One-Time St. John's Wing Amir Garrett Gives Up Hoops to Focus on Baseball | Zagsblog
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Adam Zagoria covers basketball at all levels. He is the author of two books and an award-winning journalist whose articles have appeared in ESPN The Magazine, SLAM, Sheridan Hoops, Sports Illustrated, Basketball Times and in newspapers nationwide.
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Thursday / March 28.
  • One-Time St. John’s Wing Amir Garrett Gives Up Hoops to Focus on Baseball

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    Amir GarrettBy JOSH NEWMAN
    Special to ZAGSBLOG

    Instead of pursing his basketball career at Cal State-Northridge, former St. John’s wing Amir Garrett will instead concentrate on baseball, he announced on Twitter Thursday.

    As a sophomore at St. John’s in 2012-13, the Los Angeles native and former Findlay Prep star averaged 5.4 points and 4.3 rebounds for head coach Steve Lavin. His transfer to the Matadors was expected to help speed up the rebuilding process for second-year head coach Reggie Theus.

    Garrett, a hard-throwing, left-handed pitcher, is currently having a strong summer for the Low-A Dayton Dragons in the Cincinnati Reds organization. His 6-6 record and 3.41 ERA helped fuel this decision.

    Garrett was part of a big Class of 2011 recruiting haul for Lavin, which included Norvel Pelle, JaKarr Sampson, Mo Harkless, D’Angelo Harrison and Sir’Dominic Pointer. 

    In Sept. 2011, Garrett, Sampson and Pelle were all ruled ineligible by the NCAA due to academic reasons. Garrett was cleared for the second semester of the 2011-12 season, Sampson went on to be named 2013 Big East Rookie of the Year after one more year at Brewster (N.H.) Academy and Pelle never made it to the Queens campus, or any other college campus for that matter.

    Harkless was 2012 Big East Rookie of the Year and left after one season for the NBA Draft, while Harrison and Pointer will be seniors for the Red Storm this fall.

    Garrett played baseball at previous high schools, but Findlay Prep does not have a baseball team. The Reds made him a 22nd-round after his father set up a training session for Major League scouts in May 2011. He signed with the Reds, complete with a $1 million signing bonus and permission to continue his basketball career.

    MLBPipeline.com currently lists Garrett as one of the top 20 prospects in the Reds’ farm system. 

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