the offseason when she gets home and try to do some freelancing or something along those lines. But we're happy living together, it's defiintely better than having a long-distance relationship."
Mag - You were a two-sport standout in high school, and have had an excellent career despite not solely focusing on baseball until college, splitting your attention between baseball and football. Can that be a lesson to these young players an parents nowadays, who feel year-round is the only way to commit to a sport, at times even before their 10th birthday?
Guyer - "Yeah, I hope that my career so far could be an example for some kids and their parents. I think that the young kids who are playing year-round, I think they can get a little burnt out and can kind of lose interest because there's so much baseball going on. For me, luckily, my dad never forced a sport on me. It was more, 'Do what you want to do'. So I gravitated towards baseball, I started playing football in high school, I played soccer when I was younger, and played a lot of basketball. And I think playing all those sports, and the different intricacies of each sport help develop your athleticism. And I really think that it helps you not get sick of playing that one sport. When my kids grow up, I'm going to want them to play whatever sports they want, and I will not force them to play something year-round. I just don't think that helps them in the long run, I really don't."
Mag - What advice would you have to a young player with aspirations to reach the levels of the game that you have?
Guyer - "I would just say to have fun, enjoy what you're doing. Even for me at times coming up through the minors, and even in college and now, if things aren't going good and you're not playing as well as you can, if you find yourself not having fun and playing the game like you did in Little League, then you're just not going to perform the way you can. I've found that the looser I am, the more fun I'm having and the more I'm smiling out on the field, it definitely helps you to be relaxed and play the game the way it should be played. So just go out and have fun, and everything will take care of itself."
Photos Courtesy of Associated Press and Tampa Bay Rays
