Baseball Career
Bannister was drafted by the Mets in the seventh round of the 2003 amateur draft and, after signing, was assigned to the Class-A Brooklyn Cyclones. There he put together a strong season, posting a 4-1 record with an ERA of 2.15 in twelve games (nine starts) and was named a New York - Penn League Postseason All-Star. In 2004, Bannister was assigned to play for High-A St. Lucie in the Florida State League, where he put together a 5-7 record with a 4.24 ERA in twenty starts and was a Florida State League All-Star. His experimentation with throwing a two-seam fastball and circle changeup led to this decline in numbers, but prepared him for the competition at higher levels of professional baseball. Bannister was then promoted to AA Binghamton following the trade of Scott Kazmir to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, where he had a 3-3 record and an ERA of 4.08 in a mere eight starts. After the 2004 season, Bannister played for the Peoria Saguaros of the Arizona Fall League. He posted strong numbers, going 2-0 with a 3.77 ERA against the top prospects in the minor leagues. More importantly, he developed his cut fastball while in the AFL, which would develop into one of his strongest pitches. The next year, Bannister began the 2005 season in Double-A Binghamton, where he posted numbers that reflected the quality of his newly-developed pitches: a 9-4 record with a 2.56 ERA in eighteen starts. This earned him an All-Star selection for the third consecutive season, and the honor of starting pitcher for the Double-A All-Star Game. This display caused Bannister to earn a promotion to AAA Norfolk, where he showed further promise against better competition. He finished his AAA campaign with a 4-1 record and an ERA of 3.18 in eight starts.
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