For Ward Melville product Ben Brown, it’s been an outstanding start to his professional baseball career.
The 18-year-old, opted to sign with the Philadelphia Phillies as opposed to attending Siena College after getting selected in the 33rd round, has an unblemished 3-0 record in the 2018 season after yesterday’s masterpiece against the GCL Tigers. The 6’6″ RHP struck out 16 batters over 6 shutout innings, yielding just one walk and two hits.
He lowered his ERA to 1.80 through 30.0 IP with 45 strikeouts and a 1.10 WHIP.
Brown’s story is truly remarkable, as he went from missing virtually his entire junior season after enduring an emergency appendectomy and seeing his velocity dip to 82 MPH to getting drafted in one calendar year. Everyone that is close with him has raved about his work ethic and commitment to improving himself. That work ethic allowed him increase his velocity to 90-92 MPH.
“Ben is always the first one in for his session and the last one out whether it’s at 8am or 9pm,” said his trainer Jarad Vollkommer. “He understands what it takes to become a big league guy: work ethic. He’s always asking for more, more, more. I never have to ask him to give me 100 percent, he’s a very coachable kid who knows when to dial it in and when to ask for help on something,” he added.
Now that he is in pro ball as opposed to college, his likelihood of climbing the organizational ladder is substantially better despite when he was drafted. In fact, his body type and age (doesn’t turn 19 until September 9) greatly works in his favor. Under the proper tutelage, it’s not far-fetched that he could be a triple-digit thrower in 2-3 years.
Regardless of your fandom, the Phillies will be a team to monitor in the next few years as they also feature fellow Long Islanders Nick Fanti, Kyle Young and Logan O’Hoppe.
