Brett Wallace has donned the garb before.
In fact, since he was about 4 years old, the dark green and golden yellow memorabilia of the Oakland Athletics has been a staple of the former star ASU baseball player’s wardrobe.
But the next time Wallace drapes an A’s jersey over his broad shoulders and fastens the fitted Oakland cap with the emblazoned “A” insignia on top of his head, it will mean something more. It will mean the fullest realization of a lifelong dream.
Wallace, who was the 13th overall selection by the St. Louis Cardinals in the 2008 Major League Baseball draft and spent the majority of this season with its Triple-A affiliate the Memphis Redbirds, was traded to Oakland on July 24 along with two other minor-league prospects in a deal that sent vaunted slugger Matt Holliday to St. Louis.
The transaction meant a homecoming for Wallace who grew up in Sonoma, Calif., just 45 minutes from Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum, the home of the A’s, where the former Sun Devil said he used to sometimes see two to three games a weekend as a youngster.
In a profession where being traded can lead to uneasiness and anxiety, Wallace’s move has brought familiarity.
“Growing up an Oakland fan and being from the Bay area, it’s a little surreal,” Wallace said by phone from Sacramento last week, where he is currently playing for Oakland’s Triple-A affiliate, the Sacramento River Cats — one step away from The Bigs. “When I found out [about the trade], I was pumped. … I just had to pack up, say goodbye [to my Memphis teammates] and leave.”
Wallace said his family was “really excited” by the news that he was on his way back to northern California to play ball, but his mother, Patricia, said those words equate to a hefty understatement.
“Not only his family and friends, but I think the entire town, was excited,” she said. “We’ve had people from all around, who have followed him since he was in Little League, who have shown up to watch him play. … It’s really exciting when you can share it with everybody who has seen him grow up.”
The Wallace family has been to every home game Brett has played with Sacramento since the trade, trekking some 70 miles up Interstate 80 to see the slugging third baseman take his rips.
For the former Pac-10 star, who twice won the conference Triple Crown, the mission hasn’t changed. Well-versed in the “taking it a day at a time” ballplayer mantra, Wallace insists that his daily routine consists of doing everything he can to focus on improving his skills.
But now, so close to becoming a part of the team he idolized growing up, he concedes the anticipation is, at times, hard to ignore.
“It can be tough when you look at the ultimate goal of becoming a big leaguer, and it’s so close,” Wallace said. “But the biggest thing is getting better every day and focusing on that. If I want to be a better third baseman or a better hitter, I just put the time in on that. … Before you know it, something good will happen. You’ll get called up.”
Oakland had its eye on Wallace long before it began trying to shop Holliday.
Billy Owens, director of player personnel for the A’s, said the organization has had a close watch on the infielder since his high school days.
“We’ve had a close proximity to Brett, being a northern California kid, and we were able to see him a lot at Arizona State” Owens said.
After a dominating career in Tempe, one that saw Wallace twice earn Pac-10 Player of the Year honors, he wasted no time showing his bat could translate to the professional level.
In his first partial season in the minors in 2008, Wallace hit .337 with 8 home runs and 36 RBIs in 54 games.
On May 3 of this season, he was promoted to Triple-A Memphis, putting him one step away from The Show just one year removed from his final college game.
Sans a brief struggle immediately after being moved up, Wallace has settled in and is batting .289 this season with 11 homers and 39 RBIs, including a .290 average in his eight games with Sacramento.
The production of the northern California native is no surprise to Owens.
“We’ve always been enamored with his bat,” the Oakland executive said. “Everything he’s done in college and as a pro has enhanced that.”
While Wallace’s bat has never been in question, there has been debate since he was drafted about whether he has the athleticism to be a big-league third baseman. Wallace insists that he can be an everyday player at the position, and his new organization said it isn’t putting too much stock into worrying if he’s right.
“You know, that’s like the $1 million question,” Owens said of whether Wallace will play third at the Major League level. “I don’t know why it’s such a debated issue. We’ve got a kid that was a two-time Pac-10 Triple Crown winner; ASU went to the World Series with him. He’s in Triple-A a year after getting drafted … [so] let’s let it play out.”
In addition to playing near where he grew up during the dog days of summer, next spring will give Wallace a chance to return to his second home.
The A’s spring training facility is just a mile from ASU’s Tempe campus where Wallace starred.
After travelling to Florida to watch Wallace play during spring training this season, Patricia Wallace said the family is looking forward to making a much shorter trip next spring.
“We are thrilled to go back to Arizona,” she said. “It holds great memories for us, obviously, so we are so excited to go to spring training there. We did Florida, and it was beautiful, but it wasn’t Arizona.”
The ballplayer Wallace has kept in touch with his former teammates and coaches since ending his Sun Devil career and tried to catch what he could of the team’s College World Series run in June.
In Sacramento, Wallace is playing with another former Sun Devil, Travis Buck, who had a stint with the big-league club this season before being sent down.
Now it is the goal of both to represent their school on the same Major League squad.
For Wallace, stepping into the batter’s box at the Coliseum, where he saw so many of favorites play on so many summer nights, will be, as he puts it, “unreal.”
“Just being able to have my family there, my friends, high school coaches and people who grew up watching me play … going out there and putting on that jersey will be pretty amazing,” he said.
Reach the reporter at
nkosmide@asu.edu
