A.J. Brack

Andrew James Brack

• Bats Left, Throws Left
• Height 6' 8", Weight 175 lb.

• School Rollins College

• Born December 7, 1977

BR Minors page

A.J. Brack was an independent league pitcher who almost made it to the Olympics.

Brack struck out 280 batters in college and threw the first no-hitter in Rollins College history, doing so on March 5, 1999 against Madonna University. A.J. made his pro debut with the '99 Greenville Bluesmen, going 0-2 with a 9.18 ERA, 30 hits and 20 walks in 16 2/3 innings.

In 2000, the left-hander was much better with the New Jersey Jackals (0-2, 2 Sv, 4.56, 50 K in 49 1/3) and Sioux Falls Canaries (0-1, 1.23, 9 K in 7 1/3 IP). He fell to 1-1, 6.09 with the 2001 Elmira Pioneers. The gigantic left-hander was 3-1 with a 4.28 ERA for the 2002 Jackals and 0-2 with a 6.43 ERA that year for the Pennsylvania Road Warriors.

Brack had a 2-1, 3.74 record for the 2004 New Haven County Cutters, striking out 34 in 33 2/3 IP. He was on Greece's roster for the 2004 Olympics; his maternal grandfather had been from Greece. He tested positive for a steroid shortly before the Athens Games though and was banned from playing. He attributed the negative test to an over-the-counter power drink. He was one of two Greek players so banned; the other was Derek Nicholson.

A.J. did get a chance to play for Greece in the 2008 European Championship Qualifiers. As a corner outfielder, he was 1 for 10 with four strikeouts. He tied Rinat Makhmoutov for the tourney lead in ERA, though, tossing six shutout innings. In Greece's first win over the Russian national team, he tossed two shutout innings to save Tom Lyons' 5-3 victory. Brack then pitched four scoreless frames with six whiffs in an easy win over Portugal before giving way to Christoforos Rompinson.

Brack is with Greece for the 2010 European Championship.

Sources

• "The History of Baseball in Greece" by Tom Mazarakis (from defunct geocities site)
• CEB website
• A.J. Brack's website