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| Brandon Crawford |
UCLA coaches and athletes will be on hand throughout the year to answer your questions in our "Ask the Bruins" Q&A sessions.
This week's featured guest is UCLA baseball player Brandon Crawford. Crawford, from Pleasanton, Calif., is the Bruins' freshman shortstop and leadoff hitter. No. 8 is one of the team leaders in batting average, hits, runs, triples, and stolen bases, while providing UCLA with a variety of dazzling defensive plays up the middle. Each time Crawford steps to the plate at Jackie Robinson Stadium, the song "Keep Their Heads Ringing" is played, so throw your best question to find out what is in the head of the Bruin shortstop.
Submit your questions below by Tuesday, Mar. 14 and check back on Wednesday, Mar. 15 to see if your question was answered.
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| Irvine, CA: What is it like playing for Savage and UCLA? |
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Brandon Crawford: It is great playing for Coach Savage because he is a great recruiter and is rebuilding the UCLA baseball program. The coaches are all motivated to make us better, and being a part of an up-and-coming team is fun and exciting. |
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| Mankato, MN: Brandon, Does it take a little time getting used to all the traveling that you guys do ? Take care. Gary Noren |
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Brandon Crawford: Traveling can take a lot out of us, especially the really long trips. But as players, our team deals with it and works hard at getting past that and playing our best each and every game. |
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| Ross (Sherman Oaks): Do you think it is more difficult to go into a proven winning program and try to keep the "bar" high, or go into a school like UCLA, that is rebuilding with lots of life? I, for one, didn't expect you guys to sweep NC State or play your SoCal rivals very close. So is it easier when people don't expect much out of you, or when you go in as the favorites? |
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Brandon Crawford: I kind of like being in the role of the underdog because people don't really expect much from you, but then we play UCLA baseball and surprise some higher-ranked teams. Once we started doing that, we now know that we can play with those teams and that we are right up there with the best teams in the nation. |
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| Fort Bragg, NC: My Son and I were at the series in Raleigh against NC State. You nearly hit for the Cycle, did you change your approach, or begin to think about it when you realized you had a chance? Baker, Brian SGT. US ARMY |
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Brandon Crawford: No, I stayed with the same approach while at the plate. My main focus was to hit the gaps and get on base. When I'm at the plate, I try not to change my approach no matter what the situation is. If I have a job to do, like get a man over, I will try to do that. But, in all honesty, the fact that I did have a chance to hit for a cycle did cross my mind. It would have been nice to get it, but going 4-for-4 is still cool. |
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| Jack (San Francisco): What do u prefer to be the better part of California? Northern or Southern? |
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Brandon Crawford: Since I have lived in Northern California my whole life, I have to go with NorCal. But getting used to Southern California is pretty nice too. Although I love Northern California, the weather is a lot better down in the Southern part of the Golden State. |
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| Matthew (Northridge,CA) 10 yrs old: What was you favorite sport when you were 10 years old? Did you practice a lot? |
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Brandon Crawford: When I was 10 years old, my favorite sport was baseball. I also played basketball and soccer, but baseball was No. 1 in my book. I tried to practice as much as I could with my dad, after the homework was done of course. |
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| Bear (LA): I heard the reason you're growing your hair is because you want to grow dreads. |
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Brandon Crawford: I have allowed my hair to grow out because it is something I usually do during the baseball season. Although this summer I intend to grow my hair out long enough to sport some corn rolls. |
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| Steph (NorCal): Besides playing baseball, what is the best part about attending UCLA? I just got accepted and want to learn more about the school. |
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Brandon Crawford: The best part about being here at UCLA is meeting a lot of new people and making new friends. UCLA has a great college environment and is the perfect combination of academics, athletics and location, which was a main reason why I chose to come to school here. |
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| Logan (Palos Verdes): Hey Brandon. What team are you most looking forward to playing this season? Also, are you friends with any players on opposing PAC-10 teams? |
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Brandon Crawford: I can't wait to play Stanford because I grew up watching those teams. I used to live near there, and getting some wins against them will be a lot of fun. I am also looking forward to playing California because we are heading up to Berkeley for that series. A lot of my family and friends from home will come and see me play, which I am really excited for. Obviously, the USC series is huge every year and that will be a lot of fun. I actually do know a lot of other players in the Pac-10 Conference on different teams. Jason Castro from Stanford, Brett Wallace at Arizona State, Tyson Ross and Michael Bugary at Cal, and Mike Colla at Arizona all played on the summer team NorCal the last couple of years with me. It will be fun competing against them all. |
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| Eli (SF): Is it hard juggling both school and college baseball? |
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Brandon Crawford: I think it is tough to juggle them both, but there are a lot of people here at UCLA who work to help you succeed at both. Our coaches always make sure that things are going well both on and off the field, and the counselors always make sure we are on top of things in the classroom. Our teachers also do their best to work around our busy schedules. It does get hard at times, but it is manageable with hard work. |
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| J.J. (oakland): What is your favorite baseball team? Who is your favorite player? |
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Brandon Crawford: My favorite baseball team is the San Francisco Giants. They have been my favorite team since I was born, basically. My favorite player, however, is Alex Rodriguez. He has been my favorite player since he came up with the Seattle Mariners. I like how he plays the game, and he is an unbelievable player. |
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| Megan (Danville): Would you rather bat .400 or have a 1.000 fielding percentage? Why? |
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Brandon Crawford: Wow, that's a tough question. Personally, as a shortstop, I would rather take the 1.000 fielding percentage. At my position, there are so many plays during the season that being perfect in the field would greatly benefit my team, and is something that never happens in baseball. I wouldn't mind batting .400 though. |
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| Ricky (Cypress): Do you have any individual goals or personal goals that you want to reach this season? |
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Brandon Crawford: I would really like to win the Pac-10 Championship, but if not win it, I would like our team to do really well in the conference and make it to Regionals. Individually, I would like to hit above .300 on the season, get on base as much as I can to help the team, and keep my fielding percentage in the .900s. |
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| Gordie Throne (San Jose, CA): how difficult is the adjustment from playing at the high school level and jumping to the college level where you are playing some of the best players and teams in the country day in and day out? |
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Brandon Crawford: I think playing this past summer in the Northwoods League helped me out the most in adjusting to the speed of the game in collegiate baseball in comparison to high school ball. That league is an all-college player league so I got to see what the competition level is against college players. Myself, Andy Suiter, Robert Dickmann, and Austin Yount from Stanford were the only incoming freshmen in the whole league. As for playing against the best players in the country, that is definitely true. I try to take the game one pitch at a time, and one at bat at a time. |
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| Ed Smith, Waterboro, ME: Will you be playing in for the Mankato Moon Dogs again this summer, or in the Cape Cod League? Tell your dad I said Hello ( I talked with you and him in Cooperstown last summer) Keep up the good work. |
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Brandon Crawford: I will play for the Mankato Moondogs again in the Northwoods League. I enjoy playing up there in Minnesota, using wood bats, and playing in the great atmosphere up there. It is similar to a minor league deal, where you are traveling and playing a lot of games in the short amount of time. |
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| Lincoln (Long Beach): Do you have a favorite Bruin outside of the baseball team? |
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Brandon Crawford: My favorite Bruin athlete is Michael Roll on the men's basketball team. He's one of the toughest athletes here at UCLA, probably in the Pac-10 Conference, if not the entire country. |
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| Marcus (pleasanton): what's the best advice a teammate or coach has ever given you? |
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Brandon Crawford: The best advice I have received is from Coach Brian Green. He always tells me to take one pitch at a time. That is something I try to do to slow the game down, and get past the mistakes that can happen in the game. |
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| Matt (Ann Arbor): Favorite all time mascot? (excluding the bruin of course.) |
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Brandon Crawford: My favorite mascot is Lou Seal, the San Francisco Giants mascot. I don't know why, I just love the Giants, and since he is the mascot of the Giants, I got of go with him. |
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