Camarillo grad Brad Boyer has seen his major league dreams fulfilled as a hitting coach

It’s not an exaggeration to call Brad Boyer one of the best multisport athletes in Ventura County history.

Wherever he’d rank, the former Camarillo High three-sport star has to be on the shortlist.

He was the shortstop on the first Ventura County team to win the CIF-Southern Section Division 1 baseball title, breaking a 50-year-old section record for runs scored and setting the county career record for triples.

He was an elite football receiver, breaking the school record for receiving yards in a season in 2001 and tying the then-county record for receptions in a game with 15, and a floor general on the basketball court.

Oxnard College soccer coach Ross Greaney, who coached a young Boyer with the Camarillo Eagles youth soccer club, maintains Boyer would have a been a professional soccer player had he stayed on the pitch.

Ultimately, Boyer chose baseball. He was a first-team All-Pac-10 infielder at the University of Arizona and a 14th-round draft pick of the Seattle Mariners.

But Boyer’s decade-long minor league career with the San Francisco Giants and Minnesota Twins topped out at the Triple-A level, one rung below the major leagues.

“I was a 10-year journeyman,” Boyer said. “I got down on myself a little bit too much. I was a perfectionist. I didn’t let some things go. … I got caught in a logjam in that Giants system.”

Boyer is now making use of the lessons learned during his professional career as a private hitting coach.

He has worked with many local pros, including Westlake High graduate Christian Yelich and his former Brewers teammates Ryan Braun and Mike Moustakas.

His client list also includes several of the top local high school bats, headlined by Westlake slugger Johnny Backus and Royal shortstop Brady Hewitt, who are committed to Michigan and Oregon, respectively.

“Every hitter is his own artist,” Boyer said. “We’re all unique. We all move differently. We all have a way of perceiving what we need to do. A lot of these guys do things so naturally, they don’t know how to figure out the puzzle sometimes. I can mentor and observe.”

He can also experience the ride he never had the fortune to enjoy.

Last August, Boyer rode shotgun as two of his clients earned their first major league promotions days apart.

“There was just no better joy,” Boyer said. “That’s what this is all about.”

Blake Rutherford, a Simi Valley native, and Weston Wilson were promoted by the Washington Nationals and Philadelphia Phillies, respectively, in early August.

Which is why Boyer found himself at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia on Aug. 9. Rutherford was playing left field, when Wilson came up for his first major league at-bat against MacKenzie Gore.

When Wilson hit a 1-1 slider to deep left-center field for a home run, it was like a moment out of a movie.

“You couldn’t believe he did that in his first at-bat,” Boyer said. “You spend all this time with these guys. You get to know their families. You enjoy the journey. You feel the ups and downs. And something like that happens. … It was like I blacked out.”

Obsessed with hitting

Despite his multisport diversity growing up, Boyer has always been obsessed with hitting.

He still remembers the day when his father Bob put a copy of Ted Williams’ “The Science of Hitting” in his hands when he was a boy.

“I was in awe of how hitters moved differently and had different swing styles,” Boyer said.

Another great Camarillo multisport star, Joe Borchard, introduced Boyer to hitting guru Craig Wallenbrock when he was just a 15-year-old sophomore.

“Craig is a savant in the hitting world,” Boyer said. “He was a pioneer.”

Boyer found himself inspired by Wallenbrock’s innovative style. Years later, as he embarked on his second act in baseball as a hitting instructor, he found himself gravitating back to those lessons.

“Hitting is so complex, but we want to create simplicity,” Boyer said. “It’s like figuring out a puzzle. He gave me the ability to solve the puzzle by studying video and being able to apply a cue or a trigger. That was game-changing.”

Welcome to The Show

A first-round pick of the New York Yankees in 2016 who spent six years in the White Sox organization, Rutherford enjoyed a rejuvenating season in the Nationals system in 2023.

“I definitely had a windy road,” Rutherford said.

He hit .336 with 12 home runs in 74 games at Double-A Harrisburg and Triple-A Rochester last year.

“Blake went out and really took it to another level, being a student of the game, being a student of his own swing,” Boyer said.

Boyer remembers being at lunch when he received a string of missed calls from Rutherford.

When they connected, Rutherford told him, “I’m going to the big leagues, buddy.”

“I’ve been hitting with Brad a long time, probably six or seven years consistently,” Rutherford said. “He’s been instrumental. I can’t really even say how big he’s been for my career, not only for baseball … but as a friend, someone who’s played in the minor leagues and knows that it’s a grind.

“He truly has learned from some of the best guys in the game. He’s soaked up all that knowledge.”

Boyer took a red-eye flight to Cincinnati for Rutherford’s debut.

"The moment was amazing,” Rutherford said. “Not only for me but everyone that’s had a big part of it. … I think I had about 40 people at my debut, so I had a ton of people. I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.”

Boyer connected with Wilson, who was a 17th-round pick out of Clemson in the same 2016 draft, during the pandemic through Rutherford.

“I really had no clients at the time because of COVID,” Boyer said. “We would just go to an open park and work. We really got to know each other.”

Wilson hit 31 home runs at Triple-A Lehigh Valley last season, earning his call up days after Rutherford.

“Having him at my debut and being able to experience that was really special,” Wilson said of Boyer. “He’s a big part of my journey. He’s a guy that believed in me.”

After a 10-year professional career that stopped just short of the big leagues, Boyer was able to experience the moment professionally as a coach.

“I think that was very rewarding for him, to be able to live that out through us,” Wilson said.

Professional baseball, however, is unforgiving. Despite their breakthrough 2023 seasons, neither Wilson nor Rutherford opened the 2024 season on a major league roster.

Wilson is back at Lehigh Valley this spring, working his way towards another opportunity with the Phillies. Rutherford is currently a free agent, working with Boyer locally so he's ready for the phone rings again.

"Last year, I got to the big leagues," Wilson said. "Now it’s about sticking and staying in the big leagues, which is the toughest part. I’m ready to accept that challenge."

Joe Curley is a staff writer for The Star. He can be reached at joe.curley@vcstar.com. For more coverage, follow @vcsjoecurley on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Brad Boyer fulfills major league dreams as a hitting instructor