After turning in his best season at the helm for CSU East Bay, major leagu prospect A.J. Gallardo looks to continue his success in his favorite sport, baseball.

A 22-year-old, left-handed pitcher from Ventura, Gallardo – born Alejandro Jr. – is of Mexican heritage and was raised in the East Los Angeles area.

Concluding his final year as starting pitcher for the Pioneers, Gallardo finished the season leading the team with a 5-1 league record and a 6-1 overall record with a 2.51 ERA over the course of nine starts in league play.

The hurler only allowed one homerun all season long and threw for three complete games against UC San Diego, CSU Stanislaus and CSU Monterey Bay, to rank sixth in the conference.

The senior, who will be finishing up his bachelor’s degree in Kinesiology next spring, was recognized by the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) for his success on the mound this season by receiving two prominent honors.

Gallardo was named to the 2012 All-CCAA Baseball Second Team on May 9 and was also named to the 2012 NCAA American Baseball Coaches Association/Rawlings All-West Region Baseball Division II Second Team on May 22.

“I’m happy that the other coaches and the other teams saw me as a good opponent and they selected me with the [NCAA American Baseball Coaches Association] honor,” expressed Gallardo. “I am very happy that I showed them what I got and how I can compete at this level.

“[It] just reassures me that I am doing that right thing because I was skeptical about coming here just to pitch. I was actually gonna [sic] go out of state to go hit. I wasn’t really sure how pitching was going to work out. The thing about pitching is if you fail, you won’t be able to fix it until you go out there again so it’s always going to be on your mind,” he continued.

Gallardo was brought onto the Pioneers to help the team’s pitching rotation in 2010 as a junior. While playing for Ventura College as a freshman and sophomore, Gallardo was a right fielder as well as a closer, pitching an average of 25 innings per season.

Now finishing his second and final season with the team, Gallardo expressed gratification with the way things played out with the Pioneers and appreciation to the new coaching staff for his improvement as a player this season.

“His competitiveness took over every single day. Once he got past a mental barrier that he was going through in the fall because he had some arm problems which basically shut him down, he got to the point where he was healthy and confident in himself every single time he took the mound,” expressed Pioneers’ pitching coach Jon Norfolk.

“He had this mental attack in his mind that every time the ball was going to release his hand, he was just going to attack on the pitch and explode through home plate. I think it was more of his confidence that got him to where he is today, having an opportunity to get drafted and being All-West region second team and all his honors and accolades, he deserves it.”

Currently, Gallardo has an opportunity to be drafted into the MLB as several major league teams have scouted him.

Last week, the southpaw threw a bullpen session for the San Francisco Giants, Houston Astros, St. Louis Cardinals and the San Diego Padres. He will find out soon if his baseball career could potentially continue at the major league level, as the MLB draft will be held June 4 through 6.

“I’m going to be playing baseball as long as I can,” said Gallardo. “The draft is coming up and hopefully I get lucky enough to get picked up there but if I don’t, I’ll look into some independent leagues and independent teams that still pay, not much but it’s still somewhere to play. But I’m going to try to pursue baseball as long as I can.”

Gallardo has been playing baseball since the age of four. His favorite major league team is the Los Angeles Dodgers while his favorite player is Ken Griffey Jr.

Both on and off the field, Gallardo has been described by his coaches and teammates as having good character, being very laid back and having a natural talent for easing tension during games.

“A.J.’s just a real joy to be around. As soon as I met him last year, we both came in as transfers from our junior colleges, he just had a good effect on me,” said teammate and roommate Xavier De La Cruz, relief pitcher for the Pioneers.

“He’s one heck of a pitcher, a really good competitor on the mound. Outside of baseball, he’s a good friend. He’s loving, caring; he’s going to take care of you just like any good friend would. You can tell he came from a good makeup because he acts just like his family. I met his family and they take care of you as well. They had never met me yet they were calling me ‘mijo,’ the Hispanic way.”

Although Gallardo has concluded his collegiate career with the Pioneers this season, he expresses he will take with him the many valuable experiences he has learned in his time here towards bigger and better things.

“I’m definitely going to take with me the relationships that I built with my teammates. I met a lot of good people, a lot of great people actually. I’ve acquired a work ethic that is really going to push me to work hard in the future,” expressed Gallardo.

“College was fun. Everyone says that once you leave college, you want to go back and that’s probably how it’s going to be for me. I love playing here and playing baseball overall.”