Mr. Baseball: Philly teen finds strength through baseball after family tragedy

Chase Brandt sits on an aluminum bench in the first base dugout with a focused look on his face. He and his Philly Bandits 13u Black teammates are preparing for a game Wednesday night in Richboro. As head coach Bill Burke reads aloud the starting lineup, Brandt — grinning from ear to ear — bolts through the chain-link fence opening with his teammates to take the field.

Baseball puts a smile on the eighth grader’s face. And that smile is hard-earned.

Over the past two years, Chase and his family have endured the devastating loss of both his father and uncle. But when he’s taking batting practice or warming up down the line, the weight of that grief lifts — if only for the next seven innings.

“He’s always smiling, despite what he’s been through,” Burke said.

Chase lives with his grandparents, Kathi and Al Brandt, who have played an instrumental role in supporting his development — both on and off the diamond.

“They make sure I keep a good mindset and help me focus on working hard all the time,” Chase said. “Making sure I’m not putting in less than 100% effort.”

“It’s been a really good opportunity to stay close to him,” Al added. “We practice together. He’s all baseball. I love watching him play, and he’s really improved over the three years he’s been with us.”

The proud grandfather carefully positioned his chair for the best view of his grandson, recounting their training routine.

“We do soft toss in the backyard, we’ve got a net set up. For a while, we were doing 100 pitches a day. We also make him run — left, right, short, deep — working on short hops and long hops to get him ready for infield work.”

Chase’s humility and work ethic are unmistakable. Soft-spoken off the field, yet confident between the lines, he’s a catcher by trade but has been working through injuries that have limited his time behind the plate — pushing him to improve at other positions.

Despite only joining Chase's journey in December, Burke said the young ballplayer's character and coachability have already stood out. The longtime coach has known Kathi since the early 1970s growing up in Warminster.

“She was like the cool aunt of the neighborhood and always opened her house to everyone,” Burke recalled. “Super sweet and did anything she could for everybody.”

Now, she and her husband are doing everything they can for their grandson.

The Brandts are a baseball family — largely thanks to Chase’s unwavering passion for the game. He spends nearly all of his time thinking about baseball, watching it, or talking about it.

“We go fishing sometimes, but we watch the Phillies and a lot of baseball games… and movies,” Chase said, when asked how he and his grandfather spend their time together.

And with his grandmother?

“Watch movies about baseball and talk about baseball a lot,” Chase said, smiling.

“He loves the sport. He loves all the statistics. He talks about players that were just drafted. He just loves baseball,” Al added.

Chase is a diehard Phillies fan. His favorite player? Second baseman Bryson Stott.

“I like how he is humble and works really hard,” Chase said.

Last season, a highlight for the Brandt family was getting front-row seats when Shohei Ohtani and the Dodgers came to town.

“Chase was in heaven,” said his uncle, Scott Brandt.

It’s easy to understand how a teenager like Chase might be quiet, perhaps uncertain about the future after facing such loss. But his family sees what baseball brings out of him.

“There’s been so much growth,” Scott said. “He was a really shy kid at first, but when he’s on the field, he really comes out of his shell. Especially when he’s catching — he becomes a different person. You can see it.”

“He’s Mr. Baseball,” Al said, chuckling.