Independent Leagues: An Interview with Donald Brandt of the St. Paul Saints

It is very tough in the Independent Leagues to make a name for yourself. However, if you go 15-0 and win the Pitcher of the Year award, it’s pretty difficult to stay under the radar. If 15-0 wasn’t good enough, Donald Brandt is the author of a win streak that went on for three seasons and culminated with 19 consecutive Indy wins. 

Mr. Brandt, currently a member of the St. Paul Saints of the American Association, was gracious enough to grant an interview to The GM’s Perspective to discuss “the streak”, his time with the Milwaukee Brewers and the journey of a true professional. 

Devon Teeple—I am unfamiliar with how your high school career went, were you highly recruited during your junior and senior seasons? 

Donald Brandt—I didn’t start pitching until my junior year because we had so many upperclassmen, so I pretty much played first base for the varsity team during my freshman and sophomore year.

My junior year is when I started to get noticed. I went 11-2, I want to say, and that’s when I got letters from schools on the west coast and from the Notre Dame’s etc...I actually committed pretty early to Santa Clara University. It was local, wanted to stick close to home and be close to my family.

My senior year I actually went 13-0 and got section player of the year. I had 11 home runs and hit .420. Coincidentally, I beat out Daniel Descalso (now a member of the St. Louis Cardinals) and all these other guys who are now in the big leagues. 

DT—I have been following you since you came up with Maui of the Golden Baseball League when you finished with a 15-0 record (that still blows my mind), but between 2008 and 2010, the most wins you had in any season (college or pro) was six. When you were signed by the Milwaukee Brewers before your stint with Maui, what did they teach you that resulted in such a drastic change? 

DB—I had arm surgery my freshman year and was very inconsistent mechanically. My first year in pro ball with Yuma I worked with Mike Esposito, who pitched with the Colorado Rockies for a bit. He broke down my mechanics, made it very simple, and that’s when it first started clicking for me.

The next few years was trying to become consistent on the mound. When I signed with Chico, that’s when my velocity increased and got signed by the Brewers. I signed near the All-Star Break and only had the second half of the year with them. But I didn’t learn too much more mechanically. I was just trying to do the best I could and prove that I did belong there.

The club was always saying that “next spring we are going to work with you”, which made me think, great, they have long term plans for me. I went back with them in the spring and gave up something like one hit in two or three outings and they ended up giving me the speech about how “this is a numbers game and all that”.

I left the Brewers and fortunately hooked up with Maui and worked with Brendan Sagara, who is now with Winnipeg. He really knows what he’s doing with pitchers. He’s seen a lot of guys and he really broke it down for me. This was the first time since my time with Esposito where I worked each day with him and bullpens weren’t just getting up throwing, it was actually working on stuff. Obviously the results showed, and I was really consistent. 

DT—I really hope I didn’t jinx anything when I wrote those articles about your 19 consecutive Independent victories? 

DB—No, no, I actually thought I was due for that. 

DT—A couple of days after that, I couldn’t believe an actual “L” showed up in one of your decisions. 

DB—Yeah, I caught the last day of a two week road trip and it just wasn’t there. 

DT—Now that you’re in the American Association, do you see any huge differences between the level of talent between your opposition now and what you faced last year in the GBL?

DB—I’ve been asked that a lot this year because the Golden League didn’t get much credit. After everything that happened, I was shocked I wasn’t signed last year, it was a little frustrating. A lot of people talked down on the league, but to be honest, I think there were more dangerous hitters in that league than this league.

I’ll say this, in the AA, one through nine is really competitive. In the GBL, two through five was like, "these guys are gonna hit the ball 600 feet". Their seven, eight, nine weren’t close to the seven, eight, nine hitters here. The AA, up and down the lineup, can drop in a single at any time, while the GBL hitters are looking for the long ball. Currently, it is a lot more competitive, and a more variety of teams. 

DT—I had my stint in the independent leagues (2 months), obviously nothing compared to you, but what is the difference between this caliber of player and the Derek Jeters and A-Rods that we see? What is the difference between making it and struggling down in the minors? 

DB—With this game, it could be something so minuscule, just a tiny hole in some guys swing or not being consistent. Those guys do it every day. That’s just flat out impressive that they can perform at that high level on a consistent basis day-in and day-out. Although they do go through slumps, it’s really nothing they can’t fix. 

These guys here in this league, they obviously have the talent, and when they get hot, it’s scary. For example, this year (Jonathan) Van Every is on our team (he played for the Boston Red Sox last year), at one point he was on fire and had about eight home runs in three or four games. It was just insane.

These guys struggle a little bit more to get out of slumps or strike out a few more times. And then it’s also really political. You have to be one of their guys to get up there and stay there. 

DT—Any thoughts or words of advice for anyone that goes unsigned after college or has to take the Independent route? 

DB—I was ready to cash it in and starting to look for jobs, but when it really comes down to it, you have to love the game and if you do, you can’t give up because if you quit you don’t want to look back two or three years down the road and regret it.

If you want it, definitely work at it. There are tons of these Independent Leagues that give great opportunities to a number of people. I would just say if you have contacts, like college coaches, they always know people. Baseball is a small community, so everybody kind of knows everybody. Opportunities are out there for kids that are unsigned that want to pursue this.

For those interested in following Donald Brandt and the St. Paul Saints, click here.