Wingate's Brown Picked in MLB Draft
June 8, 2005

Courtesy Jeff Nelson, The Enquirer-Journal

Wingate, N.C.----The New York Mets liked Eric Brown so much, they didn’t want anybody to know it.

After the first day of Major League Baseball's first-year player draft, the secret is out. New York’s National League team selected the Wingate University right-handed pitcher with the ninth pick of the 18th round (539th overall) Tuesday, making Brown the first Bulldog to be drafted in nine years.

In 1996, the Chicago White Sox picked Allen Thomas in the 45th round. In 1995, the New York Yankees drafted Denny Lail in the 17th round. The same year, the Chicago White Sox picked Darren Hayes in the 37th round. Thomas, Lail and Hayes were Wingate’s most recent selections prior to the Mets tabbing Brown.

Wingate’s other draft hopeful this year, senior reliever Matt Trent (Roanoke, Va.) was not selected in the first 18 rounds conducted Tuesday. There are 32 more rounds scheduled for today (Wednesday).

A 6-foot-6, 225-pound junior, Brown (Hamlet, N.C.) was in Massachusetts preparing for a summer league when he heard the news. He was at practice when the Mets picked him.

“I'm still shocked,” said Brown, who will skip his senior season and sign a contract with New York. “I just can't believe it. I didn't expect to get picked on the first day at all; it’s great.”

As of 10 p.m. on Tuesday night, he had not spoken with anyone from the Mets, but he had been told before the draft that they had a mini-camp in Florida starting June 13.

Wingate pitching coach Rich Drennen said the Mets were the only team to give Brown a workout. Mets scout Marlin McPhail asked Wingate’s coaches not to reveal the team’s identity before the draft.

McPhail thought he had a ‘diamond in the rough,’ Drennen mentioned. McPhail didn’t want any other teams to wise up.

“(McPhail) kept saying to Eric, ‘Is anybody talking to you?’” Drennen said. “And Eric’s like, ‘No, not really.'”

“And he said, ‘Good…because they’re missing out.'”

Brown led the South Atlantic Conference in strikeouts with 111 this past year, while only walking 30 hitters in 95 innings. The 21-year-old features four pitches - a fastball, slider, curve and changeup - with his fastball in the 88 to 91 mile per hour range and his devastating slider as his out pitch.

“(McPhail) didn’t really care for his velocity as much as his location and movement,” Drennen noted “He was impressed with the ease of his delivery.”

The Mets picked six right-handed pitchers in the first 18 rounds, including first-rounder Mike Pelfrey of Wichita State University with the ninth pick overall.

McPhail had given Brown the indication that he could be picked anywhere between the 15th and 30th rounds. Drennen was ecstatic to hear his pupil went closer to the top of the projected range.

“I was thinking for Eric, between the 20 and 25 (th round), because I saw early they had already taken some right-handed pitchers,” Drennen said. “But I knew there was something about Eric that jumped out at (the scout).”