and Jarron Collins, as well as Jon Garland. Braun later picked up basketball, which became his favorite sport, and soccer, in which he played forward. By the time he entered high school, Braun chose to focus solely on baseball. Braun attended Granada Hills High School in Granada Hills, Los Angeles, California. He was a four-year letterman on the school's baseball team, and three-year team captain and Most Valuable Player (MVP). He played shortstop and pitched through his junior year. As a sophomore in 2000, he recorded the highest batting average of his prep career (.456), while posting a .654 on-base percentage (OBP). During his junior year, he hit .421, with a .668 OBP. Braun capped off his high school career by batting .451 as a senior, with an OBP of .675, and breaking the school record for career home runs with 25. He graduated in 2002, but went undrafted as he told teams that he intended to attend college. Braun excelled academically as well—his worst grade was one B, in Advanced Placement Chemistry. College career Offered baseball scholarships by Stanford University and the University of California, Berkeley, he instead attended the University of Miami on an academic scholarship, due to his excellent high school grades. He chose Miami for its academics, its athletics, and its social scene, noting: "I think the girls were the deal closer on the recruiting trip." There, Braun was named "National Freshman of the Year", and a first-team "Freshman All-American", by Baseball America in 2003, as well as first team All American by the Jewish Sports Review. He was also named first-team All-American by Collegiate Baseball. After the 2004 season, he played collegiate summer baseball with the Brewster Whitecaps of the Cape Cod Baseball League. During his junior year, his final and most successful at Miami, Braun batted .396 with 18 home runs, a .726 slugging percentage, 76 RBIs, and 23 stolen bases. He was ninth in slugging and 10th in RBIs in NCAA Division I, and was named to Baseball Americas 2005 College All-American Team as the DH. He moved from shortstop to third base during the year. His performance earned Braun the Atlantic Coast Conference Baseball Player of the Year award, and a spot as one of the finalists for the Golden Spikes Award, the most prestigious individual award in college baseball. He was inducted into the University of Miami Hall of Fame in