Baseball player shows determination in first seven games
Mesa Legend
Determined, outgoing, and prankster are three things that describe Mesa Community College baseball player Brady Bate. Born in Provo, Utah, Bate has a father, John, mother, Andrea, a brother, Zack, a sister, Jordyn, and a dog, Hank. “The reason I choose to come to Mesa Community College was because of the baseball program. I was looking at going to a school in California but had a friend call and talk to me about Arizona schools so I called Alex Gudac, who I had played against and also with in Utah, and talked to him about playing and how he liked it,” Bate said. “After talking with Alex and the coaches I knew this is where I wanted to play.”
Currently Bate is a business major with the goal of playing baseball, finishing up his business degree, getting married and having a family of his own. According to Bate education is a must in life, “you do see a lot of successful people out in the world that do not have degrees but it is getting harder and harder to find a job without that certificate,” Bate said. “If you want to be successful in life, get a good education.”
Photo by Tania Ritko
Bate has set some goals for himself this season such as finishing his degree and moving on to a Division I school after that. “In balancing schoolwork and baseball I try to make sure that I do not procrastinate with my homework,” Bate said. “I found that if I do it right off instead of waiting to for the deadline it is much easier.” Bate would like to give this advice to all MCC students, “Keep working to make yourself better at everything you do. It does not matter if it is with school, work or sports. Always work hard and put in the extra effort, in the end it will pay off.”
In Bate’s life so far the biggest accomplishment he has had was taking baseball from the high school level to college level. There are a lot of good athletes out there and only so many make it to that next level. According to Bate “some people may say that that we (college athletes) are here just to play the sports, but in reality we want to further our education too.” Bate said that one role model he looked up to is Derek Jeter. “The guy played ball in a period where steroids were big, athletes were doing stupid things but there was Derek out working harder to make himself better,” Bate said. Bate said that if he could compete in any other sport other than base ball, he would choose to play basketball.
“Many people would assume that the thing that sticks out about MCC baseball is the World Series Championship last year but something else should. To me the friendship between everyone on the team should stick out. We do so much good away from the ball field and everyone would do anything for anyone at any given moment,” Bate said. “You build a bond and your teammates become like your family. A lot of us are away from our families going to school so it’s just nice to know that these guys are my family”.
If Bate could live anywhere he would live in Alaska because of the wildlife and outdoors. The problem he sees with Alaska is that it is not a baseball friendly place to live. “In my free time I like anything that gets me outdoors; such as duck hunting, fishing, snowboarding, camping, four wheeling, hiking, et cetera,” Bate said. Looking from the outside one might not realize that Bate loves a good country concert.
If someone wanted to join MCC baseball I would tell them: “It is not easy at all; It’s completely different than high school, coach works us very hard every day, but that is expected if you want to play as a team. Also, you would be expected to look and behave like baseball players. If you are looking to better yourself as a person and as a ball player then MCC is the place to come,” Bate said. “You come out a better person on the field as well as off the field when you leave MCC baseball.”
