By RICHIE HALL
The baseball career of Garrett Christman has been a series of goals achieved, both team-wise and personally.
Win a state championship with Noblesville High School? Check. Be a four-year starter at Butler University? Check. Help the Bulldogs to winning seasons and a Big East tournament appearance? Check.
Now Christman is a college graduate and will soon be checking off another major accomplishment: Playing baseball professionally, as he signed a free agent contract to join the San Francisco Giants organization last week as a pitcher.
Speaking by phone from Arizona on Saturday, Christman said that he had been contacted by the Giants a few days prior.
“I signed two days ago and they had contacted me five days prior to that,” said Christman. “They called and had offered me the contract. Gave me some details as far as the next step, which is coming down to Arizona, go through the typical physical and medical checks that every player goes through before you’re officially allowed to sign.”
Christman was not an unknown quantity to the Giants. In fact, the organization had drafted him right after he graduated from NHS in 2014. But Christman and his family decided his best option was to go to college and improve his game, and also pursue his degree in Human Movement Health Science Education – “it’s like kinesiology, exercise science, that type of deal,” he said.
The decision to go to Butler was a wise one. Not only did Christman improve as a player, he also helped the Bulldogs program to greater success. Butler finished last season 34-20, and made a first-ever trip to the Big East tournament. Christman was one of six seniors on a Butler team that trended decidedly young, but the older players led the way: The top four hitters for the Bulldogs this past year were seniors, including Christman, who had the third-best hitting average at .310. He led Butler in runs batted in with 48 and totaled 61 hits for the season.
“For me personally, being a four-year starter was a goal of mine and I was able to accomplish that,” said Christman. “I was able to pitch and hit as a two-way guy. My senior year, we were the first team in Butler history to go to the Big East tournament. We had a few losing seasons before I had arrived at Butler and we turned the program around and had winning records.”
As a pitcher, Christman had four wins and totaled 48 strikeouts with a 3.47 earned-run average. When he wasn’t on the mound, he played third base mainly, but also played shortstop a couple years early in his career. Christman noted that it’s rare to see players pitch and hit in college.
“The more athletic you can be, the better,” said Christman.
Anything to help the team, which is something Noblesville coach Justin Keever (himself a Butler graduate) remembers from Christman’s high school days.
“Garrett was such a pleasure to coach,” said Keever. “He was a team-first guy who went about his preparation in such a professional manner.”
Keever said that not only was Christman one of the Millers’ best players, he was the team’s hardest worker “with an exceptional amount of humility.”
“One of my favorite stories about Garrett is: He was taking a recruiting trip to a Division I school in state and we had assumed he would not be at our strength training session that day after school,” said Keever. “But Garrett cut his visit short to come back and be with his teammates in the weight room.”
As Christman went through playing college baseball, he did get stronger. He also got the chance to play in summer leagues, which took him to places such as Wisconsin and New Hampshire. Christman appreciated the opportunity, saying he “was able to play against really stiff competition and really good players across the country,” which in turn helped him to develop his game and get him ready for the pros.
Now he’s there. Christman is presently in Scottsdale, Ariz., where the first order of business was to get a physical. He noted that check-ups for professional athletes are more in-depth then those for high school or college athletes.
“They’re investing money in a player, so they want to make sure a player’s healthy and they’re not going to be wasting money on an injured player,” said Christman.
Once that was done, Christman began working out and getting into pitching shape – “trying to get my arm up to par with what I was a couple weeks ago when I was pitching competitively in college,” he said. Christman said he was waiting for his assignment and would “know shortly” where that would be.
Christman will follow a typical path for most rookie players. The first step on the ladder to the major league is the Rookie League, and the Giants’ team at the level is the AZL Giants. The team plays its games in the Arizona League in Scottsdale.
“It’s a very beautiful area,” said Christman. “The weather takes some getting used to.” The average high temperature for Scottsdale in July is a sultry 105 degrees, but humidity is rarely a factor due to the city’s desert climate.
“Warm weather’s always great for baseball,” said Christman.
Wherever he begins his pro baseball career, Christman will have many fans in Noblesville, probably none more than Keever.
“He never took any days off,” said Keever. “Everything he did, he attacked at a high level. Such a testament to his parents and him. It is with little surprise that he was a state champion and had a marvelous career at Butler. Garrett is an easy guy to root for.”
Noblesville and Butler University star Garrett Christman signed a free agent contract with the San Francisco Giants organization on Thursday. Christman is in Scottsdale, Ariz., preparing for his professional debut. (Photo provided)