From C-Team to Cincinnati: The meteoric rise of Brendin Oliver

the lineup card: Season 2; vol 6

In the not-so-distant past, right-handed pitcher Brendin Oliver was placed on the C-team at Mooresville High School, a step below JV. He sported a lanky build, zero experience competing on the national level, threw no harder than 78 mph and appeared in fewer than 10 games as a freshman.

Considering how stacked the talent pool already was in the state of Indiana, the odds of Oliver attracting Division I looks, let alone starting in Varsity a year later, appeared slim. Even Oliver was unsure if his baseball dreams would ever come to fruition, yet he stuck with it anyway.

“Obviously, the coaches are telling me something if I was put on the C-team,” Oliver said over the phone. The now 6-foot-4 starter said he held no grudges against the coaching staff for holding him back from tougher competition. “It was just telling me that I needed to work on my craft – get bigger, faster, stronger, throw harder. So I took the words that they weren’t saying, but the words that they were applying and just used that as motivation.”

Oliver grew up pitching for multiple local travel teams. His father, Justin, never played but raised him on the philosophy that it did not matter how hard he threw if he could not throw strikes. Even though his dad never played, this advice helped him keep the game simple and focus on his mechanics. He believed that one day, the velocity would catch up, but it would not appear overnight. It would take more work than he was used to putting in.

The skinny right-hander turned to one of his two older brothers, Caden, who played catcher through junior college and wore the same uniform number 23 growing up. They were attached at the hip, hitting the weight room at 7-8 o’clock every night for late-night squats, bench presses and accessory lifts. Brendin also developed a tight-knit relationship with the strength coaches at his school, who guided him through power cleans, reverse lunges, work with dumbbells and barbells. In total, he worked out twice a day, every day. 

Oliver’s eating habits also changed dramatically, transitioning from two or three meals a day to four or five. After describing himself as a “vacuum” around food, he shouted out his mother, Maria, for playing a big part in his growth by going to the store every week and preparing extra healthy meals for him. Not only did his family help him off the field, but also on the field. He joined a local team called the Indiana Braves, coached by Caden.

“He did not go easy on me,” Oliver asserted. “Every mistake that I had made or every pitch that I had missed, he was pretty hard on me.”

The tough love worked. By next spring, Oliver had put on between 40 and 60 pounds of muscle and his fastball jumped from 78 mph to touching 90 mph.

“I didn’t expect it to happen that quick”

Oliver was promoted to the JV team when he returned for his sophomore spring with a brand new blazing fastball. He was given the ball in the first game of the season, notching eight strikeouts in three perfect innings. His coaches pulled him off the field, instantly declaring that he would never touch a JV mound again.

Six days later, Oliver made his varsity debut, striking out six across 2.1 scoreless frames against Decatur Central. Three days after that, Oliver made his first varsity start on the road against Carmel. It was no warmer than 45 degrees out and it was sleeting, but he persevered and got the win. The next morning, his highlights were posted online by Baseball Factory, a platform with 125,000 Instagram followers and over 44,000 on Twitter. That next night, he was on a phone call with TCU’s recruiting coordinator.

“I was like, ‘What do I do? Like, what do we talk about?’ and it all hit me at once,” Oliver recalled. “I mean, I was talking to Purdue. IU gave me a phone call. It was crazy. I wasn’t really panicking, but I was also anxious because as soon as it started, it just didn’t stop.”

The moment kept getting bigger and bigger each day. By the end of the month, Oliver was tabbed as the starting pitcher against Franklin Community High School, which boasted one of the best lineups in the state, headlined by 2023 third-overall draft pick Max Clark.

Oliver remembered hearing people hyping up his opponent throughout the school day, which did not sit right with him. He put in his AirPods and threw on some of his favorite hype music to stay locked in: $uicideboy$, Drake and Lil Baby. By game time, he knew he wanted to go right at Clark. He attacked him with a first-pitch fastball down in the zone but left it a little too far over the plate.

Home run.

In hindsight, Oliver admits that was not the best idea, but with PBR Indiana in attendance covering the game – how he responded mattered. The rising sophomore wound up pitching four innings, and he did not allow another run. Mooresville won in extra innings, 3-2.

Oliver’s impressive start to the year caught the attention of Canes Midwest head coach Rick Stiner, who first noticed the way he competed in the poor weather conditions at Carmel. Stiner contacted Oliver’s high school coach, who described the chance to play with the Canes as a “once in a lifetime” opportunity. He talked to his parents about it, and then accepted. After competing against familiar faces his entire life, Oliver could finally see how he stacked up against the best in the nation.

The competition was night and day from his experience locally, according to Oliver. Here, any missed pitch would be punished the same way Clark showed him in their first meeting. With the margin for error being much smaller, Oliver had to turn up his focus on every single pitch. He bought into a new competitive mindset, too.

“Every time I stepped on the mound, it was always, ‘OK, who is in the box? Are you better than them?’ 99.9% of the time, it was always, ‘Yes, I’m better than this kid. Let’s get them out. Don’t stop until the game’s done or I get pulled,’” Oliver said. “I really had to enforce that mentality on myself going through that year because of the amount of attention I was getting. But I did keep my head down and I grinded that year, so it was really hard, but I got through it.”

Oliver’s stock continued to rise that summer as he traveled around the country – Georgia, Alabama, Florida, you name it. By the time he reached the 2022 WWBA in the fall, the hype appeared to die down a bit. He was selected by 5 Star National Team head coach Jerry “Panda” Cowan to throw some innings at “Golf Cart Wonderland” in front of countless college and pro scouts. Oliver had two strong outings, including throwing 2.1 hitless innings against the Puerto Rico Scout Team, which grabbed the attention of The University of Cincinnati.

Previous Bearcats assistant coach JD Heilmann invited Oliver for an unofficial visit. As soon as he stepped foot on campus, it felt like home. He fell in love with the beautiful scenery, the top-notch facilities and was offered a scholarship. By mid-November, he committed to go to school there.

2023

Once Oliver’s junior season began, everything had come together. He was a Division I commit, had adjusted to the national attention, and even got another crack at Max Clark.

Nearly a year to the day of their first matchup, the future Cincinnati Bearcat earned the start on the road at Franklin Community High School. Per usual, the stands were jam-packed with both fans and scouts – their eyes glued to the eventual Detroit Tigers prospect.

Clark popped out during his first at-bat, sent an outside breaking pitch up the middle for a single with two strikes in his second trip to the plate, and drew a walk in his third plate appearance. Oliver impressed the rest of the way, striking out 10 batters across 6.1 innings and holding their lineup to three hits in a 7-5 victory. He was credited with three earned runs and the win. Oliver finished his junior season with a 7-2 record, 2.71 ERA and 69 strikeouts in 49 innings pitched.

Everything was going according to plan. That was until the end of May, when Cincinnati Bearcats head coach Scott Googins resigned in the wake of multiple assistants being fired for failing to report an NCAA violation related to sports gambling. A new coaching staff took over, which understandably brought a predicament for Oliver.

If they don’t like me, then what? 

Oliver reached out to Coach Stiner and Coach Cowan for advice. They told him to have faith in his abilities and that he would be fine, even if he was forced to reopen his recruitment. This helped ease his anxiety about the situation quite a bit, but he also turned to one other reliable resource to keep him calm – music.

Unless it is game time, those who try to grab the Mooresville ace’s attention will more than likely encounter him with his AirPods in. This is not him trying to be antisocial or rude but instead a way to mask his Tinnitus, a constant ringing sound in the ears which has been bothering him since third or fourth grade. He began turning to music more heavily to drown out the ringing during his freshman year, and it has become a huge part of his life, even when he sleeps. According to his yearly Spotify Wrapped data, Oliver listened to over 286,000 minutes, equivalent to 198 days worth of music in 2023. That placed him in the top 0.05% of listeners on the streaming service.

“Music was my first love,” Oliver often tells people. He credits his parents for always playing lots of songs in the car and even the living room growing up. As he powered through the summer, the music kept the right-hander in the right headspace, whether he needed to calm himself down or hype himself up. Whenever the new Cincinnati coaching staff showed up to watch him at his games, he showed out, and in the end, head coach Jordan Bischel honored his scholarship. 

With the weight lifted off his shoulders, Oliver returned to the biggest national stage at the 2023 WWBA this fall with Cowan’s newly-formed Chicago Cubs Scout Team. He felt no need to worry about all the scouts looking on behind the backstop. This time around, it was all about having fun with his friends and enjoying the chance to compete against the best in the nation. His performance and personality drew strong reviews.

“Brendin is a highly projectable arm and has the body type to play at the highest level,” Cowan proclaimed. “He has a toughness to his approach, a passion for the game, and he’s a bulldog on the mound. One of my favorites.”

Focused on the future

As Oliver approaches his final high school season this spring, his goals are very simple.

“Go out and dominate. Point blank period. We have no reason or excuse to not win a state title,” Oliver asserted. The Pioneers have over 10 seniors including the No. 6 ranked player in Indiana behind the plate, Hogan Denny, making them one of the favorites to run the table. “That’s my expectation and there’s nothing short of that. I will do my part as best as possible. I don’t really like to put numbers on anything for like stat goals, I’m just gonna go out, be the best pitcher I can be, and hope everyone holds me accountable and holds themselves accountable.”

If there is any personal goal or stat that he would like to improve, it would be to cut down on the walks. He allowed 25 free passes last year and he understands how important command will be at the next level. Oliver throws a 4-seam fastball with arm-side run, a curve that he can throw for strikes and a putaway slider. He is also developing a circle-change.

At the beginning of December, Oliver spent the weekend at the University of Cincinnati for his official visit along with the rest of the 2024 recruiting class. Minus a few that he had already played with or against, this was the first time he met most of his future teammates. They bonded instantly.

The 2024 recruits met with the coaching staff, did a photoshoot and then after dinner, went down to the baseball field together to play 5v5 two-hand touch football. Tayler Sheriff, the Director of Pitching Development at UC, served as the automatic quarterback for both teams. The next day, the team had brunch and went to the basketball game against FGCU together, which resulted in a blowout victory for the Bearcats.

At one point, Coach Bischel pulled Oliver aside to thank him for staying committed. Oliver returned the favor, thanking Bischel for honoring his scholarship, which meant the world to the Cincinatti signee. He quickly fell in love with the new high-energy coaching staff and all that they stand for. The visit answered any questions Oliver still had about what the next four years will look like for his team.

“There was a lot of gray area, I guess you could say, with how we would feel each other out as a team. Like, are we going to are we going to be able to talk? Are we going to be able to communicate? This weekend really put all that to bed,” Oliver stated. “This group of guys, I love every one of them. I have a lot of expectations for this team over the next few years. We’re going to be dawgs, we’re going to compete, and I think we’re going to shock a lot of people by winning a lot of games.”

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