You’ll excuse him for doing button hooks, curls, and fly routes tracking down fly balls in center field. Jordan Brewer had every intention of simply being a walk-on wide receiver for Jim Harbaugh‘s University of Michigan football team, but something called fate intervened.
Two non-throwing shoulder separations didn’t help, either.
A possible career in shoulder pads and helmets was officially ended July 1, when Brewer, an electric five-tool outfielder, signed his contract with the Houston Astros. Houston drafted the athletic, 6’1″, 195-pound Michigan junior in the third round (106th overall) of the 2019 MLB player draft.
“I’m beyond excited,” Brewer, pen still in hand, told reporters. “I can’t even put it into words right now. It’s going to be really fun, really cool. A new chapter of my life is starting and it’s going to be awesome.”
While the team didn’t announce terms of the 21-year-old’s contract, it’s rumored he received a bonus of $500,000, just under his $549,000 allotted pick value.
Brewer was born August 1, 1997, and attended St. Joseph High School on the shore of Lake Michigan, about 90 miles east of Chicago. His father, Richard, played football at the state’s Olivet College, perhaps planting the seed of pigskins and cleats in little Jordan’s mind instead of horsehide and stirrup socks.
Nevertheless, Brewer, a lifelong Chicago Cubs fan, starred for the baseball Bears as a four-year varsity letter winner, while also pursuing his football dream.
It was after a football regional championship game in his senior year that Brewer choked back tears in the St. Joe’s locker room. A second shoulder dislocation put Jordan’s athletic career -in any sport- in doubt, if not in serious jeopardy. A six-month recovery prognosis after surgery put his senior year for the St. Joseph 2016 baseball season in doubt, as well.
Remarkably, Brewer’s quick recovery prompted a return to the diamond in three months. His dream of walking on for Harbaugh and his Michigan Wolverines football squad now dashed, he found a taker for his baseball skills in Lincoln Trail Community College.
“A preferred walk-on coming off a shoulder injury?” Brewer asked Freep.com, rhetorically. “That ended that. I hung up those cleats. And I knew I could play baseball. I enjoy playing baseball, and I knew it would be better on my body.”
In his two seasons for the Statesmen, he hit a remarkably consistent .368 with 12 home runs, 73 RBIs, and 83 runs scored. These numbers earned Brewer First Team All-Conference recognition both years (2017 and 2018).
A Maize’n’Blue Brewer
All this was more than enough to impress Michigan skipper (and newly-named D1 Baseball Coach of the Year) Erik Bakich enough to offer Brewer a Maize and Blue roster spot for the 2019 season, and Brewer eagerly accepted.
Bakich quickly recognized Brewer’s well-above-average speed (6.5 60-yard dash), his plus raw power, and his projection as a center fielder with speed or a more than capable right fielder with his plus arm. Brewer, flashing not just a little flexibility, even showed up playing first base on occasion.
Brewer possesses an odd combination of dexterity, batting (and writing) right-handed while throwing left-handed, making first base an attractive landing spot, albeit one that doesn’t take advantage of his plus speed.
The kind of year the pack-a-game Juicy Fruit-chewing Brewer ended up having, though, was far from expected: “I was supposed to just be a utility guy, a fill-in guy, and we had some injuries and I had to start, and just rolled from there,” Brewer told WSJM Radio.
Brewer repaid Bakich’s confidence by slashing .329/.389/.564 with 12 home runs, 59 RBIs, and 25 steals, earning him 2019 Big 10 Player of the Year honors, leading Michigan to the College World Series.
Brewer routinely turned in exit velocities well above 100 mph while at Michigan, a hitting stat the data-hungry Astros will be eager to see deployed at Minute Maid Park.
Brewer took that power and had himself a career day in mid-March with two home runs, including a grand slam and seven RBIs. A brief, mid-season slump led him to follow the advice from assistant coach Nick Schnabel to “stay on the ball and trust your hands.”
Scouting grades: Hit: 50 | Power: 50 | Run: 65 | Arm: 50 | Field: 55 | Overall: 45
Brewer’s easy coachability had to be an asset that only added to Houston’s interest. Plus, with his speed/power combo, it’s not hard to project Brewer as a potential 20 homer/20 steal star with the ‘Stros.
With a perpetual grin that seems impossible to chase away, the energetic, moon-faced Brewer will be an infectious clubhouse leader for the Astros, not dissimilar to the role George Springer has enjoyed since his MLB debut in 2014.
Springer becomes a free agent after the 2020 season, and while the prospect of the team’s spark plug leadoff hitter not remaining an Astro seems unthinkable, having a Jordan Brewer in the wings might help smooth a possible transition. Brewer, however, likely won’t be debut-ready til about the 2022 season. But, a quick learner, Brewer might surprise everybody.
Draft Day Memory
Most of us will never know the feeling of hearing our name called for the culmination of a life-long dream, but Jordan’s experience (and recollection) is particularly memorable:
“I finally get to the hotel room and turn on my laptop, and just heard a whole bunch of banging on my door; it literally sounded like the police were trying to break my door down,” Brewer remembered recently.
“My roommate opened it up and [my teammates] all came jumping on me and my computer. It was delayed, so I didn’t see it [the draft announcement] right away. It was really cool. I wouldn’t trade that moment for anything.”
Brewer reported to the Astros’ Class A Short Season Tri-City ValleyCats of the New York-Penn League on July 6 to begin his professional career.
He’d really like to carry on with the uni #22 he sported at Michigan, but unless he’s able to talk pitcher Luis De Paula out of it, he’ll have to pick another.
Much like Stretch Armstrong, though, Jordan Brewer has proven he’s more than flexible.
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