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Brothers Garin, Gavin Cecchini to face off as 51s visit Colorado Springs

To hear their mother tell it, Garin and Gavin Cecchini were basically born on a baseball diamond.

Garin, quite literally, almost was — Raissa Cecchini was still coaching at first base just days before her oldest son was born.

While they weren’t forced into baseball, it came naturally through the ample number of hours spent growing up on the field together as their parents, both coaches, built Barbe High School in Lake Charles, Louisiana, into a perennial baseball powerhouse.

“Our doctor told me a long time ago (if) you want your kids to eat the foods that you like, then you feed them the foods that you like,” Raissa said.

Apply that theory to baseball and unsurprisingly, under their parents’ tutelage, both boys turned into professional baseball players.

They haven’t shared a field since 2010 when they were teammates at Barbe, but come this weekend they’ll finally have a chance to do so when the 51s visit Colorado Springs. Garin, 25, is a third baseman in the Milwaukee Brewers’ organization, and Gavin, 22, is the 51s’ shortstop.

Gavin has been out since May 7 because of a sore back, but 51s manager Wally Backman said he expects him back later in the series against the Sky Sox.

When he returns, it will mark the first time he’s played against his brother. Their parents will be in attendance, as well as friends and other family members, making the stakes a little higher for them.

“They’re going to want to have bragging rights,” said their father, Glenn. “If one can rob another of a hit, like if Gavin can do a Derek Jeter on Garin, he’ll never let him live it down.”

 

While bragging rights might be on the line and there might be some good-natured ribbing, both said they’re competitive against each other in a positive way.

“It’s always about helping each other become the best that we can be,” Gavin said.

As the younger of the two, Gavin has had an extra advantage because he’s been able to turn to Garin for advice while he moves through the minor leagues.

“He’s been a huge help for me in my career,” Gavin said. “A lot of the leagues that I’ve played in, he’s played a couple years before me.”

The two spend the offseason training together and recently built houses nearby in the same Louisiana neighborhood where Gavin gets more than advice from his older brother.

“He doesn’t buy groceries,” Garin said. “He comes to my house and eats all of me and my wife’s groceries.”

While Garin has been helpful for Gavin, especially recently, their parents have been armed with baseball knowledge and advice from the outset.

Glenn has been the head coach at Barbe since the late 1980s, winning his ninth Louisiana 5A state title this month, and Raissa was an assistant coach on his staff for nearly two decades. She still helps out in a behind-the-scenes role.

“It’s a baseball family,” Gavin said. “Almost everything we’ve learned is from them.”

They brought their kids to the field with them, had them do their homework in the coaching office and raised them while immersing them in the sport. Somewhere in the Cecchini home, Raissa has pictures of a young Gavin sleeping on a dugout bench.

“They were brought to everything,” Raissa said. “They just grew up playing it, living it, doing it, playing catch with the older kids, so they were at an advantage, I would think.”

And they’ve parlayed that advantage into professional careers.

Garin was taken by the Boston Red Sox in the fourth round of the 2010 draft, although were it not for an anterior cruciate ligament tear that knocked him out of commission for most of his senior year, Glenn is sure his oldest would have been a first-round pick.

He appeared in 11 games with Boston in 2014 and two in 2015, but after having a down year in the minors, he was designated for assignment and then traded to the Brewers in December.

Gavin has had a linear ascent through the minors after the New York Mets made him the 12th overall pick in the 2012 draft. He had a slower start to this season, but began heating up at the end of last month and raised his batting average more than 100 points to .294 from April 26 to May 6.

And though the injury has kept him off the field for the past two weeks, everybody in the Cecchini family is hoping he’s back for the long-awaited matchup.

“We were extremely blessed to have them both be professional baseball players. Garin’s made it to the big leagues. Gavin will soon,” Glenn said. “Really that’s like a fairytale to be a high school coach and have both of your sons not only win championships but sign for first-round money and become big leaguers.

“That’s kind of over the top to think that would be possible.”

Betsy Helfand can be reached at bhelfand@reviewjournal.com. Follow on Twitter: @BetsyHelfand

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