A Man and Who He is Now

People generally regard Washington as a nice state and they might be right, but what about the people who live there.

Braden Smutz has lived most of his life in Washington alongside his twin sister. It is where he grew up. Where he got to do all of the childhood firsts. As he got closer to college Smutz decided to play baseball and attended a junior college program out of highschool then transferred to a four year school after one year at junior college. As of right now Braden is set to play one more season of baseball and move into the workforce with a nursing degree.

Braden Smutz is a kind soul with careful calculation abilities. Smutz often attributes these qualities to his father saying “My dad had never really said much about how to have those qualities but I think it comes from me watching him growing up.” Smutz added on “And we have talked about that now but not in a like “learn a lesson” type of thing.”

Smutz is also a hard worker, playing a sport and going through nursing school is proof enough but let’s expand. He routinely has asked guys if they need to get work in hitting or pitching wise. One pitcher on his team, Jordan Kyle, said “Smutty, yeah I know I can always rely on him if I need to go throw a bullpen.” Then another teammate, Elijah Rude, said “Yeah, he’s always seeing if I want to go hit or work on our catching [stuff].” He is a man who is not afraid of work nor helping people out while doing it.

Braden Smutz’s calculation abilities make him an extraordinary friend. He will sit and listen quietly and provide sound advice or you can sit there for hours on end talking about nothing and everything. He has a certain charisma while speaking. A more quiet charisma, meaning you will not find him in an auditorium getting a crowd riled up but you could find him completely captivating a small group. Smutz attributed that aspect of him to his attention to words and their meanings. He said “This is something my dad actually instilled in me from a young age, do not underappreciate the value of a large working vocabulary. There is always a right word.”

As part of being the type of guy he is, Smutz shows a large range of emotional intelligence and empathy. He does not let his emotions take control over his actions, and there is no fear of judgment when talking to him. One of the younger guys on the team, Josh Pratt said “I mean yeah, I haven’t known him as long as you guys, but I can definitely see it. I have never seen him get out of control, always cool calm and collected, which I like when I’m throwing to him behind the plate.”

Braden Smutz is also fairly progressively mind. He believes the root problem with the inability to move forward better stims from how people treat each other. Smutz said “I don’t like this concept of the “Other” it separates people unnecessarily, when some lengthy moderated discourse is all it should really take to get people working together.”

All in all, Braden Smutz is a kind man from Washington with a big heart who is not afraid to work hard.