Brooks Pounders

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Brooks Casey Pounders

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Biographical Information[edit]

Brooks Pounders is a pitcher who made his MLB debut in 2016.

He was 9-2 with a 1.96 ERA in his last year of high school and was recruited by the University of Southern California. The Pittsburgh Pirates took him with the second pick of the second round of the 2009 amateur draft, one pick before Mychal Givens, and signed him to a deal with a $670,000 bonus. The scout was Sean Campbell. He had a bad pro debut, allowing 3 hits, a walk and 2 runs in lasting only 2/3 of an inning for the GCL Pirates against the GCL Yankees on July 4th. He was 2-2 with a 3.04 ERA for the summer, bouncing back. Baseball America rated him the #15 prospect in the Gulf Coast League, between Eury Pérez and Yorman Rodriguez.

Pounders posted a 3-3, 4.46 record with one save for the 2010 State College Spikes. With the 2011 West Virginia Power, he was 5-5 with 3 saves and a 3.68 ERA, striking out 72 in 66 innings. Pittsburgh then dealt him with Diego Goris to the Kansas City Royals for Yamaico Navarro. He split 2012 between the Kane County Cougars (3-2, 3.38) and Wilmington Blue Rocks (6-4, 4.32), returning to the rotation after two years in relief. He tied Aaron Brooks and Doug Davis for 4th in the Royals chain in wins.

The Californian right-hander was only 5-7 with a 4.50 ERA and a save for the 2013 Northwest Arkansas Naturals but he did throw the first no-hitter in franchise history, blanking the Midland RockHounds on June 27. He had Tommy John surgery after the season and saw limited time in 2014 with the Idaho Falls Chukars (0-1, 4.80 in 6 G) and Wilmington (0-1, 4.11 in 3 G), though he did fan 37 in 30 1/3 IP. His only win came in MILB.com's Moniker Madness contest.

He bounced around in 2015 while battling injuries, appearing for Idaho Falls (0 R in 3 IP), the AZL Royals (4 R, 1 ER in 6 IP), Wilmington (0-1, 5.40 in 2 G) and the Naturals (3-4, 2.19 in 8 G). He was in the Arizona Fall League, tossing 12 shutout innings (5 H, 0 BB, 14 K) for the Surprise Saguaros, going 1-0. He was then was a late addition to Team USA for the 2015 Premier 12. He had a save (against the Dutch national team) and a 6.43 ERA, toasted for five runs in 1 2/3 IP in the championship match with South Korea, including a three-run homer by Byung-ho Park. He had entered with no runs in 5 2/3 IP coming into the game, when he relieved Zack Segovia with a 2-0 deficit in the 3rd and putting it out of reach by the time Anthony Vasquez took over in the 4th.

In 2016, he began on a solid note with the Omaha Storm Chasers, finally making AAA in his 8th pro season. He was 4-1 with a 2.80 ERA and over a K per inning when the Royals called him to the majors as Wade Davis went on the DL. Pounders made his debut in The Show on July 5th by relieving Chien-Ming Wang in the 6th with a 7-2 deficit against the Toronto Blue Jays. He allowed a single to Devon Travis, but Josh Thole struck out as Travis was caught stealing, then Pounders whiffed Ezequiel Carrera as well. In the 7th, he allowed a hit to Josh Donaldson, fanned Edwin Encarnacion, gave up a Michael Saunders single and walked Troy Tulowitzki on nine pitches. Kevin Pillar hit a sacrifice fly. After a balk, Pounders got Justin Smoak on a long fly. Peter Moylan relieved him in the 8th. He was 1-0 with a 13.50 ERA in four games for the Royals and was sent back down when Davis came off the DL. He was back with KC later in the season, ending up with 13 appearances. His ERAv was 9.24, the result of allowing 13 runs - all earned - in 12 2/3 innings. He picked up a pair of wins against one loss. On December 1st, he was traded to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in return for Jared Ruxer.

His father is Brad Pounders.

Sources include the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 2016 Royals Media Guide, World Baseball and Softball Confederation website

Related Sites[edit]

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