Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

Two-sport athlete Amir Garrett balances basketball and baseball at St. John’s

AmirGarrett

After being drafted in the 22nd round of this past year’s Major League baseball draft, Amir Garrett had a decision to make: baseball or basketball?

The 6-6, 208-pound forward gained eligibility for the second semester to play for St. John’s in the 2011-12 season, averaging 7.4 points and four rebounds in his freshman season.

But now he will be headed to the baseball diamond to begin his career in the Cincinnati Reds’ farm system.

Garrett hadn’t pitched in a live game in over a year when he pitched in front of major league scouts last spring, but was clocked throwing a 95-mile-hour fastball.

Not bad at all.

As a New York Times article by Zach Schonbrun points out, the most time he has gotten on a diamond recently has been with an intramural softball team at St. John’s.

“Everybody asks me which sport I like more,” Garrett told the New York Times. “I can’t really pick between the two right now. They’re both the same. I love them both.”

We have seen other two-sport athletes before, though baseball/basketball combinations have been more rare.Chicago Bulls star Michael Jordan famously tried a career in baseball in the 1990s, before returning to the court.

Read the entire New York Times profile on Garrett here.

Daniel Martin is a writer and editor at JohnnyJungle.com, covering St. John’s. You can find him on Twitter:@DanielJMartin_