Fall Preview: Brady Living Out His Husky Dreams
October 07, 2014 | Baseball
SEATTLE – Every day that KJ Brady takes the field at Husky Ballpark for fall practice, he is fulfilling a destiny that has been in his blood for quite some time. The freshman from Everett, Wash. has simultaneously started school and practice at the university he grew up rooting for and is finally wearing the jersey for the team he has already felt a part of for three years.
Baseball recruiting is a different beast than many of the other big-time college sports around the country. Football and basketball athletes tend to mull their college choices up until the last minute, but baseball players often make their decisions early in their high school development. Brady was no exception to this rule, and the decision was actually rather easy.
“It's always been my dream school to come here,” Brady said recently before practice. “I've always grown up a Husky. I committed pretty early after my sophomore year, so I've known for a while, but I've just been a Dawg for life.”
Brady often made the trip south from Everett to Montlake as a kid to catch Husky football or basketball games. KJ, which is short for Kevin, Jr., has memories of attending Husky sporting events all the way back to 2001.
“I think it was the Apple Cup and I remember it being a great game,” Brady vaguely recalled. “But you know I've always come to games.
"My parents now have season tickets. They used to go to three or four games a year, so I would always go to football games, and basketball games as well.”
Brady grew up playing football and basketball, along with baseball. He was a standout at all three sports, but eventually gravitated towards baseball. Brady quit playing basketball after his sophomore year and did not play football his senior year, but he still says that playing multiple sports – especially football – helped him maintain his edge in baseball.
“Football is good, but I feel like playing multiple sports is just good in general,” said Brady. “Football, is a pretty aggressive sport, and you kind of have to have that mindset in baseball, not necessarily go out and hit somebody, but just having the mindset at the place of being aggressive and attacking the ball and the field. It's using that aggression, just in a different way.”
Brady started for four years at Cascade in both the outfield and as a pitcher. He helped transform the Bruins into a state powerhouse. As a freshman, his team won just five games, but in his junior and senior seasons, the Bruins made back-to-back trip to the 4A state semifinals.
The left-handed Brady finished his senior year with an 8-1 record and a 1.54 earned-run average on the mound, and as an outfielder, he batted .418 with a .500 on base percentage, 30 runs scored, 19 RBI, three home runs, three triples and seven doubles. At Washington, he is expected to contribute to the team as an outfielder, but Brady is open to any role on the team.
“I'm just going to do my best and see what I can do and then (my role), that's up to Coach (Lindsay) Meggs,” said Brady. “Whatever he wants me to do; I'm willing to do anything. I'll pinch run, I'll come in late; I'll do anything.”
It's that kind of attitude that Brady that made Meggs really want him on his team.
“KJ is a gamer,” Meggs said of Brady on signing day last November. “Whether he's helping his team win games on the mound or he's leading off and playing center field, KJ makes you a better team.
“KJ is the guy who puts pressure on everyone. Opponents feel the pressure because he can get on base and he can run, and teammates feel the pressure because you have to elevate your game and your attitude to keep up. This guy will hit the ground running as soon as he gets here and I can't wait to watch him go.”
So far, Brady is soaking up everything at Washington. Whether its school or lessons on the field from his coaches and upperclassmen, he is approaching everything with his eyes wide-open.
“I'm just going to try and learn as much as I can in this first year from the older, more experienced guys,” he said. “I don't know what that means in terms of playing time or anything, but I'm going to get better at everything I do, whether that's get bigger, faster or stronger.”
He's also working at getting settled into school. Like all other freshmen on campus, Brady has an adjustment period to get used to.
“School so far has been good,” said Brady, who intends on majoring in business. "It's obviously different from high school. I'm in that transition; sometimes you have bigger classes, sometimes they're smaller. It's just a different setting with a bigger campus.
“I'm also getting used to living in a dorm away from home. You have a lot more freedom and you're a lot more independent I'd say on the school standpoint. You don't have parents telling you to do your homework and stuff like that. You just have to do it yourself.”
Luckily for Brady, he has proven very capable as being a do-it-yourself-type of personality. He balanced a high school career full of sports, while maintaining a 3.8 GPA. Now at Washington, he has the world at his fingertips, and top-notch facilities and world-class academic support to ensure he we succeed as a Husky.
“It's awesome,” Brady said of his new digs at Husky Ballpark. “I don't know how it could get better. Honestly, I don't know how a place can get any nicer than what we have here.”
Brady and his Husky teammates are currently in their third week of fall camp. Fall will culminate with the annual Purple and Gold World Series, which will take place Monday through Wednesday, Oct. 20-22 at Husky Ballpark.
