Family of greats: how all five siblings in the Carranza family have found success

All playing baseball or softball at Brawley Union High School, each sibling has inspired the next, leading to a tradition of accomplishments for all the kids

IMPERIAL, Calif. (KYMA, KECY) - With the recent graduation of now former Brawley senior Tamara Carranza, it finished a run of over 12 years that a sibling in the Carranza family attended the school.

With five siblings in total, it was a unique upbringing for all, but still one that helped each brother and sister, including the oldest, Tristen, to get to where they are today.

“We had a lot of fun growing up together,” Tristen said.

The five siblings are as follows: Tristen, Taylor, Tennessee, Tanner, and Tamara.

All were athletes at Brawley High School, each playing baseball or softball, something their father Pedro introduced to the kids.

Pedro actually coached the boys on the baseball team, a job he’s held for over 25 years.

Despite the family's love for the game, Tennessee says it was never something forced on the kids.

“My dad was a big preacher on, he's not going to ask us if we want to go get the actual work in, we had to ask him if he can come outside and throw his batting practice, so it was never forced on us," Tennessee said.

Of course, Brawley Union has been a place of great significance for the family, offering support that Tristen says is unlike other schools.

“The support is, is unlike anywhere else in my opinion, especially for athletics, I feel like they really care for it, I feel like they do go above and beyond for their athletes,” Tristen said.

A four-year varsity player with Wildcats baseball, Tristen went on to play for New Mexico State University, A path three of the other four siblings would follow themselves.

Tristen would also follow his New Mexico career with another accomplishment, signing a minor league contract with the Arizona Diamondbacks in June 2019.

Taylor, the second oldest would attend school with Tristen in New Mexico.

“It definitely persuaded me in going there, there was a definitely like a comfort aspect of knowing that I had my older brother there and we can lean on each other,” Taylor said.

The middle sibling of the five, Tennessee, would go to Alabama after high school instead, playing baseball for one year at the University of Montevallo, eventually coming back to play for Imperial Valley College instead.

Being in the middle, Tennessee had the unique role of both follower and leader within the family.

“Seeing the two oldest do what they do and then the two youngest do what they do and being able to watch (Tanner), I want to say I was able to watch (Tanner) most of his senior year and then Tamara last year and her senior year this year, it's pretty cool,” Tennessee said.

The younger two are now continuing the Carranza to New Mexico connection.

As Tanner, the second youngest, currently plays for Aggies baseball, with Tamara set to attend New Mexico state in the fall to play softball.

The two youngest both say the examples set for them have proven to be a big inspiration.

“I mean, there's a lot of people from the valley who have done stuff, but just seeing my brother be able to play baseball and do well, for sure was like something like to strive for,” Tanner said.

“I’ve been extremely happy for my siblings, Tristen’s doing great things Taylor as well, they all are, they’re all on their own journey, so I’ve been proud of them, and I hope to do nearly as best as they did,” Tamara said.

As for the older two, they have found success off the field as well.

Taylor is close to graduating from chiropractor school at Parker University in Dallas, Texas.

Meanwhile, Tristen now lives in Florida, where he works in the New York Mets organization, serving as a mentor for the teams Latin-American prospects.

It's a job he says his experience as an older brother has prepared him for.

“I talk to them pretty much how I talk to my siblings, just about life and, you know, tell them about mistakes that I've made in my career, like all of that really helps me be the best at what I do, I feel like it helps me connect with our players a lot easier,” Tristen said.

Tanner by the way plans on majoring in business at New Mexico State, hoping to eventually play baseball professionally.

Tamara meanwhile, will major in criminal justice.