Brett Brach did not land the summer job he expected, but he is not complaining. Brach, who led the Monmouth University baseball team to the 2009 Northeast Conference championship and a trip to the NCAA tournament as the Hawks’ No. 1 starter, had planned to find a local job this summer and pitch wherever and whenever he could.
PHOTO COURTESY OF MONMOUTH UNIVERSITY Freehold Township resident Brett Brach has gone from pitching for the Monmouth University Hawks in the spring of 2009 to pitching for a Cleveland Indians farm team in Ohio this summer after being drafted by the Indians in June. Brach, a resident of Freehold Township and a graduate of Freehold Township High School, found his job all right, but it is not local.
What he’s doing is pitching for the Mahonina Valley (Ohio) Scrappers in the New York-Penn League. Brach was drafted by the Cleveland Indians in the 10th round of the Major League Baseball Draft on June 10 and after signing a contract with the Indians he was sent off to the club’s Single A affiliate in Ohio.
Brach was scouted by representatives of several major league teams during the season and the Indians were in constant contact with him. Still, on draft day, he did not let his hopes get too high.
“I really didn’t expect it,” he said. “If it happened, it happened. I was in a great situation at Monmouth. It was a win-win. If I got drafted in the first 20 rounds I would sign (with the pro team). If not, I would have gone back to Monmouth.”
The Indians called on draft day and Brach had his suitcase packed and was headed for Mahonina Valley.
For the hard-throwing right-hander, draft day was the fulfillment of a dream he has had since he first threw a baseball in his backyard.
“It’s pretty crazy,” he said.
Brett is the second member of the Brach family to play professional baseball. His older brother, Brad, is currently pitching for the San Diego Padres’ Class A team, the Fort Wayne (Ind.) Wizards of the Midwest League.
Brad, who is two years older than Brett, is the Wizards’ closer and was recently selected to play in the league’s all-star game.
The brothers were teammates at Monmouth University for one year before Brad was drafted in 2007.
Having an older brother who has gone through what he has gone through has had its advantages for Brett. His brother worked with him on developing a two-seam fastball, for example.
“He’s really helped me,” said Brett. “On road trips he told me what to pack, which is important, and he told me it’s a long season, not to get too high or too low.”
Brach, who is being looked at as a starter, has already made two starts for the Scrappers. He pitched four innings in each start and was on a 50-pitch count.
Already, thanks to his brother and his own experiences, Brach knows the difference between Division I college baseball and the professional game. From the leadoff hitter to the No. 9 hitter, everyone can hit.
“Everybody there is the best hitter on their college team,” he said. “Your mistakes are amplified.”
Thus far, Brach has proven he can get hitters out by relying on the tools that made him Monmouth’s No. 1 starter. He throws hard, throws strikes and mixes it up with his curve and changeup.
In eight innings he struck out seven hitters and had a 3.37 ERA.
When the Scrappers are home, Brach spends most of his day at the stadium. He does his weight training and throwing if he is between starts. This is no longer college, it’s business.
Brach, who played summer ball in Canada last year, said his experience in Canada has helped make the adjustment to living on the road easier.
In Mahonina, he lives with a teammate in the home of a host family. The house is just three minutes away from the Scrappers’ field. The host family follows the Scrappers and on most nights the discussion is on that evening’s game.
Brach has yet to be welcomed to the long bus rides for which baseball’s minor leagues are famous. So far his longest trip was four hours to Williamsport, Pa. The Scrappers have not yet made their 12-hour jaunt to Vermont.
The former Freehold Township High School standout has found his teammates to be very helpful.
“Everyone has been real nice,” he said. “Everyone is trying to do their best.”
It says a lot about the quality of baseball played by Coach Dean Ehehalt’s Monmouth Hawks that Ryan Buch, another Hawks starter, was drafted by the Chicago White Sox. This spring marked the second time in two years that Monmouth has had two players drafted.
“Both Ryan and Brett should be very proud of being selected,” said Ehehalt. “They both have worked very hard in order to put themselves in this position.”
With Brett joining his brother, Brad, in professional baseball, it means some long road trips for their parents, Mike and Mary. Last weekend they went to see Brett pitch in Williamsport and then they were off to catch Brad in Dayton, Ohio.
That is a far cry from watching the boys at Freehold Township High School and at Monmouth University, although there were road trips there as well. Monmouth made two trips to the NCAA tournament while Brad and Brett were pitching for the Hawks and the Brachs went to both events at Arizona State University and the University of Mississippi.
“It was so much fun,” Mike said of the NCAA tournament trips. “It was a great experience.”
Brad and Brett first started to make an impression with the Freehold Township Little League and then both became aces in high school for the Patriots. When they went to college, Mike said, it crossed his mind that his sons might one day play baseball professionally.
“It’s what they always wanted to do,” he said. “It’s exciting to see them have the opportunity to pursue their goals. Every year they got better. They worked harder and harder.”
Mike said the roles his sons are playing in the pros are different than he anticipated. He thought Brad, a workhorse who completes games, was more suited to starting, and that Brett, with a more explosive fastball, would be better as a closer.
It makes little difference who is doing what because both of the Brach boys are enjoying the realization of their dreams, and Mike and Mary are enjoying it just as much as their sons.