It runs in the family: Baseball still keeps Siani brothers close
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Growing up 1 year, 5 months apart from each other has produced a multitude of shared experiences for the Siani brothers, Michael and Sammy, who hail from Glenside, Pa.
Some of those include the same favorite football team, the Philadelphia Eagles, and being teammates regularly throughout their amateur baseball careers.
"We were able to play together and work out together throughout our childhood and through middle school and high school," current St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Michael Siani said. "Obviously, baseball is a big sport in our area and in Pennsylvania, but it was nice to have him, just to compete with every day, whether it was in the gym or in the cage or on the field, whatever we were doing."
Competitions between the two growing up could be found on and off the diamond, whether it was when they were in the weight room, in the batting cages or on the basketball court and included their younger brother, Jake, an outfielder at Johns Hopkins University.
For both Michael and Sammy -- a current outfielder for the Altoona Curve -- going to college wasn't in the cards as both found themselves being drafted and doing so in consecutive drafts.
"We got to kind of share that process, you know, two years in a row," Michael said. "It was cool for (Sammy) to kind of be a part of the process when I got drafted, and see kind of how that went, what that all entailed, and then for him to do it the next year, and kind of have an idea of how everything was taken care of, and what he needed to do on the field."
Sammy was able to take what he learned from his brother's experience and turn it into quality play on the field as well as being selected 37th overall in the 2019 MLB Draft by the Pittsburgh Pirates.
"It was awesome," Sammy said. "I always tell everybody I was very fortunate that he went through the whole process, college and the pro ball before I started, and I learned a lot from him."
Both Sammy and Michael are well on their way in their professional careers.
Their journeys have been far from similar with Sammy climbing the Pirates' organizational ladder while Michael was drafted by the Cincinnati Reds, designated for assignment by them in 2023 and then signed with the Cardinals.
"I learned a lot. It was obviously the first time that it happened to me, and a new experience for me being with a new organization or new team," Michael said. "There were a bunch of things I learned coming over to St. Louis, and kind of how to make relationships with new people and get to know a lot of the guys around here, and then, that falls back to, I mean, even what he's got going on, whether he's getting called up from whatever level to whatever level, and he's seeing new guys, and maybe guys that he hadn't met in the organization yet before."
The beauty in brotherhood is their relationship goes far beyond the diamond, and despite their respective schedules, they're able to communicate in some form with each other daily.
"We talk a lot, pretty much every day, whether it's FaceTime, text, and always just checking with each other making sure our mentals are good and checking on each other to make sure we're doing OK," Sammy said.
For Michael, it's important he lets his younger brother have some space in the game as he knows the game can be overwhelming at times.
"I just try not to push too much, to talk all the time and talk every day and talk about every single at bat he's taken," Michael said. "I like just kind of being someone he can kind of fall back on and talk about whatever."
For now, the brothers from just outside Philadelphia, "The City of Brotherly Love,'' are focused on helping each other reach the pinnacles of their careers and getting better daily. In Sammy's case, that's reaching the Major Leagues where he's eager for the opportunity to be able to compete against his brother.
"It's really cool growing up playing against him, playing with him, and then hopefully playing against him soon," Sammy said.