Cincinnati Reds: Getting to know Amir Garrett – the Basketball Player

Cincinnati Reds pitcher Amir Garrett became a familiar face in baseball in 2019, but let’s look into his history as we head into 2020.

Most people know Amir Garrett for being the lengthy, left-handed reliever of the Cincinnati Reds. However, many do not know or forget about Garrett’s time playing college basketball in the Big East.

Garrett bounced around during High School. Starting in Nevada, then he moved to California to inevitably move back to Nevada to finish high school.

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The Prep school Garrett went to in 2011 did not have a baseball team. Since he could not play baseball as much, Garrett dedicated himself to basketball. Becoming a 4-star basketball recruit, Garrett was ranked 68th nationally for that recruiting class, 21st amongst small forwards. He committed to St. John’s University.

The University of California, Berkley, University of Oregon, University of Kansas were all recruiting Garrett at the time as well.

He was known for being a hard-nosed defender and a tremendous athlete when on the court. He was an impressive finisher but needed to work on his shooting game.

Garrett was content with playing baseball, but being a fierce competitor made him want more

With the help of his father, Garrett organized and held a training session for MLB scouts. During that session, Garrett was throwing mid-nineties and caught the eyes of a few franchises.

In the 2011 MLB draft, the Cincinnati Reds drafted Amir Garrett in the 22nd round. He signed with the club, but it came with conditions.

His signing bonus was $1 million. He has permission to go play college basketball at St. John’s and the Reds were required to pay any of his educational fees.

Garrett’s career at St. John’s was good, but nothing too impressive. He was still eye-turning for a two-way athlete. After missing the beginning of his Freshman year because he was academically ineligible.

After becoming eligible, he appeared in 22 games for the 2011-2012 St. John’s Red Storm, averaging 7.4 points and 4 rebounds a game in 26 minutes per game.

In his sophomore season, his minutes went down, but he was still an effective player and he helped the team improve a lot. He appeared in 33 games and averaged 5.4 points and 4.3 rebounds a game.

He did all of this while pitching in the Reds’ minor league system.

After the season, he transferred from St. John’s to California State University, Northridge. He sat out his first season and then decided to leave college basketball and pursue his professional career at full force.

Garrett debuted in 2017 for the Reds and has had a solid career. He has been a little wild, but he is starting to become more consistent and reliable. He started off as a starting pitcher, then transitioned to the bullpen following his rookie year.

Garrett is beyond an intense competitor. He wants to win at all costs, which was shown by his brawl with the Pittsburgh Pirates last year. This was basically his claim to fame in MLB. Also, he had his best season, striking out 78 batters in just 56 innings over 69 games

The Reds look to continue to use Garrett in the pen and hopes he can continue to make a difference in the 60-game 2021 season.