Jeremy Brown

Jeremy Scott Brown

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 10", Weight 226 lb.
• School University of Alabama
• High School Hueytown High School
• Debut September 3, 2006
• Final Game October 1, 2006
• Born October 25, 1979 in Birmingham, AL USA

BR page

Biographical information

Jeremy Brown is a former catcher who saw his only major league action with the Oakland Athletics in 2006, hitting .300 with 2 doubles in 5 games. Most of his appearances were at DH.

Brown was born in Alabama and went to high school and college there. At the University of Alabama, he was Freshman 1st team All-America designated hitter in 1999, Summer League First-Team All-American first baseman in 2000, and Summer League First-Team All-American designated hitter in 2001. In both 2001 and 2002, he was the SEC All-Star catcher. He was picked in the supplemental first round of the 2002 amateur draft by the Athletics. That pick is much discussed in the book Moneyball, as Brown was a prototypical underrated player, the type favored by the A's at the time, because of his "bad body" and lack of pure athletic skill married with outstanding plate discipline and success in the college ranks. Most teams were focusing instead on players with raw tools or "projectability". In the famous quote reported by Michael Lewis, Oakland GM Billy Beane is supposed to have said "We're not selling jeans here" in reference to Brown, meaning that it did not matter that he was overweight as long as he knew how to take a walk and could hit the ball a long way. He is briefly featured in the cinematic version of the book, tripping and falling around first base while trying to dig for extra bases only to discover he had hit a home run.

Brown started in the Northwest League, where his .486 on-base percentage after 10 games was a factor in moving him up to the California League for the rest of the season. There, he also drew copious walks, posting a .310/.444/.545 line. He spent three seasons with the Midland RockHounds, from 2003 to 2005. His batting average ranged from .256 to .275, and while he continued to get many walks, his power was modest until his third season when he slugged 20 home runs. He moved up to Triple A in 2006, hitting 13 home runs with a .255 batting average in 77 games. He had a chance to make the big league team, since the regular catchers were both past the age of 30: Jason Kendall was 32 in 2006 while Adam Melhuse was 34. However, Brown never returned to the major leagues after his cup of coffee, abruptly retiring in February 2008.

While his minor league stats were not bad, Brown's ultimate lack of MLB success provided some ammunition to Beane's detractors, who claimed that you could not completely ignore athletic ability in drafting (because, after all, baseball is an athletic contest).