Middle Tennessee State University Athletics
Brown's baseball journey continues to professional ranks
7/19/2021 6:00:00 PM | Baseball
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — Aaron Brown is not much getting a whole group together for big events.
Granted, he admits, when you get him to be a part of your team, you're getting 40 other people in his family alongside him.
Vanderbilt learned that when they recruited him to play baseball out of Mt. Juliet High School. State College of Florida learned that when he transferred to the junior college to toss 96.0 innings and strike out 101 batters as a sophomore.
And the Blue Raiders certainly learned that when he enrolled just 40 minutes down the road from his hometown and saw his fastball tick up from 91 mph to 95 mph in just one season.
But when big events are just about him? Brown keeps those he's closest to as close as possible.
Which is why last Monday, as rounds 2-10 cycled through during the MLB draft, it was just his father Robert, his mother Teresa, his brother Tyler and his sister Keeton sitting with him around the house when he got a call from Houston.
It was the Astros. Their ninth round pick, No. 268 overall, was just 10 picks away. And if he was still on the board when the pick got around to them, Aaron Brown was going to be their newest member.
On the other end of the line, in Middle Tennessee, the right-handed pitcher's voice crackled on the line.
"Let's do this thing."
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The road to being a top 10 round draft pick was a long one for Brown, as it is for many prospects across the country. But few have the stops that the 22-year-old "fastball-change up" guy did in his collegiate career by his 21st birthday.
His first stop, Vanderbilt, was one of the top baseball programs in the country, let alone within the mid-state area Brown grew up in. Getting the chance to play at a program like that, alongside many of the guys he grew up playing with and against around the Nashville area? It was an offer he couldn't turn down.
"If you're good enough to go to Vandy as a freshman," Middle Tennessee head coach Jim Toman said, "you're usually pretty good."
Brown was immediately taken by the player-first culture led by Tim Corbin, where guys like Chandler Day, Julian Infante and Patrick Raby were free to take freshmen like himself under their wing and set the expectations. Brown was quiet, just trying to set an example for others while pitching 13.0 innings out of the bullpen his first year.
At the end of the season, however, Brown had a tough decision to make. He loved Vanderbilt, his teammates, the culture, and fact his family lived close by. But with the arms coming in and heading out for the Commodores, he knew that if he wanted to pitch as much as he could during his eligibility, he would have to move on.
"That was probably the hardest thing I've ever had to do in my life," Brown said. "I've got four years of college baseball if I'm lucky, and I just wanted to play as much as I possibly can, no matter where it's at."
So Brown dropped down to the junior college level, joining the pitching staff at State College of Florida, formerly Manatee Junior College, one of the top programs on the Florida JuCo circuit under the tutelage of head coach Tim Hill II.
He thrived, going 9-3 with a 3.56 ERA across 16 appearances and 15 starts in his six months on the team, making the All-State team and drawing a ton of interest from schools wanting him to return to the Division I level.
Jim Toman is no stranger to recruiting transfer players to his team — his most recent roster featured at least 20 players who had played collegiately somewhere prior to their time at Middle Tennessee. And Brown, with his 6-3 frame, fastball in the low 90s and out-pitch changeup, easily fit the bill of someone he knew could help his team.
"It took us a while to get him committed," Toman said. "He was highly recruited out of the junior college, but because we were 45 minutes away, we ended up getting him."
Brown had a plethora of options, as Toman noted, but he admits the ability for his family to watch him regularly in person played a big role in his decision to enroll in Murfreesboro. It also helped that MT was a program in transition looking to get back on the map, something Brown knew he had a chance to be a part of.
The 2019-20 school year saw the immediate impact Brown had within the Blue Raider team, as he was named captain his first year on the squad. And while his time on the mound was short due to the COVID-19 pandemic, he got the chance to jump start his development with pitching coach Kyle Bunn. Bunn's various sayings ("if you want to throw hard, throw hard often," for instance) stick with Brown in conversation. But it was the pair of breaking balls that Bunn helped him during his time at MT, a curveball, and later a cutter, that Brown credits with getting him over the edge during the draft process.
"I was just a fastball changeup guy," Brown said. "He helped me out with my breaking balls that I didn't really have going in. And honestly, that's probably what helped me out a lot in getting this call and getting this opportunity to play professional baseball."
Toman credits Bunn for helping Brown's development as well, pointing out that his pitching coach's emphasis on strike throwing was taken to heart by his whole staff, but particularly Brown, who walked just 15 batters across 85.2 innings in 2021. Combined with Brown's 113 strikeouts, the sixth most ever by a Blue Raider in one season, and Brown's 7.53 K/BB ratio placed him in the top 10 nationally in the category.
But even beyond the diamond, beyond the fact that Brown helped pitch the Blue Raiders to the Conference-USA tournament for the first time since 2015, and then went out and beat No. 22 Charlotte in the opening round to make the all-tournament team. Beyond the key role Brown played in the steps the Blue Raider program is taking back to being a postseason contender, what Toman will miss the most about Brown is his leadership.
"It didn't matter if you were the freshman redshirting, or an all-conference player, he'd talk to you and help you. He's just the right type of teammate," Toman said. "I give his parents and Coach Corbin and Coach Hill a lot of credit, that kid is the perfect student athlete."
Toman says Brown constantly helped with the little things that kept the program running — fixing the mound, working on the bullpens, cleaning up the dugout and cutting the grass. And not only would he be out there helping, but he'd often get four or five teammates to help. A credit to himself, Toman notes, and his ability to learn from the places he's been.
"He took those two experiences and blended in immediately here, because he had the right makeup, he had the right leadership, he had the right work ethic," Toman said. "He was a veteran guy when he stepped on campus."
"I knew I wanted to be that kind of guy, especially for the younger guys coming in, because I was in their shoes at one point," Brown said. "I really enjoyed that role of being captain. It's not an easy role, per se, but I like that pressure of having that on the field and off the field stuff to deal with."
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Brown has barely had time to breathe since he was drafted last week. He was flown down to the Astros' spring training facility in West Palm Beach, Fla. on Wednesday, went through a barrage of physicals and, per Baseball America, has already signed with the team. He'll likely find himself in the Florida Complex League at the Rookie ball level, or even Low-A Fayetteville before the season is done.
"It kind of hasn't sunk in yet," Brown said of the whirlwind of the past week. "But it's a great opportunity, I know that."
How many more stops might he have on his baseball journey? If he continues to perform, maybe only a handful more as he moves up the minor league ranks. Toman just hopes he can get some tickets if Brown makes the big leagues.
But wherever baseball takes Aaron Brown, he knows that he'll always have a place to return to in Murfreesboro.
"That place is home to me, and I'm grateful that they gave me the opportunity to come play there," Brown said.
