The chance for Brian Bannister to show he can be a major league starting pitcher in New York begins at tomorrow night in Queens. When spring began, he was an interesting prospect in the Mets organization. Among Yusmeiro Petit, Gaby Hernandez, and Philip Humber, Bannister was rated the lowest among them by Baseball America. By now you know the story, when spring training was over, Bannister had put together a dazzling 0.95 ERA in 19 innings and stolen a job that was all but assumed to be given to Aaron Heilman with Kris Benson and Jae Seo shipped elsewhere. Great performances in spring don't always lead to similar results in the regular season, but Bannister showed he had the mental toughness to grit his way through trouble. That is part of what led the Mets to believe he had what it takes to deal with the stress of a more pressurized situation in a packed major league ballpark.

Bannister recently added a change up to his repitoire of fastball, cutter, and curve. He began trying to learn from the master, Pedro Martinez, but after finding for him the two seam change didn't take enough speed off he settled upon using a four seam grip taught to him by Duaner Sanchez, the “other” guy in the Mets pen.

Who is Brian Bannister? Bannister is 25 years old. He is the son of former major-league pitcher Floyd Bannister. He was something of a phenom in high school. He was All-Region and All-City in 1997, 1998 and 1999.

He went on to play for USC where he posted ERA's
of 4.35 in ten games out of the bullpen in his freshman year and 2.80
in thirty-five relief appearances as a sophomore. He sat out 2002, due to elbow surgery. However, he returned in 2003 to play his
junior year which was also his first year as a starter. In eighteen
games (fourteen starts), Bannister compiled a 6-5 record with an ERA of
4.53.

He was a seventh round pick in 2003 by the Mets and assigned to the Mets single A Brooklyn Cyclones. He posted a 4-1 record with an ERA of 2.15 in twelve games (nine starts) with the Cyclones. In 2004, he was assigned to play for High-A St Lucie, and had a bit of a sophmore slump, earning a 5-7 record with a 4.24 ERA in twenty starts. Bannister was promoted to AA Binghamton despite his poor showing, where he had a 3-3 record and an ERA of 4.08 in eight starts. He began turning it around again in 2005 in Binghamton, where he posted a 9-4 record
with a 2.56 ERA in eighteen starts. This earned Bannister a promotion to AAA Norfolk, where he compiled a 4-1 with an ERA of 3.18 in eight starts.

Bannister is also a talented photographer. His work can be seen at Beauty and Sport He runs a photography studio, Loft 19, in Phoenix. Bannister graduated from USC with a degree in fine arts.

Quick Hit : Six degrees of separation connecting Franco to Deacon White, recorder of major league baseball's first-ever hit. That's right: Franco played with Tug McGraw, who played with Yogi Berra, who played with Bob Newsom, who played with Charley O'Leary, who played with Sam Thompson, who played with White — who, in 1871, inaugurated this league.