Head coach

Brant Rustich

Youth
Tecolote Youth Baseball · Bay Park Piranhas · San Diego Stars · Encinitas Reds
High school
Grossmont HS, El Cajon
College
UCLA
Drafted
Twins · Indians · Mets
Pro
Mets, Rd 2, 2007
Honors
FSL Mid-Season All-Star, 2009
Profession
VP, Financial Advisor · Morgan Stanley

Brant grew up playing for his father, Craig Rustich, who coached at Tecolote Youth Baseball and started the Piranhas. He went on to Grossmont High School, where he was a two-way star, the 2003 CIF San Diego Section Player of the Year, and the No. 9 high school prospect in the nation.

He pitched four seasons at UCLA, where he earned Pac-10 Pitcher of the Week honors in 2005 and closed for the Bruins. Drafted three times, he signed with the New York Mets as a second-round pick in 2007 and pitched in their system through 2012, including a Florida State League Mid-Season All-Star selection with St. Lucie.

Off the field, Brant is a Vice President and Financial Advisor at Morgan Stanley, where he is a portfolio manager with The Rancho Santa Fe Group, overseeing $1.4 billion in client assets. The numbers side of the game runs through everything he does: he loves quantitative analytics and statistics, at work and through On Deck Analytics, the youth scouting and player development platform he runs.

Away from the office and the ballpark, he enjoys photography and golf. His son, Francis, wears No. 17 for the 2026 Piranhas, the third generation of the family in a Piranhas dugout. The Piranhas are the team Brant grew up on, now coached the way his father coached him.

Full playing history ↓

Coach’s playing history

From Tecolote to the pros

His baseball journey started on the same Tecolote fields where he coaches today, and ran through UCLA, a Cape Cod League title, and the New York Mets.

98MPH top fastball
.464Senior average, 13 HR at Grossmont
2005Cape Cod League champion
Rd 2Mets, 2007 draft

“The main person I go to for baseball advice has always been my father. He knows me better than anyone else and has coached me my entire life.”

Brant Rustich · Metsmerized Online, 2011

  1. 1990s

    Tecolote and the original Piranhas

    Starts at Tecolote Youth Baseball, playing alongside his older brother for their father, Craig Rustich, one of the league’s coaches. When Brant is 10, Craig starts the Bay Park Piranhas, one of the area’s first club travel teams, and coaches him there too.

    Tecolote Youth Baseball Bronco Yankees team photo from 1996, with Brant, his brother, and his dad labeled
    Bronco Yankees, Tecolote Youth Baseball, 1996.

  2. Travel ball

    San Diego Stars and Encinitas Reds

    Helps the San Diego Stars reach two AAU national championships. From 15 to 18 he plays for the Encinitas Reds and competes in two Connie Mack World Series. In the summer of 2002, swinging a wood bat, he wins both the West Coast Connie Mack Home Run Derby and the National Home Run Derby in Farmington, New Mexico.

  3. 2003

    Grossmont High: two-way star

    A standout on the mound and at the plate. As a senior he hits .464 with 13 home runs and 41 RBIs, and goes 8–1 with a 1.50 ERA. He is named CIF San Diego Section Player of the Year, ranks as the No. 9 high school prospect in the nation, and comes out of the Area Code Games rated No. 11.

    AVG
    .464
    HR
    13
    RBI
    41
    W-L
    8–1
    ERA
    1.50

    That February he wins the Duke Snider Home Run Derby in Fallbrook, accepts the $1,000 winner’s check from the Dodgers legend himself, and donates it to Grossmont. The Minnesota Twins draft him out of high school, but he turns down a signing bonus to play at UCLA.

    Brant in his Grossmont uniform with Duke Snider, holding the $1,000 Duke Snider Home Run Derby check made out to Grossmont High
    With Duke Snider after winning the home run derby, Feb. 15, 2003.

  4. College

    UCLA Bruins

    Joins UCLA as a two-way recruit, one of the few Bruins trusted both on the mound and at the plate. Pitches four seasons, closes for the Bruins, and is named Pac-10 Pitcher of the Week in 2005. In 2006 he meets his future wife, Erica, at UCLA.

    Brant pitching for UCLA in a white Bruins uniform, number 28
    On the mound for UCLA.
    UCLA baseball media guide cover featuring Brant Rustich, junior right-handed pitcher
    UCLA media guide cover, junior season.

  5. 2004

    Santa Barbara Foresters

    Pitching summer ball for the Foresters, his fastball is clocked at 97. In one start he throws a complete-game two-hitter against the Yuba-Sutter Gold Sox with eight strikeouts.

    “He really wanted that ball in the ninth inning. He was still popping the glove at 90.”Bill Pintard, Foresters manager · Appeal-Democrat

    Santa Barbara News-Press clipping headlined 2004 Foresters Season in Review: A Masterful Campaign, with a photo of Brant pitching
    That’s Brant on the mound in the Santa Barbara News-Press’s 2004 season review, July 31, 2004.

  6. 2005

    Cape Cod League champion

    Spends the summer with the Orleans Cardinals in the Cape Cod League, the premier amateur league in the country. In the East Division playoffs against a Chatham lineup with future big leaguers Evan Longoria, Todd Frazier and Chris Coghlan, he throws 5⅓ one-hit, scoreless innings in relief, striking out six, to win Game 2 and keep Orleans alive. He also pitches in the 13–1 title clincher over Bourne, the franchise’s 11th Cape League championship. Baseball America ranks him No. 14 among the league’s top pro prospects.

    2005 Orleans Cardinals
    SplitW-LERAIPHKBB
    Season2–01.7126⅓22245
    Playoffs1–00.006162
    Total3–01.3932⅓23307

    “He developed confidence and was throwing to the wood, and he was lights out.”Kelly Nicholson, Orleans manager · New York Post

    Cover of the 2015 Orleans Firebirds yearbook showing the 2005 Orleans Cardinals celebrating the Cape League title with the trophy
    The 2005 champions on the cover of Orleans’ 2015 yearbook.

  7. 2007

    Drafted by the Mets

    The New York Mets take him in the second round. In his pro debut, across Rookie ball and short-season A with the Brooklyn Cyclones, he posts a 1.57 ERA and a 0.52 WHIP, and right-handed hitters go 0-for-24 against him.

    “When he came in, he blew people away.”National League scout · New York Post

    Brant pitching for UCLA in a 2007 MLB Draft graphic with the Mets logo
    Taken in the second round out of UCLA.
    Brant in a Brooklyn Cyclones road uniform, number 16, holding a baseball
    Brooklyn Cyclones, 2007. Photo: Jason Cole.

  8. Fall 2007

    Hawaii Winter Baseball

    Pitches for the Waikiki BeachBoys in Hawaii Winter Baseball, the winter league where Major League Baseball sent its top prospects.

    Harold Williams, Michael McKenry, Daniel Murphy and Brant Rustich wearing leis on a field in Hawaii
    With fellow prospects in Hawaii, 2007. From left: Harold Williams, Michael McKenry, Daniel Murphy and Brant.

  9. 2008

    Big-league camp

    Earns an invitation to Mets major league spring training. He is ranked the No. 4 prospect in the Mets system and Baseball America’s No. 2 pitching prospect in the organization, and the Mets rate his fastball and slider the best in their system.

    New York Mets portrait of Brant holding a baseball
    New York Mets portrait.

  10. 2009

    Florida State League All-Star

    Named a Florida State League Mid-Season All-Star with St. Lucie.

    Brant delivering a pitch in a Mets home uniform, number 49
    On the mound in the Mets system.

  11. 2012

    Retires from pro ball

    Retires from professional baseball due to a nerve injury in his right arm.

  12. 2013

    Back to UCLA, and into coaching

    Finishes his degree at UCLA and starts coaching, beginning with his younger brother Derek, then a Grossmont senior headed to Texas Tech.

  13. Today

    Full circle at Tecolote

    Coaches on the same Tecolote fields where he started, and brings the Piranhas back with a 6U team. What he teaches: “Talent matters, but success is built on work ethic, resilience, and a commitment to the process. Winning is the byproduct.”

In the press