Living In Wags World
There is no hitter in the SAL as hot as RiverDogs first baseman Brandon Wagner is right now. This second-half has faired well for the young New Jersey native as his last ten game average sits just a bit below .500 with a .447 (17/38). He has also homered in
There is no hitter in the SAL as hot as RiverDogs first baseman
Wagner grew up in New Jersey and attended Immaculata High School in Somerset. He initially saw action at third base, first base and outfield into the start of his professional career, which began after a short stint at Howard Junior College in Texas. Following his senior season at Immaculata, he had an offer to go to the Phillies in the 39th round but no other teams expressed interest so he elected to attend JUCO instead. "It was just the Phillies out of high school. I was a late guy so I thought I might as well go to school and see if I have a better option" said Wagner.
Wagner had a monster season in his sophomore year at Howard, much improved over his first, hitting 22 homers with a .435 average and 80 RBI. Baseball America ranked him 45th in Texas and 438th in the nation. "I just started swinging the bat more. I was always looking for a certain pitch and my coach came up to me at the beginning of my second year and just said "swing the bat." so I just said "alright," and started finding barrel and just started swinging the bat more."
After the improved season at Howard, Wagner was ready for the draft. He didn't have much time during the season to go check out other schools to continue collegiate play with so that's when he decided it was time to advance into the professionals. "I felt pretty confident that a team was going to give me a chance, it was just a matter of when. I really wanted to play pro ball after that year. I felt like I was ready; I was a bit more mature. I was pretty confident." Initially
The Yankees came knocking in 2015 and Wagner heard his name called in the 6th round. "I was hanging out with my friend from JUCO and was playing golf the day before and stayed at his house the night before. I was just laying low that day and was anxious and didn't want to think about it too much. [When I got the call,] I was in shock. The opportunity to play in professional baseball was incredible because I never had many colleges looking at me out of high school and then it was kind of a shock of the reality of pro ball."
Wagner was drafted as a second baseman out of Howard but was asked to play all the infield positions except shortstop starting in spring training. In high school, he was primarily a third baseman but it wasn't until his first season in the GCL in 2016 that he was asked to play first base. RiverDogs current manager Patrick Osborn was Wagner's coach in Staten Island, his first season in 2015 and asked him to return to third base that year. Having Osborn as a coach really helped Wagner as the two reunited this season in Charleston "Oz is the man. Every day he's the same guy that shows up with a smile on his face, gets everybody going. He's a great manager. He's got a lot of trust in everybody. He had a lot of trust to come up to me when I'm struggling and know what to say. He really trusts everybody."
2016 was a bounce around season for Wagner. He was asked to play first base, second base, third base and outfield in the GCL. After finding his groove at first, he played all of his time with Pulaski at that spot. "I just wanted to crack the lineup, just wanted to play. And then I struggled a little bit. During Extended Spring Training I was trying to figure some stuff out defensively and was bouncing between
second and third and then towards the end they asked "Can you play left field?" and I was like "Yeah, I can play left field. And then right as the GCL started they asked "Can you play first base?" and I was like "Yeah I can play first base" and I stuck there and feel pretty confident there now."
2017 began Wagner's first full professional season. 140 games were on the schedule which marked a long a grueling season, demanding commitment from the young New Jersey native. Just like other young players, Wagner knew the pace of the game was much different so he spent time making sure he was well prepared "So this offseason, I put in a lot of time pretty much every day, starting pretty early. Starting late September, I started going to work. I hit a bunch, did a bunch of defensive stuff, worked out a lot, lost some weight. I wanted to really be in full-season shape when I experienced the full season. Having the full offseason to prepare for first base for the first time was a big focus. Doing stuff around the bag, footwork is a little bit different. The double play is a little different, the throws, and just getting used to being involved in almost every play that's hit on the ground."
So far 2017 has been a break out season for Wagner and by far his best. He ranks seventh among qualifying batters in the SAL with a .300 average which has sky rocketed since the All-Star break. His six homers rank third among the RiverDogs. He has helped power Charleston to a team leading offense with an overall .268 team average.