Behind the Jersey with Center Fielder Tyson Bragg

Published on Dec 10 2025

If you ask Tyson Bragg where his love of baseball began, he’ll tell you it never really began at all. It was simply always there. 
“I don’t ever remember a time without baseball,” he says. With three older sisters in softball, he jokes that he basically entered the world already holding a bat.

Before College of the Redwoods, Tyson played five years of football and a little basketball, but baseball was always the one. Center field is where he feels most at home, reading the ball, chasing it down, and making big plays look effortless.

CR was an easy choice. Staying local lets him live at home, and there’s something special about taking the field with guys he’s battled against for years. His biggest influence is his dad, no hesitation.

Tyson’s student-athlete schedule doesn’t leave much room for downtime. With all-online classes, he wakes up, makes the drive from McKinleyville to CR, hits weights and study hall, grabs Sammie’s BBQ for lunch, then heads straight to practice. After driving home, he knocks out homework and then goes right back to the cage at night.

When motivation dips, he reminds himself of his long-term goals and the years of grinding that got him here. One of those payoffs came last summer when an out-of-state team recruited him, which still stands as his proudest moment.

The hardest part of the grind, he says, is probably just getting out of bed when his body is sore.

Ask Tyson about his team, and the energy is the first thing he mentions. Pitchers trust their defense, hitters talk approaches, and no one is afraid to speak up to help each other. “We always have each other's backs.”

One of his favorite memories is last year’s series against Butte when Bode Joyner launched a walk-off homer and Drew Franklin threw a complete-game gem later in the series.

Competition is constant in this group, whether they're in the weight room or on the field. Coach Joyner keeps him sharp in the box and on the bases, and Tyson says it’s huge knowing his coach believes in him.

Tyson insists he has no pregame rituals, but he does have one very specific quirk: “I cannot eat potatoes.” When he’s not on the field, he’s usually fishing with friends.

He doesn’t hang around town much, but he never turns down a hot meal from Sammie’s, Raliberto’s, or the taco truck by Pierson’s.

If he could switch places with another CR athlete for a day, he’d pick a wrestler or someone on the rodeo team, sports where everything rests on one person’s shoulders. “You can’t rely on anyone. It’s all on you,” he says.

This season, Tyson hopes to earn First Team All-Conference honors and help lead CR to a winning year. After CR, he sees himself at a university, still playing the sport he loves.

His advice to incoming student-athletes is simple and honest: “You have to work outside of practice if you want to stand out.”

And when people look back on his time at CR, Tyson hopes they remember him as the guy who always wanted it and always had his pitchers’ backs.
Behind the jersey, Tyson Bragg is exactly what he looks like on the field: steady, committed, and all in.