Brandon Watson is currently a centerfielder in the Washington Nationals’ AAA organization. Prior to his professional career, he starred at Westchester High School where made the All-City and All-State first team as a senior in 1999.

Over the last three seasons, he has appeared in 40 games for the Cincinnati Reds and the Nationals. This past season, he set an International League record by hitting in 43 consecutive games with the Nationals’ AAA affiliate, the Columbus Clippers.

In his own words, he shares his thoughts on the World Series, his friendship with Boston Red Sox centerfielder Coco Crisp, and the lack of Blacks in the game today.

I think it’s definitely a World Series that nobody really saw coming in the beginning of the year. The Rockies are definitely a hot team coming down the stretch and the Red Sox are a complete team with pitching, bullpen and nice bats to win it all. (I guess we’ll just have to see what happens.)

Its unbelievable what the Rockies have done over the stretch run and into the playoffs. What scares me about them is (I feel bad) that they have to wait nine days at this time in the season. I think if they played right away, it might be a different series.

Baseball is a tough sport to take that many days off in a row. You can practice all you want but it’s not like a real game. They had a nine-day layoff compared to Boston only having three days.

Another thing about Boston is they have a great attitude about baseball and play the way it should be played. They play hard, leave everything on the field and don’t worry about what happens because in baseball, you cant put too much pressure on yourself. You have to go out and play the game every day and every night. That’s what the Red Sox do as a team and they’ve been successful doing that.

Coco is a great guy. He’s one of my good friends and we played Little League ball together. He’s been the same way my whole life; he’s a hard worker and one of the best out there right now.

I have friends on both teams but I’m rooting for Coco because we come from the same place and we’ve been through pretty much the same things and I’d love to see one of my good friends win a World Series.

As far the lack of Blacks in the game today, I feel like all we can do is keep playing and try to get to inner city kids more into baseball. (Ed. Note: besides Crisp, Rockies’ relief pitcher LaTroy Hawkins is the only other African-American in the World Series). I started playing Little League when I was five and young people don’t play baseball like they used to. That is what the game is missing right now: young Black talent

The Black athletes today need to step up and do what they can to help other Black athletes get in the game. But it is tough because basketball and football intrigue a lot of our athletes because they see everybody running and jumping and baseball is a more laid back and relaxing game. It all depends on how much you love and how much you’re around it at an early age.

My prediction for the World Series is Boston in five. I think the layoff will be too long for the Rockies to overcome but we’ll see what happens.

Published in : Sports, Baseball