Eric Brown Jr.’s whirlwind summer continued Sunday with a near-cross-country flight from Arizona to North Carolina. After just a week at the Arizona Complex League, the Milwaukee Brewers bumped the former Parkway baseball star to their Low-A minor league club in Zebulon, North Carolina.
“It’s all happened pretty fast,” Brown told the Shreveport-Bossier Journal as he waited in baggage claim Sunday night.
Brown was the 27th overall pick in the 2022 MLB Draft on July 17 and the 21-year-old shortstop hasn’t had a lot of time to reflect on his dream come true.
Brown, his parents, his girlfriend and his hitting coach were whisked to Milwaukee to visit the big club.
“I got to walk around (American Family Field), signed my contract and I met Christian Yelich and Andrew McCutchen — guys I’ve looked up to since high school,” said Brown, who has attempted to replicate parts of Yelich’s swing.
His first on-the-field stop came in Phoenix at the ACL, where he found a somewhat rude introduction to pro ball.
“I was up against a Double- or Triple-A pitcher, and after not seeing live pitching for about two-and-a-half months, it took a second to adjust,” Brown said.
Brown recovered from the 0-for-3 debut to post a .308 batting average and a 1.009 OPS during his first week.
“The Brewers have a great video crew,” Brown said. “They send the at-bats to your phone through an app and you can watch it whenever. Once I saw those first at-bats I was able to get back into the swing of things. When I got the first (hit) out of the way, everything started to click. It was pretty awesome.”
The 5-foot-10, 190-pounder also scored seven runs and swiped four bases in 17 plate appearances.
“It’s fun to steal bases,” Brown said. “I recently added that to my game. (Cape Cod League) coach (Mike) Roberts showed me a trick to steal bases. It’s made the games 10 times more fun. Basically, I feel that when I have a single I can make it into a double.”
The Brewers wasted no time moving him to the Carolina Mudcats in Zebulon, located less than three hours from where Brown exceled for Coastal Carolina University.
The Mudcats enjoy an off-day today before game action resumes Tuesday against the Delmarva Shorebirds in Salisbury, Maryland.
“The coach texted me and said, ‘For your first minor-league game you have to travel six hours on a bus.’”
The Mudcats have barely more than a month left in the regular-season, but Brown will soak in every second, including the final series of the year, set for Sept. 6-11 at Myrtle Beach, South Carolina – where his draft stock rose while with the Chanticleers.
Contact Roy at roylangiii@yahoo.com