Brown receives pitching award from Brewers, reflects on 2018 successes

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MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN

Eight hundred forty days after getting selected with the 141st pick in the fifth round of the 2016 MLB draft by the Milwaukee Brewers, Zack Brown stepped onto the field at Miller Park for the first time.

While the stadium, capacity 41,900, didn’t see the Seymour native take the mound, they got more acquainted with the right-hander that burned up Double-A baseball in 2018.

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Prior to Friday’s game against the Detroit Tigers, Brown, 23, was honored as the Brewers organization’s Minor League Pitcher of the Year for his efforts with the Biloxi Shuckers.

Brown and teammate Corey Ray, who was named the Brewers’ Minor League Player of the Year, received the 2018 Robin Yount Performance Awards from Brewers manager Craig Counsell and Farm Manager Tom Flanagan.

The two also were interviewed and seen on Fox Sports Wisconsin on Friday evening.

“It really means a lot,” Brown said. “Looking back on a couple guys that have gotten it the past three years I’ve been with the Brewers, two of the guys are in the big leagues. It looks to set up what I have in the future and what opportunities are going to come.”

Some recent winners of the award include Corbin Burnes (2017), Brandon Woodruff (‘16), Jorge Lopez (‘15) and Jimmy Nelson (‘14). Burnes and Woodruff currently are on the Brewers roster.

Lopez played for the Brewers before getting traded to the Kansas City Royals this season. Nelson would have pitched for the Brewers this season but never took the mound due to surgery on a partially torn labrum, shoulder capsule and rotator cuff last September.

Brown got a photo taken with Woodruff and Burnes before Friday’s game.

The Brewers won the National League Central on Monday for the first time since 2011.

Going into this season in Biloxi, Mississippi, Brown had to get familiar with a new area.

He played for the Class A Wisconsin Timber Rattlers before getting promoted to the A-Advanced Carolina Mudcats in 2017.

“Nothing,” Brown said when asked about what he knew about Biloxi. “I just knew there were a bunch of casinos. Around the park area is pretty nice. Waking up and just driving to the field and seeing the water was just relaxing. It was set up as a pretty fun environment.”

To start the season, Brown was named the team’s No. 1 pitcher. Out of 25 players on the season-opening roster, 14 were pitchers.

“It was everything and more than I had imagined,” Brown said. “I never even expected to start in Biloxi. When I got that opportunity, I knew it was something I needed to run with. I kind of got it figured out after the first month, and then just kept it rolling.”

Brown quickly made a name for himself in Double-A.

His biggest game was June 15 when he had a one-hit complete game shutout.

By the season’s end, in 125.2 innings of work, Brown finished 9-1 with a 2.44 ERA with 116 strikeouts against 36 walks in 22 games (21 starts) with Biloxi.

He led both the Southern League and organization in ERA and ranked among the league leaders in WHIP (second, 1.05), opponent batting average (second, .207) and fewest walks per nine innings for starting pitchers (second, 9.91).

Brown was named the Southern League’s Most Outstanding Pitcher and was a midseason and postseason All-Star.

A slew of people helped Brown make the jump in his third year of professional baseball.

“I don’t think I could pinpoint one name,” Brown said. “I think it was the entire pitching staff in Biloxi. We pushed each other. We knew we had a talented group. Whenever guys pitched well, we felt we needed to pitch just as well to stay there. We knew there were guys in Carolina that were also pitching well. It’s a job, and everyone is trying to fight for the same five spots in the rotation.”

The Shuckers went 81-59, clinching both the first- and second-half Southern League South Division titles.

They topped the Pensacola Blue Wahoos to advance to the Southern League finals but fell to the Jackson Generals in the championship.

The timing of which Brown found out about the award wasn’t the greatest.

“After my start in Jackson, in the championship series (a loss), our strength guy on the bus yelled that me and Cory Ray were player and pitcher of the year,” Brown said. “We were both just kind of out of it. It was probably 10 or 11 p.m. I didn’t even know what was said because my music was on. I didn’t expect it but kind of knew that it was going to happen. It just (stunk) to hear that after a tough loss. It was kind of a mix of emotions.”

Brown, listed at 6-1, 180 pounds, feels that he made big strides this season.

“I think mentally to be able to subside through the negatives with each start,” Brown listed as the most improved part of his game. “I just stuck to the game plan and didn’t try too hard. I just wanted to be myself.

“Mentally, it is starting to get easier. Physically, the talent level is going to keep getting tougher. I think that as long as I approach it better mentally every step I go through, I will be able to take the failures that come. I think that if I get mentally stronger, I will be prepared.”

While he hasn’t been told anything yet, Brown is expected to start out playing for the Triple-A San Antonio Missions next season.

“Whatever happens outside of Biloxi just happens,” Brown said. “I’m kind of left in the neutral. I don’t really know anything. I just need to go about my businesses and see what happens.”

The University of Kentucky product has an apartment in Lexington and plans on working out down there in the offseason.

“We have a group of about eight guys coming back from pro ball,” Brown said. “We have a nice group coming together to get better.”

On Thursday, the day before receiving his big award, Brown was in Seymour with his family and friends.

He said he plans on coming back as often as he can and will work with the Seymour High School baseball staff again this winter to put on a pitching camp.

“I’m always going to be here (in Seymour),” Brown said. “I’m always going to find my way back some point. It’s nice to come home, relax and see everybody.”

While he has gained more fame since this past spring, Brown doesn’t plan on changing himself any time soon.

“You just kind of live your life,” Brown said. “Whatever comes, comes. You try to be as open as you can for interviews or whatever it is. You need to stay who you are, and I think I’ve done that pretty well so far.”

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