The 2025 Golden State Warriors have gotten off to a great start. They are 4-2 and looking to keep winning. One of the key players in their start is Brandin Podziemski, who has been used as a big piece off the bench for Golden State in the backcourt. Podziemski has evolved into a solid basketball player and someone who can grow into a significant role for the Warriors, but growing up, he was a baseball player first.
A feature story published by the Athletic’s Warriors reporter Nick Friedell on Friday focused on Podziemski’s love of baseball and how he grew up playing baseball before focusing on basketball in high school. In the story, Podziemski had a massive quote that is going viral due to its outlandishness. He said he could have been like Shohei Ohtani due to his skill set and thinks he could have been a great player.
“I think I could be the white Shohei [Ohtani],” Podziemski told The Athletic. “I think I could do both. Maybe not to the degree he can do it, but I think I could for sure do both. Pitch, play the field, hit, all those things.”
It is worth noting that Podziemski has been seen at the baseball diamond since high school; most recently, he threw out a first pitch at a Giants game in 2023. One reporter even said that the radar gun clocked it at 86 mph. Then, in 2024, he took part in batting practice at Oracle Park and hit a home run there.
Despite briefly turning some eyes while pitching and hitting, there is a giant difference between that and comparing himself to the best baseball player in the world.
During Brandin Podziemski's last season playing baseball in 2019 at St. John’s Northwestern Military Academy in Delafield, Wisconsin, his stats don't immediately jump out as game-changing.
He played in 11 games on varsity that season, pitching in five of them. On the mound, he had a 2-3 record in 22.2 innings pitched, allowing 15 runs (14 earned for a 4.32 ERA) and 26 hits and nine walks. He also struck out 40 batters, including three games with double-digit strikeouts. Then, at the plate, he had 15 hits in 32 at-bats (a .469 batting average) with three doubles, two triples, and 10 RBI.
Brandin Podziemski started the season slowly, but Steve Kerr challenged him, and he is coming off his best performance yet in his most recent game.
