Stephen Branca joins the Saint Leo baseball coaching staff for the 2017-18 academic year, and will work primarily with the Lions’ infielders while serving as the hitting coach.
Branca joins Saint Leo after spending the 2017 season as an assistant coach at Lindsey Wilson College, where he was the Blue Raiders’ hitting coach and worked with the infielders and catchers. He served as the team’s offensive strategist, and assisted with all aspects of the recruiting process.
Prior to his stint at Lindsey Wilson, Branca was a head coach with the West Coast Scorpions AAU travel baseball team (2015-16) and was a volunteer assistant coach on the staff at Bloomingdale High School (2012-15).
Branca played collegiately at Tennessee Wesleyan University, where he helped lead the Bulldogs to the 2012 NAIA National Championship. He earned First Team All-America honors and was named to the NAIA World Series All-Tournament Team in 2012 as a senior, and was tabbed as the Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) 2012 Player of the Year. Branca previously played for two seasons at the University of Central Florida, after being drafted out of high school by the Minnesota Twins in the 34th Round of the 2007 MLB Draft.
Following Tennessee Wesleyan, Branca was signed as a free agent by the San Francisco Giants. He played for two seasons in the Giants’ minor league system, moving up to the Class A South Atlantic League where he played for the Augusta (Ga.) GreenJackets, before playing a season of independent baseball with the Sioux Falls Canaries in 2014.
A native of Valrico, Fla., Branca is a 2012 graduate of Tennessee Wesleyan with a degree in criminal justice. Branca and his wife, Anna, are the proud parents of their daughter Sophia born in November of 2017.
