By normal baseball standards, Brett Wallace made a quick run through the minor leagues.
How he got there is an entirely different story. After finishing his career at ASU, Wallace had no idea where his professional baseball career was about to take him.
Three different trades and three different organizations, all in a matter of two years, something that doesn’t normally happen to a top prospect.
“It has been pretty wild,” Wallace said. “Being traded so many times early in your career is not something that you can plan for, but it eventually got me here.”
Wallace was drafted in the first round of the 2008 Major League Baseball draft by the St. Louis Cardinals. Wallace finished the season with ASU, signed with the Cardinals and was assigned to Single-A Quad Cities.
Wallace tore up the Midwestern League, hitting .327 with five home runs in only 41 games played. The Cardinals then promoted him to Double-A Springfield, where Wallace continued to hit the ball well, batting .367 with three home runs in only 13 games.
That was where the journey started to get unique.
Wallace started 2009 back in Springfield and continued playing well, earning a promotion to Triple-A Memphis. It seemed only a matter of time before he donned the Cardinal red in the big leagues.
Then on July 24, 2009, the Cardinals acquired outfielder Matt Holliday from the Oakland Athletics in exchange for three prospects, including Wallace.
The Athletics assigned Wallace to Triple-A Sacramento, where he finished out the season hitting .302 with nine home runs.
With Oakland struggling and desperate for young talent, it looked again like Wallace had found an organization that could use his talents. The Toronto Blue Jays were looking to deal ace Roy Halladay and they eventually negotiated a three-team deal in December 2009 that sent Halladay to Philadelphia in return for prospects, one of whom was later traded to Oakland for Wallace.
In less than four months, Wallace was a member of three different organizations and it wasn’t over yet.
Wallace had his best season for the Blue Jays Triple-A affiliate Las Vegas, hitting .301 with 18 home runs and 61 RBI in just 95 games.
There was talk that Wallace was soon to be called up, but that would have been too easy. The Blue Jays jumped in on a three-team deal that sent Houston Astros pitcher Roy Oswalt to Philadelphia and Wallace to Houston.
While the third trade came out of the blue, Wallace appears to have found a home in Houston.
The Astros recalled him from the minor leagues just a day after acquiring him to take just-traded Lance Berkman’s spot at first base.
Nonetheless, it was a long and winding road to the big leagues for Wallace.
“It is never easy (getting traded),” Wallace said. “The first time you get traded is definitely a shock, but at the end of the day, every team that acquired me had a plan for me. You want to play for teams that believe in you and have plans for you and I think they all did.”
The Astros certainly believe in Wallace. Houston manager Brad Mills was quick to point out that while he has traveled many miles to get there, Wallace got to the big leagues fast.
“It was just a situation where he went from organization to organization just because the organization he was with made some trades,” Mills said. “That’s all. That’s how the game is.”
Wallace won two Pac-10 Player of the Year Awards while at ASU and took the Pac-10 Triple Crown in 2007 and 2008. He credits his time in Tempe for helping him get to the big leagues.
“It made me the player that I am today,” Wallace said of his time at ASU. “Playing for [former ASU baseball coach Pat Murphy] and [current coach Tim Esmay], both those guys did a lot for me and helped me grow as a player. All my teammates pushed me, and playing against the top competition in the world is what you want to do.”
Wallace has struggled at the plate at times since being called up to the big leagues. Entering play on Wednesday, he was hitting just .202.
While the results numbers-wise haven’t been there, Mills knows it will come.
“His aptitude for the game has been outstanding,” Mills said. “He has played outstanding first base, as well. He is making some adjustments at the plate and we are seeing that as we continue to go on, with the more at bats he gets.”
It doesn’t help that he stepped into a position of greatness in the Houston organization. Since 1991, only Jeff Bagwell and Berkman have manned first base for the Astros on a full-time basis.
Helping Wallace fill those big shoes is Bagwell, who is currently the Astros hitting coach.
“We are starting to see some improvement,” Bagwell said. “I’m sure he would tell you that he hasn’t done as well as he would have wanted to so far, he is making improvements. He is a good kid and he is working at it.”
Like Wallace, Bagwell was traded before he reached the big leagues. He knows full well that it doesn’t matter where you start, but where you settle in.
“Look at the guys that he has been traded for,” Bagwell said. “It not like he has been traded for chopped meat. He’s been traded for a bunch of really fine players. As long as somebody wants you, that’s all that matters.”
Working with Bagwell has already started to pay off. Wallace had his first career three hit game on August 30th and belted his first career home run against Chicago on Tuesday.
“He has obviously experienced everything that I am going to go through and he has done it at such a high level that anything he has to say is going to help me,” Wallace said of Bagwell. “It is a lot of fun working with him and he has helped me a lot so far.”
The Astros have been one of baseball’s hottest teams in the second half. Since Wallace arrived in Houston, the team is 20-13.
“We are playing with so much energy right now,” Wallace said. “We have so many young guys that are really meshing together and playing well.”
With a team that is winning and having a good time doing it, Wallace finally feels settled in one place.
Now he can concentrate on playing basebal.
“[I want to] just get comfortable and have fun, while getting to know the guys,” Wallace said. “To let my ability shine and not worry about results and numbers and just have fun.”
Reach the reporter at andrew.gruman@asu.edu
