Brett Roberts

Brett Joseph Roberts

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 7", Weight 225 lb.

• School Morehead State University
• High School South Webster High School

• Born March 24, 1970 in Portsmouth, OH USA

BR minors page

Biographical Information

Brett Roberts peaked at AAA.

Roberts was taken by the Cincinnati Reds in the 33rd round of the 1988 amateur draft out of high school, one round after they took Mo Sanford, but did not sign. Going on to college, he was taken by the Minnesota Twins in the 4th round of the 1991 amateur draft, one pick after Chris Seelbach. He was 3-0 with a 2.25 ERA that summer for the Elizabethton Twins.

In the winter of 1991-1992, though, Roberts starred in another sport, averaging 28.1 points per game as a senior at Morehead State, winning Ohio Valley Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Year and leading NCAA Division I in scoring. The Sacramento Kings took him in the second round of the 1992 NBA draft but he did not play in the NBA. Back in baseball with the Kenosha Twins, he was 1-1 with a 5.56 ERA in limited time in 1992.

Playing baseball full-time in the summer of 1993, he was 9-16 with a 4.35 ERA for the Fort Myers Miracle. He led the Florida State League in losses (one ahead of Pat Ahearne), was 3rd with 184 hits allowed (behind Ken Wheeler and Brad Schorr), was second in runs allowed (93, 8 back of Wheeler), allowed the most earned runs (84) and was second with 86 walks (11 behind Dennis Gray). One positive was that he tied for 9th with 108 strikeouts. Among Twins farmhands, he led in losses (four over Dickie Dixon) and hits allowed (one more than Tom Drees) while being second to Ron Caridad in walks. Among all US minor leaguers, he tied for second in losses, one behind Brent Hansen).

Roberts split 1994 between the Miracle (6-7, 4.32) and Nashville Xpress (2-1, 6.75). In 1995, he was sharper at 11-9, 3.41 for the Hardware City Rock Cats. He was 8th in the Eastern League in ERA (between Dan Serafini and Reynol Mendoza), tied Shawn Senior, Rafael Orellano and Blake Doolan for 5th in wins and was 4th in strikeouts (135, between Garrett Stephenson and Everett Stull). Of the top 8 in the EL in Ks, only he and Orellano never made the majors. Among Minnesota minor leaguers, he tied for 5th in wins (with Rob Radlosky, Benj Sampson and Rob DeBrino), was 3rd in ERA among pitchers with 100+ IP (after Keith Linebarger and Troy Carrasco) and was third in strikeouts (after Travis Miller and Aaron Fultz).

Making it to AAA with the 1996 Salt Lake Buzz, the righty was 9-7 with a 5.40 ERA. He led the 1996 PCL in hits allowed (211), runs allowed (115, one ahead of Eric Bell), earned runs (101, 5 ahead of Glenn Dishman), homers (28, two more than Albert Bustillos) and starts (30, tied with Gary Rath). He was pitching in a high-offense environment as Salt Lake led the league easily with 855 runs allowed and had the second-highest ERA at 5.09. He split 1997 between Salt Lake (1-3, 6.90) and the independent Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks (5-2, 3.53) to end his career.

He had gone 47-46 with a save and a 4.53 ERA in 158 games as a pro (138 starts).

He later taught and coached basketball in high school.

Sources

• 1994-1997 Baseball Almanacs
• Morehead State bio