It's all in the hat for Wildcats' Barnett

BY MIKE HOUSER

Nevada Appeal Sports Writer

When it comes to baseball, it's all old hat for Western Nevada College sophomore right fielder Brian Barnett. Just take a look at what's left of that blue-gray-brown rag on his dome.

Barnett's cover is so nasty that a pit bull would think twice before chewing it.

"It's nice to have a hat that's worn in," Barnett says of his lived-in ball cap, now in its second year soaking up dust and sweat and burnt rubber from John L. Harvey Field. "It's probably the worst one on the team. If (Wildcats infielder) Travis (Feiner) hadn't changed his, he'd have the worst. He sweats a lot."

Though he professes to have no recollection of his Little League lids, Barnett acknowledges he put the boots to his high school headgear as well.

"At McQueen, it was pretty gross, too," Barnett says with another smile. "As a senior I wore it for two years."

HOME BOY

Barnett's WNC cap should make it through the rest of the season, but unless the Major Leagues come calling, Barnett's Nevada cap had better be ready for a torturous two-year trial.

Though he fielded offers from Arizona State, Oregon State and New Mexico, Barnett, who was named the Region XVIII Player of the Year his freshman season, ultimately elected to stay in Northern Nevada by signing with the Wolf Pack.

"It was a big thing to me, coming here and staying close to my family," says Barnett, who enjoys chukar hunting and fishing for cutthroat at Pyramid Lake. "I wanted to stay here. I like playing here. I've always played here. It was the best option for me, personally. You can't beat the Pac-10 playing-wise, but for me this was the best option."

And home he'll stay. That is, of course, unless his phone rings with the right offer to go pro.

"When it comes to the big leagues, it's anywhere," Barnett says.

POWER MAN

Ah, the big leagues. The mythologized destination for every kid who puts on some cleats and picks up a baseball. But, according to Wildcats hitting coach Aaron Demosthenes (who is also an assistant scout for the Colorado Rockies), the majors may someday be a reality for the sweet-swinging Barnett.

"Absolutely, in my opinion," Demosthenes says. "He's already a prospect. An assistant with the Rockies has shown some interest. Some other teams are following him. He's the best hitter I've seen come out of the area since Chris Aguila. He's that level of a player."

Aguila, also a McQueen grad, hit a state-record 29 homers in 1997 and went on to play parts of three seasons for the Florida Marlins (2004-06). He also played for the New York Mets in 2008 before signing with the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks of the Nippon Professional League.

Although the Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association (NIAA) has yet to include him in its record book (assistant director Donnie Nelson said Wednesday would look into it), Barnett put up some terrific numbers for the Lancers.

Barnett's 222 RBI would be a state record (Bishop Gorman's Jeff Malm is currently first, with 186) and his 58 career homers would trail only Galena's Steven Lerud, who hit 60. Lerud is now on the Pittsburgh Pirates' 40-man roster.

As a senior, Barnett was named First-Team All-State, batting .465. His 23 homers in 2007 would be good enough to rank second behind Aguila's 29 and his 72 RBI would be second behind Malm, who drove in 73 in 2008.

BRINGING THE WOOD...FOR NOW

Barnnett, who batted .364 last season, wasted no time bopping his way into the record books for the Wildcats and the Scenic West Athletic Conference, hitting a team-record 11 dingers last year, including a SWAC record nine.

How significant was Barnett's power game? Consider these factors: Barnett is getting these kind of numbers with a wood bat (the SWAC changed from aluminum to wood in 2003); and the next closest team had nine homers combined in conference. (The Wildcats had a record 21.)

If Barnett, who is still recovering from surgery to remove a broken hamate bone in his left, non-throwing hand, can stay healthy, his power should be able to translate well when he goes back to aluminum for the Pack.

"No doubt. He'll hit a heck of a lot of home runs for Nevada," Demosthenes says. "He'll hit in the high teens, if not 20. That's a pretty safe guess. He has a tremendous amount of power. He's very, very strong. Coming out of McQueen, he was a weightlifting champion. He has strength and quickness. Toward the end of last season, he added plate discipline. He wasn't chasing bad pitches. He was getting his pitch. They were throwing him a lot of off-speed stuff. He's in the middle of the order, so they were pitching around him. He has power and an excellent average."

STILL ON THE HUNT

Chasing birds in the High Desert and running away from defenders as a quarterback for the McQueen Machine evidently paid dividends for Barnett, who was second on the team with 14 steals (on 18 attempts).

"I came in out of football and tried to maintain my speed," explains Barnett, a wildlife biology major (he hopes to become a game warden). "If you're on base and can steal bags, you get noticed. It's fun to steal. I've never done that."

Another thing Barnett hadn't done was play right field (he was a shortstop at McQueen). After posting an .848 fielding percentage last year, Barnett is looking to raise his game defensively.

"I'm getting used to it," he says. "I didn't do as good as I wanted to. It's a learning process. I feel way more comfortable."

"He's still relatively new at playing outfield," says Wildcats head coach D.J. Whittemore. "I'm looking for him to continue getting good reads and jumps on the baseball and developing his arm strength."

Asked what he enjoyed most about Barnett, Whittemore is clear and concise: "Seeing him at the plate with guys in scoring position," he says. "If he can't do it, nobody can."

The goal-driven Barnett wants to win Player of the Year again ("I'm going to work my butt off to do it again," he says), become the second SWAC player to be All-Conference two years straight and go to and win the JUCO World Series, among other things.

In the meantime, the process takes precedence over the objective.

"(USC-bound pitcher) Logan Odom told me that when I come to practice every day, it's all baseball," Barnett says when he's asked to cite one of his favorite quotes by his teammates. "He says I don't like to mess around, I go right to work and I put all my attention to it. I think that's a great compliment."

All of which is undoubtedly better than having someone say, "Hey, bro. Nice hat."