Anthony Banda makes best of chance with Dodgers

HOUSTON – The Dodgers’ Anthony Banda was throwing in the outfield during his high school baseball team’s practice when a trainer first realized he could be a pitcher not far from Corpus Christi, Texas. Up to that point, Banda played in right field and worked on his craft offensively and defensively at Sinton High.

Watching Banda work on relays and cutoffs, trainer Emilio Alaniz realized Banda was left-handed and presented a good arm motion when he threw the ball from the outfield. At that point, Banda’s high school baseball team didn’t have any left-handed pitchers on their roster. 

One day early in spring, Alaniz approached Anthony’s father, Frank Banda, and asked if he could work with Anthony. The baseball trainer saw potential in Anthony becoming a dominant pitcher.

“He basically gave me the idea or understanding of how to pitch and how to use my body,” Banda said of Alaniz. “It was very old school, which I love. That’s when it really took off for me with pitching. I fell in love with it because I realized I could control the game and I could add more value for my team.”

Important assist

Banda trained with Alaniz every other day and focused on the basics of pitching. Good direction of his ball, mechanics, and other pitching mechanics. Banda didn’t have any idea what he was doing at the time when he was pitching and throwing the baseball.

Banda was playing in a tournament in Nacogdoches, Texas with his roommate Jose Trevino, who is now the Yankees’ catcher. A phone call was ringing for Banda at 6 p.m. Trevino answered it.

“Hey, it’s for you,” he said.

Banda thought it was his parents checking in on him and Trevino, but it wasn’t his parents.

“I answered it, and it’s a scout from the University of Houston,” Banda said. “Knowing my background where I come from I knew that it was going to be a burden on my family as far as financially. So I didn’t wanna do that because I have other brothers and a sister that needed the support from my family, not just me.”

Anthony Banda credits San Jac

Banda had already committed to San Jacinto Junior College. He politely rejected UH’s offer. He wanted to make his family comfortable and have them not worry about paying for his education. Banda saw junior college as having the same offerings as a university. 

At San Jac, he saw the same potential with classes to obtain a college degree and play college baseball with the top competitors in the country.

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The Mexican American continued to work and develop at the JUCO level. He carried a 7-1 record, with a 2.01 ERA, and 73 strikeouts. He was named to the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) All-America third team. Banda was then selected in the 10th round in the 2012 MLB Draft by the Milwaukee Brewers.

Two years later, the Brewers traded Banda and Mitch Haniger to the Arizona Diamondbacks for Gerardo Parra. Banda quickly made his mark in the Dbacks’ farm system. He was an All-Star in the Southern League in Class AA  and represented the Diamondbacks at the All-Star Futures Game in 2016.

Circuitous route

The following year, Banda was ranked the No. 1 prospect in the Diamondbacks’ farm system. On July 22, 2017, Banda made his major league debut. The 6-foot-2 southpaw couldn’t stop thinking about his parents and the sacrifices they made for him when he took the mound.

“I can’t believe I’m here,” Banda recalled thinking during his MLB debut. “It was kind of like a blackout moment in the sense of that day. But afterwards it was like, ‘Man everything we work so hard for and everything they’ve done for me like they allowed me to do this.’ I can’t thank them enough.”

Anthony Banda: 11.1 innings and 0 earned runs.

How have the #Dodgers struck gold with another reliever?
🔗 https://t.co/fGPbvbjGlC pic.twitter.com/jFPxeUqVdz

— MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM (@MLBNetworkRadio) June 13, 2024

Banda was traded the following year to the Tampa Bay Rays. Later in the 2018 season, he tore his ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) in his left arm and underwent Tommy John surgery.

Banda, 30, has been part of eight different organizations. He has been traded and designated for assignment over the years. The business side of the game could mentally affect a player’s mindset. 

“The thing I learned in baseball is that the more you’re uncomfortable in life, the more you’re going to achieve,” he said. “You’re gonna find out a lot about yourself. I think putting ourselves in the most uncomfortable position to see how we can prove ourselves wrong with all the doubts that go through our head and everything else like that.”

Banda has coped with all the moves by reminding himself that they are all new opportunities.

“I still got a jersey,” he says. “I still have a job, regardless of how I got to where I am. It’s just another opportunity that I get to take and run with.”

Dodgers ‘struck gold’

Banda has found a new home in Hollywood since the Guardians traded him to the Dodgers in exchange for cash considerations in early May.

Anthony Banda is having a career year with a 1-2 record, 2.37 ERA and 31 strikeouts. He has held opponents to a .215 batting average. Moreover, he has not allowed an earned run in 22 of his last 27 appearances this season.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts raves about Banda’s ability to pitch multiple innings. With a 96-98-mph fastball, he can pitch to righties and lefties.

“Anthony’s been great,” said Roberts, who is adamant that the Dodgers “struck gold” with Banda.