Photo by Hunter Franklin ’19| Coach Josh Garcia stands in front his plans for practice.

By José Acuña ’20

THE ROUNDUP

Mr. Josh Garcia ’07 graduated from Brophy and first began to play baseball at the age of three

This year, he returns as Brophy varsity baseball in his first season as head coach.

“I played a variety of sports while growing up but it was always baseball that stuck with me,” Mr. Garcia said.

Mr. Garcia has had a long baseball career where he played baseball for South Mountain Community College and went on to play for the University of Arizona. “Both my coaches at South Mountain and at University of Arizona have formed who I am today,” Mr. Garcia said.

“I have to give credit to Todd Eastin who was my junior college baseball coach at South Mountain Community College,” Mr. Garcia said. He really put coaching into my head, and I liked his program and how he ran it,”

Mr. Garcia learned how to deal with his own players from Andy Lopez, the baseball coach at the University of Arizona.

“Andy Lopez, my coach at the University of Arizona, walked with me and taught me a lot about coaching and how to deal with players,” Mr. Garcia said.

As head coach, Mr. Garcia emphasizes working on smaller fundamentals while still focusing on mental toughness. During the fall, Brophy baseball focuses on strength and conditioning and getting in practice before the season.

“We train the hardest in all of Arizona and [we] do it because of him,” said Brophy varsity catcher Connor Park ’18 when asked about being coached by Mr. Garcia. “In terms of attitude, he comes each day with an intensity that it’s easy to see that he cares about the program.”

“The opponents we play are not as skilled as us, and if we can add some mental toughness, that’ll make us even tougher to beat,” Mr. Garcia said.

“Our goals this year are to get Brophy back on the map in terms of baseball. We had nine wins last year and this year I’m excited for a group that has embraced me since my arrival,” Mr. Garcia said.

Mr. Garcia wants to surpass last year’s win count of nine and ultimately make Brophy the team to beat.

“Mr. Garcia is always the first one to practice and always the last man of the field,” Connor Park ’18 said. “He focuses on our maturity as men and learning to take responsibility of our own lives.”

Park said that Mr. Garcia is constantly working out with the team because of his selfless attitude and his philosophy of staying in shape.

Mr. Garcia is always seen lifting weights before school every school day. Rarely is there a day when he isn’t downstairs working out in the Dutch at 7 a.m.