Major League Dreams - Brewer Hicklen '17

foreign [Laughter] ERS welcome to episode 95 of UAB green and told original debut Monday April 10th 2023. through this podcast we're able to share stories from members of the UAB Community take a listen back to past episodes at alumni.uab.edu Green and told on Spotify or the Apple podcast app and while they are leave a written review so more alums can discover us I'm Greg Berry a UAB Alum and director of Communications in the office of alumni affairs some would say there's nothing better than baseball after all it is America's pastime the sport is the best since growing up in the midwest it's always been my sport it's a game like none other played with a bat a ball and gloves for today's green and total guest he's living the dream as an outfielder in the Kansas City Royals organization as a two sport athlete at UAB Brewer hicklin has always had star qualities but as he'll share it wasn't until after his first season of playing ball at uab's Young Memorial Field that he discovered he had something special I had some agents reaching out to me but I could represent me and I'm like okay this is a little weird in 2017 Brewer became the highest drafted player the program had ever had the anticipation off the charts The Waiting making him nervous six jobs that get picked and I'm like oh gosh you know I got this big party planned on Saturday night because I knew I was getting picked that day the Royals said they're gonna pick me they just didn't know when or where seemingly baseball is all about calls the call you get when selected by a major league team the call to the bullpen to bring in a relief pitcher and the call to join the big league team for Brewer that call came at the perfect time it was almost a year to the date I mean I was in double A hitting the 150 just at the bottom of my career just feeling like I had no chance foreign or Brewer is living out of fantasy many young boys can only dream about as a professional baseball player his goal of finding a spot in the major league roster is Within Reach but Brewers days growing up in Huntsville weren't solely spent on the fresh-cut grass of a ball field no he was a well-rounded athlete one who is always on the go I was just a kid that wanted a costume idea on the go and so you know I was swimming in the summer football in the fall basketball in the winter baseball the spring and I never really uh focused on a specific sport other than just playing sports in general and it wasn't until I got to high school that I narrowed down between the football and baseball and I made the baseball team I think when I was in eighth grade and then a freshman you know started playing football in high school and then sophomore year uh played defense and then junior senior he played quarterbacking defense so Sports have always kind of been the going factor for for our family and especially for me and something that I've always enjoy doing you obviously had talents you you played two sports in college when did you realize that you had something that was special when I was little I was never like the biggest fastest strongest but I was always kind of at the you know one of the more Athletic kids and I think um you know my parents were both athletes so combined with that and also just by willingness and desire to work hard and I never really was a sports specific player I was always just an athlete playing that specific sport I guess my second year of college that I realized hey this could be for real with that being said I always had the dream and aspiration to play the MLB in the NFL to be able to live out the dream that I had when I was a kid is brave surreal and honestly an incredible blessing you're growing up in the early 2000s who were some of the idols the guys that you were looking up to as quarterbacks catchers because you mentioned those are two of the positions that you you kind of wanted to to be when you got into the pros you know I was a catcher primarily because it was involved in every play and I'll build it until I got to college but I wanted to be a catcher because I kind of wanted to be the leader on the field and likewise being a quarterback so Chipper Jones was actually my favorite player number 10 I ordered number 10 really all the way through college unfortunately in the Royal system it's it's uh we're tired but my dad was a Steelers fan so Big Ben I like to watch him and obviously Tom Brady but um yeah it was just really I just like to be kind of the I don't want to say the centerpiece and the whole the game but I like to be involved and I felt like that was where my skills were best suited the leadership something that I've always kind of I don't know just something that has been ingrained in me since I was a kid just kind of doing one step extra just you know being uh the leader that pulls people together it's something that I've always enjoyed doing other than just playing sports so I love bringing people together and that's something that both those positions just by the trait allowed me to do and then I was able to kind of take it from there when it came time to start looking at schools what Drew you to Birmingham and was it a fact of you're going to be able to play two sports I remember you know just talking with Coach here and his orals his beliefs and um just realizing that you know life is bigger than the game of baseball and to me that really resonated I knew you know I was already involved in Church of the Highlands in Huntsville because they had a campus so I had a church home had some small groups that I knew were going to be down here so really I think the culmination of family but also just by faith drawing me there I actually got offered in July of going into my senior year but I didn't want to accept the whole spot because I wanted to see you know what football would have for my final season ended up calling Coach Shoop a couple I don't know maybe six seven weeks into the season I had gotten some offers but nothing nothing really came up and I decided I wanted to go to Birmingham and play at UAB and I actually didn't have a scholarship for me because he hadn't heard back from me he gave that scholarship to somebody else so uh him being the man he is he actually kept his word I walked on my first year and they learned the scholarship my second year but uh yeah that was an interesting kind of a little tidbit with how I got to UAB but oh gosh you know a lot of players a lot of athletes they want to play two sports they want to continue their careers but doing it at a division one level isn't as easy as it probably is at D2 D3 or even high school what were the challenges that you faced as you got on the campus and playing football baseball not enough hours of the day biggest challenge uh yeah you know coach Clark and Coach shoe both they worked hand in hand together and trying to you know form my schedule but a suited me but also suited the season that I was in so in the fall obviously I was primarily football I still would go to Saturday we'd have scrimmages on Saturday morning uh with football and then I go over and discrimages on Saturday afternoon so yeah it was really just uh you know not enough hours of the day to really I guess do what you want to do but I was doing what I wanted to do you know like I was playing sports and I was working hard and I test a lot of my athletic ability and really for the reasons I feel like I am where I am today is the development that I had just playing football and uh just continuing to develop athleticism get stronger I mean I put on 15 pounds uh that first summer that I was playing so I really uh felt like that helped me Propel me to get to where I am today and eventually into the MLB how did you balance academics and oh yeah by the way you want to have a social life we're playing two sports I don't even know I'm not it's been a while since I've graduate it but I think like the back to laude or something I don't even know how I got that but uh yeah honestly just a lot a lot of hours you know a lot of the teammates you know we we have read similar classes and stuff so we were able to you know to work together and bounce ideas off of one another and then uh you know all my professors were very flexible but my schedule I kind of would always sit down with it before the semester started and just kind of walking through what I was doing and at the time I think I was probably one of the healthy athletes doing it at the school and so you know they were they were kind of fascinated with it and they were all supportive of that and I can't say enough I remember uh one of my accounting professors him and his wife worked there and I mean they were just so kind to me and I just you know I just remember them being so flexible and if I ever needed to come in or miss a class like they'd you know let me come in for office hours and walk me through it so yeah a lot of the teachers were very flexible which helped done at what point during the baseball career at UAB did things really start clicking because your last couple of Seasons your stats were were amazing they were very very solid and and at that point you're probably getting looks at by MLB Scouts freshman year what do you think about what that process was like and in the fall I had some agents reaching out to me what if you represent me and I'm like okay this is a little weird and that was you know five or six agencies and ended up going with the agents that I have now and uh you know he just said hey look go out there play don't put any pressure on yourself at that time I was a red shirt on this draft eligible and uh you know I ended up having a pretty solid Year got hurt uh halfway through the year I refreshed my wrist but I only got this thing in a couple games I just kind of playing through it the performance you know kind of uh 200 a little bit didn't play as well as I wanted to but I think uh the scouts saw the athleticism that I was you know putting on the table and not only that not even really focusing on baseball and what I was able to do versus people that were doing it so uh you know I still feel like I had room to grow I still feel like I'm learning things about myself and the swing and the way that I play but ultimately I think uh after that freshman year you know meeting with the agents kind of started to set in become reality how did you describe your playing style I play baseball like a player football hard knows aggressive I leave this Stone uh turn I really uh you know now that I'm 27 starting to catch up to me a little bit my body doesn't quite recover like it wants to but you know I still I've got to change like one of these days I'm not going to be able to play the game anymore and what that day comes I'll be able to look at myself and say Hey you know the days that I didn't feel like doing it I did it the days and I I wanted to quit I kept going it um you know that's something that I'm proud of something that I continue to do and you know whatever next adventure calls after baseball when you were drafted by the Royals you became uab's highest drafted player ever take me through draft day and and kind of that experience what was it like oh man it was crazy so I got a call I knew I was gonna go the second day uh which is flat grounds three through ten um I got a call early that morning for my agent said hey you're gonna go either uh it's like three or four so three four five happened I didn't get picked and then um six jobs didn't get picked and then I'm like oh gosh you know I got this big party planned on Saturday night because I knew I was getting picked that day the Royals said they're gonna pick me they just didn't go in or where and then seventh round comes I got a call I was like oh get picked right here boom hit pick seventh round highest drastic UAB and there you have it that had been cool for you and your family just to kind of experience that because not a lot of people get a chance to have that part of their lives no I've been so fortunate and blessed you know as I look back on really my last 10 years you know I had one of those Facebook memories pop up you know it's me signing at Huntsville High signing the UAB and just looking at all the support that I had and then you go in and by signing to Kansas City and then you go through my minor leagues and you know the success that I had and the favor that I had and just support that continued to propel me forward and then you know I look at my debut last year and having 12 people just drop whatever they're doing and it's been hundreds and if not thousands of dollars to come watch me play you know that's it's it's really uh special for me and stuff that I really value because a lot of people don't get to have those experiences in life when you got into the minor leagues what was the biggest difference between that and playing D1 baseball speed of the game for sure I think uh mistakes get marginalized a lot a lot less mistakes a lot quicker have to respond and react quicker the game doesn't really change I mean at the end of the day like I am playing a sick game that I played when I was four years old in Huntsville International League in Huntsville so it's not that the game changes it's just the speed of the game changes and so you really just have to trust your preparation and just let your body take over or you can't overthink things you can't over analyze things by the time you've already done that it's too late I think it's one of the best games in life to play because deal with failure 70 of the time and so uh when you're going through those streaks of failure you have to look for different areas to add value to the team whether it be on the base pass whether it be really just being a teammate and you know one of my photos that I have is you know look that value to other people and you find Value in your own life so when I feel like I'm not adding much value as an athlete or as a baseball player I try to try to add value in somebody else's life and just you know encouraging them because we're all going through the street together and that's something that you know we all need somebody to lean on and put our head on their shoulder when we're going through a tough time and I just try to be that teammate for those those friends that I have on the team when you Google Brewer hicklin you see a lot about leadership what makes you a leader why what really kind of gravitates you towards that role I mean I want people to know that regardless of the circumstance I have in their back and that I want the best for them whether it's my direct competitor or not you know one of my best friends uh he took my job last year but it's like it's okay like you know I want you to have the success at the end of the day like yeah that's not enough then okay but um I could only control so much so I think that's really the foundation that I have what I believe everybody looks at Major League Baseball and they see the The Glitz and glamor of The Bigs what's the most surprising thing to you about Minor League Baseball that you didn't anticipate I think minor league I don't think people understand the grind I really don't I don't think they understand that we don't get paid any money uh the schedules that we have are honestly it's horrible I mean they're better now than they were being traveling six day uh increments now but I mean I remember you know playing 21 22 days in a row without a break you know I just don't think they understand you know what we have to go through not not just that but you got to realize that you're leaving for eight months out of the year you know you're leaving your family and so uh it's really difficult you know it really is an adjustment it's something that you really can't do by yourself you have to have support staff pushing you forward and unfortunately enough I have an incredible family an incredible wife and we make the most of it and we all understand you know that you only have such a short window to play this game and we're going to try to go all out to try to make it a reality and I mean I got some of the best friends and family that support me we talked a little bit about you being drafted and what the emotions were like on draft day talk about the call you got when you got called up to the Royals at the end of last season yeah it was it was an interesting day you know I feel like I had this vision of what it was going to be like and your whole life you dream of that moment and I don't want to say this in in any way that's like disrespectful to it but it was very underwhelming because you work your whole life to achieve this and then it's there and if you're like oh man man now what do I have to look forward to um it took me the whole day to kind of digest what was going on and you know I just remember uh the first few thoughts that I had where like all the times that I wanted to quit and I kept pushing forward and I just was trying to like celebrate that it was really cool to to think you know man all those times that I persevered it really is worth it because man there were some times that I looked in the mirror and I was like I don't know if I can keep doing this it was almost a year to the date I mean I was in double A hitting the 150 just at the bottom of my career just feeling like I had no chance and then 12 months later I'm a big liquor and so I think it just goes to show like regardless of the season of life that you're in like there's always light at the end of the tunnel you just got to keep pushing and so it was a celebration of that moment for me um I didn't necessarily think about all the Glorious and wonderful times that got me there I really thought about the struggles and the pains that got me there because there's so many um but yeah I remember you know just stepping into the box and um it wasn't that I wasn't nervous at all I was you know I wasn't like like overwhelmed nervous but I just remember like standing there and I'm like I'm really doing this man like this is really happening and um yeah it's just it's crazy to think that that was almost a year ago pretty cool you're about to start another season in the Kansas City organization what are the expectations going into 2023 you know 2023 for me is a big year I'm 27 uh you know I'm a little bit older and so I feel like I'm in a good spot to be able to contribute we've got a lot of depth in the Outfield so I'm gonna have to to play well I mean at the end of the day it all comes down to Performance and I'm gonna have to outperform some of my peers and I'm okay with that I mean that doesn't bother me or make me shy away I mean I'm incredibly honored to be in the position that I am and even be considered to play um with the with the big league team so uh for me I just I just want to be able to be consistent and you know each and every day they know what to expect that's my main goal and that's something that I can control and I'll just you know lead the less the rest of God and let him kind of guide me in whatever way I need to go what would you consider a successful end to your career nobody's ever asked me that it's a good question I think when I look back on my career I hope people don't necessarily remember the plays or the home runs I just hope they remember how I made them feel and to me relationships are what might make life so sweet and special and so I really I know it may sound cliche but um I just want people to know that like I love them and I want what's best for them and um the relationships that I've built built and the cultures that I've been around throughout my career as a baseball player have really molded me into who I am today I mean I've learned so much from the Latino culture and uh just being with those guys is really special so I enjoy um just meeting people and you meet people from all over the United States and all over the world so that to me is something that I'll take from it and then hopefully on the flip side people will um you know understand that I was really genuine in the way that I cared about him and wanted what's best for them foreign that's Brewer hicklin Brewer earned his Bachelor of Science degree from the class School of Business in 2017 finishing it up months after being drafted by the Kansas City Royals today he's an outfielder in the organization with big league aspirations and as a former UAB standout Brewer definitely has a great idea of what it means to be a Blazer to me a Blazer is somebody that is present is just taking advantage of where their feet are for that day making the most of the opportunity presented to them for that specific day you know each day looked different for me I went out in my time at UAB some days it was on the football field some days it was on the diamond but one thing remains steadfast and that was me looking for new relationships and building a culture around a team and so I just always try to embrace the present and just be where my feet are and to me my time at UAB I can you know I feel like I can stay with confidence that that's what I did I just I didn't have time to look forward I didn't have time to look back I just had to be where I was because I didn't have time to to think about anything other than what was happening right then and there um and so that was that was to me kind of my time and how really it molded me into to you know the kind of athlete and player in person I am today be sure to check out past episodes of the UAB green and told podcast listen in at alumni.uab.edu Green and told have a story to share or know someone who does email greenandtold uab.edu finally be sure to follow us on social media just search UAB alumni on Facebook Instagram and Twitter thanks for listening and until next time go Blazers foreign [Music]