Family and faith: The West brothers share values on the field

By Evie Vu     4/22/25 11:24pm

When Robyn and Greg West enrolled their sons in T-ball, they said they saw baseball as a way to keep the boys out of trouble. Eighteen years later, brothers Graiden and Landon West compete at the Division I level for Rice’s baseball team. 

Greg compared coaches to future bosses and teammates to future coworkers. From sports, he said, players can learn about the kinds of people they work well with, how to be a good teammate and how to be a good leader. 

“It was never about trying to go to college and play sports,” Greg said. “Those were real possibilities, but that’s not really why they started it.”

---

---

Graiden began playing T-ball on the dirt fields in Farmington, New Mexico as a kindergartener. Once Landon reached that age two years later, he followed suit. 

“I always looked up to him and what he did, and he played baseball, so I consequently played baseball,” said Landon, a Brown College sophomore. 

The first time they played together, Graiden was in fourth grade, and the team had to bring on second grader Landon to fill in as an extra player. 

Robyn said Landon was proud to get to play on Graiden’s team, and Graiden was encouraging and inclusive to his younger brother. 

“We loved it, because to be at the same place at the same time was awesome,” Robyn said. “To see their friendship develop on and off the field was really special.”

Graiden said that he knew he wanted to play for Rice when he was little after watching Rice beat the University of Texas at Austin on TV. 

“As soon as I got recruited to Rice, I didn’t have a doubt in my mind that’s where I was going,” said Graiden, a Will Rice College senior. “I didn’t want to go anywhere else.”

When Graiden came to Rice, he said he felt like something was missing during his first two years.

“I was, for one of the first times in my life, not with Landon, and I was like, ‘This is kind of weird,’” Graiden said. “Then he got here, and it was like, ‘Okay, now we’re back to normal.’”

Landon said he received offers from larger universities like Texas A&M University, but ultimately he decided that Rice was too good of an opportunity to pass up.  

“I thought that I wanted to be part of the team that puts [Rice baseball] back on the map,” Landon said. “So I was like, ‘Man, that’d be super cool to go into a program and help it get to meet its potential.’ That’s what we’re trying to do right now. We’re trying.”

At Rice, Graiden mostly plays second and third base while Landon plays catcher. Through the 2025 season, Graiden is batting .326 over 19 starts while Landon is batting .277 over 40 starts. 

The brothers said at Rice, they have had to learn how to deal with failure they did not face in their middle and high school careers.

“I think [we] just fail more often than we used to,” Landon said. “Having someone that I trust has been good to keep me steady and keep me going and keep me motivated.” 

Robyn said she is proud of how after a loss, the boys make their way back onto the field. Since Robyn and Greg are now based in Katy, Texas, they are able to attend almost every home game. 

“It’s super easy on my mom and dad to be able to come watch both of us at the same time,” Graiden said. “It’s really just a huge blessing.”

Graiden and Landon said that faith is a large part of what guides them as brothers and teammates.

“A big part of our success at Rice, on and off the field, has been through our faith,” Landon said. “Me and Graiden are strong believers, and we’ve done our best to uphold ourselves as such … I think that’s kind of shaped us into the young men that we are today.”

Greg said that he is proud of how Graiden and Landon represent themselves and their family by upholding their faith.

“You can’t replace your integrity,” Greg said. “It’s hard to earn, and you can lose it really quickly. I think faith’s a piece of that, being a man that can be respected and trusted.”

Robyn said that she raised them to uphold their faith as one of the many facets of their identities. 

“I think when they were younger, their identity was in baseball,” Robyn said. “We always tried to emphasize that they were so much more than baseball, because baseball is a game that kind of beats you up.”

“I think as they got older, they really ended up leaning into their faith,” Robyn continued. “That just really helped kind of to figure out who they were, besides just only being a baseball player.”

Outside of baseball, Graiden and Landon are both pursuing degrees in business. 

Graiden said the most valuable resource he has used at Rice has been the Liu Idea Lab for Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Through Lilie, he said he has been able to expand his hat brand Coyote Creek Hat Co.

After Graiden graduates this spring, he said he plans to broker commercial insurance in the oil and gas sector. However, he, Landon and their younger brother, Tanner, a junior in high school, will pursue something together in the world of entrepreneurship in the future. 

Graiden is also engaged with plans to get married this summer. 

As Landon looks to the future, he said he is concentrating on his Rice career.

“Right now, I’m just focused on winning baseball games,” Landon said. “I’m trying to be the best version of myself as I can [be], as a person and also as a baseball player.”

Greg said that Rice has been instrumental to who his sons have become.

“Rice has made a special imprint in our family,” Greg said. “All your experiences kind of shape who you are, and I think they’re both shaping up to be pretty good dudes.”

---