Brant Colamarino

Brant Stephen Colamarino

• Bats Left, Throws Left
• Height 5' 10", Weight 205-221 lb.
• School University of Pittsburgh
• High School Central Catholic High School (Pittsburgh)

• Born December 4, 1980 in Pittsburgh, PA USA

BR Minors page

Biographical Information

Brant Colamarino was an Oakland Athletics farmhand who peaked at AA.

Colamarino hit .337/?/.568 for the University of Pittsburgh in 2001. In 2002, he smacked a Big East Conference-leading 19 homers and batted .384/?/.802. He made the All-Conference Team at first base. The junior slugger finished 8th in NCAA Division I in slugging percentage, right ahead of Brad Eldred. He tied Joe Lydic's single-season home run record at Pitt and broke his run record by scoring 58.

However, due to his build - shorter and heavier than the typical player - few teams showed significant interest in him. The Athletics, in the "Moneyball draft" of 2002, looked instead at his production and took him in the 7th round, one round after they snatched Brian Stavisky. A's assistant GM Paul DePodesta said that Colamarino "might be the best hitter in the country." He was signed by scout Tom Clark and made his pro debut that summer.

The former Pitt star was assigned to the Vancouver Canadians and hit .259/.348/.382 in 67 games. His coaches scoffed at his build according to Moneyball, saying Colamarino had "titties". In 2003, Brant batted .259/.350/.426 for the Kane County Cougars with 19 homers, 80 RBI and 101 strikeouts.

In 2004, Colamarino tore it up for the Modesto Athletics with a .355/.450/.601 line in 50 games. Promoted to the Midland RockHounds, he batted .272/.331/.434 in 78 games. The next year, he split time between Midland (.321/.377/.594 in 46 games) and the Sacramento RiverCats (.243/.297/.436 in 74 games). Overall, he hit 21 homers and drove in 92.

Back with Midland again in 2006, the 25-year-old first baseman put up a .285/.364/.491 line with 35 doubles, 8 triples, 17 home runs, 91 RBI and 109 strikeouts. In 2007, Brant played for Midland once more, hitting .241/.319/.377 in a disappointing campaign. He joined Sacramento for the playoffs and hit a 2-run homer in the Bricktown Showdown. The Syracuse Chiefs picked Colamarino in the Triple-A phase of the 2007 Rule V Draft. However, he failed to make the team the next season, and that was the end of his career. Like many of the Moneyball players - Jeremy Brown comes to mind -, Colamarino did have some success in the minor leagues, particularly in showing power (91 homers in 6 seasons) and on-base skills (.350), but his lack of athletic ability hampered his development and, as traditional scouts had predicted, he failed to reach the major leagues in the end.

Sources include 2002-2007 Baseball Almanacs, Hardball Times article, Pitt News article