April 30 — Garrett Baumann

Austin Crume visited with Clingstones starting pitcher and Atlanta Braves No. 11 prospect Garrett Baumann. 

Baumann discussed his first season at the Double-A level, his grandfather’s time in Columbus while stationed at Fort Benning, the pipeline from Hagerty High School to professional baseball, and his favorite set of alternate uniforms in the game.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Back on the Columbus Klingstones pregame show. I'm here with the number 12 prospect in the Braves organization, Garrett Bauman. Garrett, your first season in A. How are you liking it so far and and what do you think of Columbus?

SPEAKER_00 0:11

Yeah, Columbus has been a pretty cool area.

SPEAKER_01 0:21

So you said your mom lived here. When and what was she doing? And had you been here before that then?

SPEAKER_00 0:27

So I've never been here, but she uh she was here for like three years in elementary school. My uh my grandfather, her dad, um he was stationed in Fort Benning. So yeah.

SPEAKER_01 0:36

A lot of your time, obviously Oviedo, Florida, Haggerty High School. You must be aware of some of the big league guys that come out of there, Vaughn Grissom, Ryan Mount Castle, Zach Efflin. Did you realize that they were as much of a powerhouse as they were? All of them, by the way, drafted out of high school, did not go to the college round.

SPEAKER_00 0:54

Yeah, yeah. Um we have total probably like 15 guys totally drafted. Um, but yeah, I mean, I work out with those guys every offseason. Um, I've known Efflin actually since I was like 10 years old. Him and my brother, my older brother, he's 30, so him and Zach were like the same age. Um, and yeah, I've known him forever and been working out with Riley and Vaughn and Mounty for two or three years now.

SPEAKER_01 1:19

So Yeah, I mean, speaking of guys in the big leagues, yesterday in your start, a morning game, Hasan Kimmett shortstop behind you. How do you feel knowing you have a big league gold glover as one of your defensive stalwarts in your infield?

SPEAKER_00 1:30

Yeah, you feel pretty uh pretty comfortable if a ball is head towards him. So yeah, it's very nice having him here.

SPEAKER_01 1:35

Also, an 11 a.m. first pitch, as a normal guy, you know, if you're going at one on a Sunday or maybe later in the afternoon, how do you prepare yourself for such an early morning start?

SPEAKER_00 1:45

Yeah, a lot of coffee. Um it definitely took me a little bit to wake up. I was up at like 7 a.m. So um just get the body moving early, activate, and yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:56

So what's the go-to coffee order or at least combination of what you're normally doing?

SPEAKER_00 2:00

Um I actually used Owen Murphy's mocha pot. He left it in uh in our door in our room, so I just whipped that thing up, some Publix coffee. I don't know what it was, but yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:09

How how many cups are you normally going through on a start day compared to on an off day?

SPEAKER_00 2:13

I had I had two. I normally just have like one. I'm not a huge coffee guy, but I mean, if I need to wake up quick, then I'm gonna I'm gonna chug some coffee.

SPEAKER_01 2:20

So So on start days, more caffeine, try to get you all ramped up and good to go.

SPEAKER_00 2:25

Yeah, yeah, I'd say so. I mean, just like a cup of coffee. I'm not really big on like Red Bulls or anything. It's pretty much just like water, electrolytes, and then yeah, a little cup of coffee.

SPEAKER_01 2:34

So for just say an afternoon or a night game, does that mean you're doing coffee later in the afternoon or are you doing it still in the morning?

SPEAKER_00 2:42

Still in the morning. Um I feel like I'm you know awake by five, six, seven o'clock. So I feel like I don't need to wake up as much as like, you know, 11 a.m. game.

SPEAKER_01 2:52

So So when fans come and watch you, you you're a tall ready, six foot eight. Are you the tallest member in your family and where does your height come from?

SPEAKER_00 3:01

Yeah, um, I am the biggest in my family. Um I really don't know. My uh well it's kind of weird because my my grandfather, my dad's dad, he is like 5'11. Wow, and then my dad's six five, and then here I am, six eight, my brother's six two, my sister's six foot, she's pretty tall, but I don't know where I got this gigantinism from or whatever.

SPEAKER_01 3:24

Was there ever an idea in your mind that if you weren't a starting pitcher in baseball, you would be playing a different sport?

SPEAKER_00 3:32

Yeah, no. No, I love baseball. It's been awesome. I've been playing it since I was a little kid, you know.

SPEAKER_01 3:37

So was the idea always to be a starter, or was there one day you wanted to be a first baseman, a bigger body, and kind of feed into that part of your game?

SPEAKER_00 3:46

Yeah, um, I feel like I always threw pretty hard. So I always want to be a pitcher. I love competing on the mound. I just love pitching overall, so yeah, probably just being a pitcher.

SPEAKER_01 3:56

When you were a kid, when you're in your backyard, who were you imitating and and trying to be like when you were sitting out there on the mound?

SPEAKER_00 4:03

I loved I love David Ortiz, Big Poppy. He was like my favorite growing up. Um so when I was hitting it was him, and then on the mound, not really, not really anybody. I was kind of just going out there and just it was being me, you know. Always had confidence in myself.

SPEAKER_01 4:18

So you talk about that confidence. You go into double A for the first time. It's you know been a rocky start, getting used to that level. What do you tell yourself, whether it's a good outing or a bad outing, to stay in the moment and be present in what's going on?

SPEAKER_00 4:30

Yeah, yeah. I mean, definitely just reflect on the positives. Um that's all you can really take from it. See what you did good and just forget about you know what happened in the game and just move on from that.

SPEAKER_01 4:41

Last question. So we have the tie dye uniforms tonight in game number two. Have you gotten to see those yet? And if you haven't, what is the wildest or most unique jersey you've worn in your sports career? I have not seen them.

SPEAKER_00 4:56

Okay. Actually, I have not. Um the craziest uniforms though, probably the pimento cheese for Augusta. Those were they were sick, but it was it was different though, for sure. Because it was like a it's just like a jerse it was like a jersey on a jersey. It was I don't know how to describe it, but the hats were sick.