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Pitcher Jim Brower and The Career that Was
By Ben Noble
http://www.gopherhole.com/news_article/show/262373?referrer_id=334823
Jim Brower played for the 1985 East Tonka Little League World Series squad, and by the time he was a sophomore, had lettered in five sports – baseball, basketball, football, track and bowling. As a junior, he pitched a no-hitter against Eden Prairie. A Lake Blue All-Conference and All-State selection that boasted a 91 mph fastball as a senior, Brower was selected in the 56th round of the 1991 draft by the Pirates after he made it clear he wouldn't sign a pro contract and had every intention of pitching for the Gophers.
Led by second baseman Mark Merila, the Gophers won the Big Ten regular season and conference tournament championships in Brower's first season pitching for Minnesota, and made the NCAA Tournament three years running. Overall, Brower's three-year career under coach John Anderson was very solid if unspectacular, and he capped off his Gophers career by being named All-Big Ten as a junior and awarded the Dave Winfield award in 1994 as the Gophers top pitcher.
That summer, Brower was drafted again, this time in the sixth round by the Texas Rangers. The Seattle Mariners took former Twin Joe Mays eight picks later; the Twins selected high school righty Walker Champan, a career minor leaguer who was out of baseball by age 22, earlier in the sixth round.
The Career that Was
Brower signed with the Rangers almost immediately. Assigned to Low-A ball, he pitched quite well for his first three years in the minors, before struggling mightily between AA and AAA in 1997 at age 24. The Rangers released him, and Cleveland signed him to a minor-league deal within days. Two seasons later, Brower was a September call up in 1999 with the Cleveland Indians sporting a 22 game lead in the Central. Brower never appeared for the team, as The Tribe—led by an All-Star cast of Roberto Alomar, Manny Ramirez, Kenny Lofton, Jim Thome, and David Justice—lost in the rubber game of an opening round series to the Boston Red Sox.
Brower spent 2000 between the Indians and their AAA affiliate, the Buffalo Bisons. After the season, he was traded to the Cincinatti Red, where he spent all but one game with the big league club before being traded again in mid-June to the Montreal Expos for Bruce Chen. For a third time within a year, Brower switched teams, this time moving to the San Francisco Giants in an off-season deal that brought former Twin Livan Hernandez in return.
Used almost exclusively as a starter throughout his amateur and minor-league career, Brower finally got a chance as a MLB regular as a Giants reliever. He pitched over 100 innings for a playoff team in 2003, and set a team record with 89 appearances as the Giants right-handed setup man the following year.
San Francisco was a team in transition in the middle of last decade, and Brower was released early the next season after a rough April and May, but immediately latched on with the Braves. By the end of the season, he had once again reestablished himself as a setup man for a playoff team. He didn't allow a base runner in 5.1 innings of Atlanta's opening-round series loss to the Houston Astros.
And that was more or less the end of Brower's career as a MLB regular. He carved out a nice little niche, spending a season and a half as a legitimate MLB setup man, set a team record, and pitched in the playoffs twice. In the fickle world of MLB relievers, that's more than most.
Browers pitched a total of 21 appearances for Orioles, Padres and Yankees over the next two seasons. In 2008, he pitched in the minors for three different MLB organizations, as well as 20 innings in the Japan Central League. He spent 2009 in two different leagues of Independent ball, including an eleven-game stint with the St. Paul Saints.
In Ray Christensen's book Gopher Tales, he recounts Brower's plan upon graduating high school:
1. For now, he would turn down all major league offers.
2. He would pitch for the Gophers for three years.
3. He would then be drafted and pitch in the major leagues.
I suspect what went unsaid in this plan was that Brower would spend his pitching career as a starter. I don't know the intimacies of the conversations that went on with the managers and pitching coaches over the years, but Brower consistently made spot starts throughout his career, and I appreciate the note that he left his career on. Brower was added to the Rimini roster of the Italian League at the last minute, and proceeded to begin the 2010 season with two exceptional starts: an Opening-Day no hitter, and another no hitter broken up in the eighth inning in his second start.
Brower returned stateside the following season to serve as pitching coach of the Kane County Cougars, at the time a Class-A affiliate of the Kansas City Royals. After two seasons, the team changed affiliations, but Brower stuck with the Royals: he was promoted this season to become the pitching coach for the AA Northwest Arkansas Naturals.
By Ben Noble
http://www.gopherhole.com/news_article/show/262373?referrer_id=334823
Jim Brower played for the 1985 East Tonka Little League World Series squad, and by the time he was a sophomore, had lettered in five sports – baseball, basketball, football, track and bowling. As a junior, he pitched a no-hitter against Eden Prairie. A Lake Blue All-Conference and All-State selection that boasted a 91 mph fastball as a senior, Brower was selected in the 56th round of the 1991 draft by the Pirates after he made it clear he wouldn't sign a pro contract and had every intention of pitching for the Gophers.
Led by second baseman Mark Merila, the Gophers won the Big Ten regular season and conference tournament championships in Brower's first season pitching for Minnesota, and made the NCAA Tournament three years running. Overall, Brower's three-year career under coach John Anderson was very solid if unspectacular, and he capped off his Gophers career by being named All-Big Ten as a junior and awarded the Dave Winfield award in 1994 as the Gophers top pitcher.
That summer, Brower was drafted again, this time in the sixth round by the Texas Rangers. The Seattle Mariners took former Twin Joe Mays eight picks later; the Twins selected high school righty Walker Champan, a career minor leaguer who was out of baseball by age 22, earlier in the sixth round.
The Career that Was
Brower signed with the Rangers almost immediately. Assigned to Low-A ball, he pitched quite well for his first three years in the minors, before struggling mightily between AA and AAA in 1997 at age 24. The Rangers released him, and Cleveland signed him to a minor-league deal within days. Two seasons later, Brower was a September call up in 1999 with the Cleveland Indians sporting a 22 game lead in the Central. Brower never appeared for the team, as The Tribe—led by an All-Star cast of Roberto Alomar, Manny Ramirez, Kenny Lofton, Jim Thome, and David Justice—lost in the rubber game of an opening round series to the Boston Red Sox.
Brower spent 2000 between the Indians and their AAA affiliate, the Buffalo Bisons. After the season, he was traded to the Cincinatti Red, where he spent all but one game with the big league club before being traded again in mid-June to the Montreal Expos for Bruce Chen. For a third time within a year, Brower switched teams, this time moving to the San Francisco Giants in an off-season deal that brought former Twin Livan Hernandez in return.
Used almost exclusively as a starter throughout his amateur and minor-league career, Brower finally got a chance as a MLB regular as a Giants reliever. He pitched over 100 innings for a playoff team in 2003, and set a team record with 89 appearances as the Giants right-handed setup man the following year.
San Francisco was a team in transition in the middle of last decade, and Brower was released early the next season after a rough April and May, but immediately latched on with the Braves. By the end of the season, he had once again reestablished himself as a setup man for a playoff team. He didn't allow a base runner in 5.1 innings of Atlanta's opening-round series loss to the Houston Astros.
And that was more or less the end of Brower's career as a MLB regular. He carved out a nice little niche, spending a season and a half as a legitimate MLB setup man, set a team record, and pitched in the playoffs twice. In the fickle world of MLB relievers, that's more than most.
Browers pitched a total of 21 appearances for Orioles, Padres and Yankees over the next two seasons. In 2008, he pitched in the minors for three different MLB organizations, as well as 20 innings in the Japan Central League. He spent 2009 in two different leagues of Independent ball, including an eleven-game stint with the St. Paul Saints.
In Ray Christensen's book Gopher Tales, he recounts Brower's plan upon graduating high school:
1. For now, he would turn down all major league offers.
2. He would pitch for the Gophers for three years.
3. He would then be drafted and pitch in the major leagues.
I suspect what went unsaid in this plan was that Brower would spend his pitching career as a starter. I don't know the intimacies of the conversations that went on with the managers and pitching coaches over the years, but Brower consistently made spot starts throughout his career, and I appreciate the note that he left his career on. Brower was added to the Rimini roster of the Italian League at the last minute, and proceeded to begin the 2010 season with two exceptional starts: an Opening-Day no hitter, and another no hitter broken up in the eighth inning in his second start.
Brower returned stateside the following season to serve as pitching coach of the Kane County Cougars, at the time a Class-A affiliate of the Kansas City Royals. After two seasons, the team changed affiliations, but Brower stuck with the Royals: he was promoted this season to become the pitching coach for the AA Northwest Arkansas Naturals.