Finally getting his chance, Stanford’s Beau Branton becomes a ‘phenomenon’
As a freshman at Stanford, Beau Branton started 28 games at four different positions. The past two years, though, he mostly rode the bench.
At 5-foot-7, the shortest player on the team, he finally got a chance to play regularly because of an injury to second baseman Duke Kinamon. Even after Kinamon’s injury, it took Branton a few weeks to start.
To say that life is good for him now would be an understatement. He’s hitting .347 with a .432 on-base percentage as the leadoff man for the No. 2 team in the country.
The Cardinal (34-6) have won 11 of their past 12 and are tied with No. 8 UCLA atop the Pac-12 standings with a 14-4 record going into a series at Utah that starts Friday.