Local college pitcher dedicates Ban Johnson All-Star game start to his grandfather
In one of the final starts of his pitching career, Plattsburg right-hander Austin Brooks threw a gem: five innings, 11 strikeouts and no runs allowed to win the first game of the Ban Johnson Collegiate League championship.
After the game, Brooks went to the hospital to go over the game with his grandpa, who had suffered a stroke one week earlier.
“I just wanted to go out there and do everything I could to make him proud because he’s given me a lot,” Brooks said. “After my first start, he wanted to sit there and watch through the game with me.”
One of the stars of the BJCL, a Kansas City collegiate summer baseball league, Brooks led his team to the title with a league-leading 0.75 ERA. On Monday night, he reaped the rewards, starting the BJCL’s All-Star game at Kauffman Stadium for the final pitching appearance of his career.
The former Metropolitan Community College pitcher originally planned to hang up his cleats at the end of the spring season. But longtime BJCL coach and former All-Star Jake Bradshaw was short on pitchers heading into the summer season.
“Bradshaw called me and just asked if I’d come out of the bullpen here and there for him,” Brooks said. “Turns out I was starting every week, and I have to give everything to him because that’s the way I wanted to go out.”
After a season of grueling Monday and Wednesday doubleheaders in Parkville, Brooks and other BJCL standouts ended their summer baseball season under the bright lights of the Royals’ Kauffman Stadium in front of friends and family.
Kansas City, Kansas Community College right fielder Darius Freeman won MVP of the game after slashing two triples to lead his “American League” team to a 15-2 win.
Freeman grew up a Mookie Betts fan and models his game after the star Major League Baseball outfielder. He will return to Kauffman Stadium to throw the first pitch at the Royals-Red Sox game as the All-Star game MVP.
“It’s a blessing just to be able to play here, just being able to be on a stage like this and feel like a kid,” Freeman said. “It’s a dream come true to throw (the first pitch) in front of thousands of people.”
Rockhurst University pitcher Clayton Medlin started the All-Star game opposite Brooks and collected the win after his team batted in eight runs in the second inning.
Medlin credits the summer league to his confidence on the mound: a four-time BJCL All-Star, he pitched at Kauffman Stadium the summer after high school and still remembers advice he received then from older pitchers.
Four years later, Medlin is now one of the “vets.” He started the All-Star game after leading the Ban Johnson league in strikeouts (61) and throwing the best performance of his career, a seven-inning no-hitter.
“I was just talking to one guy who was on his way to college, and he’s asking me tips on how to throw harder, take care of your arm and stuff,” Medlin said. “So I like doing that with guys.”
So does Brooks. The former Metropolitan Community College-Maple Woods pitcher is now the Kansas City junior college’s pitching coach.
As his hopes of playing professional baseball were dwindling, Brooks said he was looking into becoming a carpenter or working for energy-service company Energy. Then his former coaches at Maple Woods, including head coach Marty Kilgore called him and asked if he wanted to join the staff.
“I owe everything to Bradshaw, (longtime Kansas City high school baseball coach) Albert Minnis, coach Marty (Kilgore) and my family,” Brooks said.
Brooks’ grandfather is out of the hospital. He wasn’t able to make it to Monday’s game at Kauffman Stadium to watch Brooks pitch one last time.
But Bradshaw, who managed the “National League” squad, was there for Brooks when he stepped off the mound one last time and walked to the dugout to hug his manager.
“It’s sad, since I’ve dedicated 18 years of my life to this,” Brooks said. “But just kind of (told him), ‘Thank you, and I will cherish this moment forever.’”
This story was originally published August 1, 2022 at 11:27 PM.