Brandon Mann


Brandon Michael Mann is an American professional baseball pitcher who is a free agent. He previously played for the Yokohama BayStars/Yokohama DeNA BayStars and Chiba Lotte Marines of Nippon Professional Baseball and the Texas Rangers of Major League Baseball.

Career

Mann attended Mount Rainier High School in Des Moines, Washington. The Tampa Bay Devil Rays selected Mann in the 27th round of the 2002 MLB draft and signed him to a $47,500 signing bonus, with an additional $40,000 for college expenses. He reached Class AA in Minor League Baseball in 2009 and pitched in independent league baseball in 2010. In 2011 and 2012, Mann pitched for the Yokohama BayStars of Nippon Professional Baseball.
After the 2012 season, Mann signed a minor league contract with an invitation to spring training with the Washington Nationals. He signed a minor league deal with the Pittsburgh Pirates on December 18, 2013. After starting the 2014 season with the Altoona Curve of the Class AA Eastern League, he was released in May, and played for the Lancaster Barnstormers of the independent Atlantic League of Professional Baseball for the remainder of the 2014 season. He had a 2-2 record and a 4.09 ERA in 20 games for Lancaster.
In 2015, he played for the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks of the independent American Association of Independent Professional Baseball. Mann set the American Association single-season strikeout record with 157 strikeouts in innings pitched. After the season, his contract was purchased by the Oakland Athletics.
On February 16, 2016, Mann received an 80-game suspension after testing positive for Ostarine, a performance-enhancing substance. After serving his suspension, he was activated on June 30 and assigned to the Arizona League Athletics. In his first start for the rookie league team, Mann pitched five innings and allowed no runs on two hits while walking two batters and striking out five. He was then promoted to the Midland RockHounds of the Class AA Texas League for his next start.

Texas Rangers

On January 10, 2018, Mann signed a minor league contract with the Texas Rangers. He began the season with the Round Rock Express of the Class AAA Pacific Coast League, and pitched to a 1–0 win–loss record and a 1.04 earned run average before he was promoted to the major leagues on May 13. He made his debut that same day against the Houston Astros, pitching innings without allowing a run. At 33 years and 362 days old, Mann became the oldest player to make his Major League debut since Chang-Yong Lim in 2013 and the oldest North American player to make his Major League debut since Alan Zinter in 2002. On August 7, 2018, Mann was designated for assignment. He became a free agent after the season.

Chiba Lotte Marines

On January 14, 2019, Mann signed with the Chiba Lotte Marines of NPB for the 2019 season. On November 30, Marines announced that team will not signed with Mann for next season. On December 2, 2019, he become free agent.

Second Stint with Rangers

On February 7, 2020, Mann signed a minor league contract with the Texas Rangers. He was released by the Rangers organization on June 1, 2020.

Personal life

Mann and his wife, Sarah, were married in November 2017.
He is a devout Christian, and has noted on his profile page for Chiba Lotte Marines that Philippians 4:13 is his favorite Word in the Scriptures.