Aaron Bray was the 27th round draft pick for the Astros in last June's amateur draft. He was also the winner of the Astros County Adopt-a-Player contest. Each week, Aaron will write a column for Astros County detailing his off-season. Check the sidebar for archives.
Astro fans,
Hope all is well this week. I had a nice relaxing weekend, I am going to go to the Carolina Panthers game today. Hopefully they can win and get back to .500. I'm excited about being able to watch the ALCS tonight, I hope LAA gives the Yanks a run for their money. I hope all of you have a great week.
(Ed Note: Rough day, huh? Carolina lost to the Bills, and the Angels...well.)
Who was your favorite player growing up, and who do you pattern your game after today?
Growing up I was a huge Nomar Garciaparra fan. I got to see him play when he was in the minors and I followed him ever since. When I was younger I collected all his cards, I just liked the way he played the game.
As for modeling my game after anyone I guess it's a mixture. I like going on YouTube and watching Manny Ramirez swing. He is one of the best hitters in the game, so why not learn from the best? As for defense I played third and second at school, so I watched Cal Ripken Jr. and Orlando Hudson and Brandon Phillips. They are some of the best defensive players in the game. They all play the game hard, I just try to take a little but from everybody.
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
