Baseball has taken Brandyn Sittinger a lot of places, and now it’s taking him home.
After a year away from the sport, the Keystone grad and former Arizona Diamondback is returning to Lorain County to play for the Lake Erie Crushers.
Sittinger has lived in LaGrange his whole life and is thrilled for this opportunity to play in front of his family this time. He hasn’t had that luxury since playing collegiately at Ashland University.
“I’m excited,” Sittinger said. “I had a couple opportunities, but it was one of those things where we have twins that are 2 and another kid who’s 4 months old. I was weighing, do I go and play away from them for six months or do I play at home where I can be close to family and friends and they can actually see me play? They can experience that finally.”
The 2012 Lorain County Mr. Baseball winner played two seasons at Marshall University before transferring to Ashland. He went 11-0 on the mound for the Eagles in 2016 and was a 17th-round MLB Draft pick by the Detroit Tigers later that summer.
After multiple stops, including a Frontier League stint with the Evansville Otters in 2019, Sittinger eventually got his call-up to the big leagues in 2021 as a member of the Diamondbacks. His performance with the Otters helped him get there, and he’s hoping to do the same in 2025.
“(Crushers manager Jared Lemieux) is a great guy. He helped me out and talked to me a little bit,” Sittinger said. “He made it feel like a it was good, family environment. That made it a lot easier to make this decision. Going here, the whole goal is to getting signed again. He made a point for me to come here, have fun and try to win a championship. The idea is to bring a championship back to my hometown. It would be a cool experience.”
Sittinger made five appearances for the D-Backs at the tail end of the 2021 season and later signed a minor-league deal with the Atlanta Braves. He played for the Gwinnett Stripers (Triple-A) and Lancaster Barnstormers in 2022 and 2023 and later played for the Gigantes del Cibao of the Dominican Winter League.
Over his professional career, Sittinger has noticed a lot of change in baseball. The game is getting younger, and he has been doing everything he can to not get passed up at 30 years old. He still has a lot in the tank and has reinvented himself in the year off.
“Everybody’s throwing harder now,” Sittinger said. “They want the young guys, reach and replace. If you throw 100 (miles per hour), they bring you in. I had to retool everything to add a different pitch, get my (velocity) up a little bit. I took last year off to stay home and retool. I’ve had that little cup of coffee with a taste of the big leagues and it was great. It gave me that extra drive to give it another go and put myself in the best shape I can.”
At a career crossroads trying to return to the MLB, Sittinger will start his journey where it all began. Playing in Lorain County again will be different for him. But getting that chance brings him joy.
“It’s going to be a totally different experience than I’m used to,” Sittinger said. “Between the minor leagues with host families and looking for a house to live in when you’re in the higher levels, it’s going to be nice to play baseball, have fun and get to go home to my family and my bed every night.”
