Shorts: Brewer Hicklen, OF Kansas City Royals

Intro [Music] thank you [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] we are here with Beyond baseball brought to you by blast baseball are you ready to dominate at the plate this season last baseball is the number one hitting Improvement solution trusted by more MLB college and travel ball teams than any other the blast sensor attaches to the knob of any bat providing real-time feedback with every swing metrics are automatically sent to a smartphone app generating insights that allow you to analyze and improve your hitting like never before go to blastmotion.com and enter the code live at checkout to save ten dollars unlock your potential blast all right we are excited to bring you the first edition of Beyond baseball shorts this season um just have an incredible list of prospects we're going to bring you some awesome interviews with uh from some of your favorite teams um this first one we have is without filter Brewer hickling of the Kansas City Royals has just an incredible story about how he kind of overcame some of the darkest times in his professional career and found some light and I think everybody's really going to enjoy this one um just a solid individual and human being so um without further Ado here's that interview with Robert hickler Opening all right welcome to another Beyond baseball shorts powered by prospects live I'm your host Jared Perkins as always and I have an amazing guest here today uh Brewer hickland outfielder with the Kansas City Royals uh drafted in the 2017 MLB draft out of the seventh round out of the University Alabama Birmingham Brewer how you doing today good man 2017. yeah yeah seems like forever getting old man no you're getting younger just by you just gotta have a different perspective body doesn't feel that way but yeah mine's young yeah well I appreciate it Background take some time to join uh We've shared your story on a different podcast a group that I work with major league university but just for the viewers who don't know you and are kind of new to this podcast um just fill them in a little bit about background about you uh how you kind of got to where you are playing football in college and also playing baseball um but also kind of some of the struggles that you went through with professional baseball and just kind of how you developed yourself outside of the game as well yeah man uh two sport athlete at UAB obviously was quite the challenge but something that really molded me into who I am today just discipline and really developed my athleticism to really kind of make me the baseball player I am today it's kind of interesting when I got drafted out they kind of drafted me not as a baseball player but as an athlete and I was going to figure out the baseball stuff kind of later and I mean I still kind of feel that way man I'm learning stuff each and every day and trying to just continue to grow my game and add different facets that I can but yeah baseball you know is very interesting it's been quite the journey from 2017 starting in rookie ball and um you know then going to Extended spring training which was a big heartbreak and then going to low a going to high then getting sent back to low a in the double A having one of the worst first halves of my life uh what 60 games and just I think I was hitting like 190 and really just kind of hitting rock bottom I mean honestly I just remember um I mean we've told the story before but just like you know sitting in the locker room with just tears in my eyes not really knowing um if I ever was good enough to be able to to be a big Leaguer and you know fortunately enough and you know by God's grace I was I was able to accomplish that uh last year which was was incredible it was almost like seemed like a year to the date but yeah I mean God's been good to me man I'm so fortunate I've had incredible people in my corner and then it pushed me forward and I'm just trying to to make a difference each and every day uh that I go out there I love baseball but I love people more and um building their relationships is one of the most rewarding things about this game and something that I look forward to doing each and every season yeah I love the relationship aspect that Relationships you touch on because we interviewed Jacob Turner who pitched about seven years in the big leagues and he talked about the biggest takeaway he had from the game wasn't playing wasn't just being on that stage he's like it was the relationships that I developed with the people that I put during that time he's like because he goes it doesn't matter what I did on the field because those things went away at some point he goes but the relationship to develop with the people because of Alaska forever yeah you're right I mean at the end of the day like somebody's always going to hit more home runs and still steal more bases but you know it's it's really just about making friends and impacting lives and you know it's cool like my wife and I are getting ready to get on a flight a couple days and go down to Orlando for a teammate's wedding and spend some days uh down there so it's just fun things that you really get to do meeting people all over the world you know college you kind of have most of that region you know players you get to pro ball you got people from from different countries and different uh areas of the United States and um it's just it's really neat to bring everybody together that's one of the the coolest things about baseball is you have so many different cultures in one locker room so something that I really enjoy being a part of yeah and Major League Debut that's awesome one thing I kind of want to touch on too because you talked about it um you talked a little bit about the struggles but focusing on the positive aspects of things like thinking about kind of the lowest lows that you had in the game what was it like to finally make that major league debut what were some of the feelings that you went through because I imagine like coming from that low point and then all of a sudden like now you're take us through that with that yeah I mean almost what 10 months I think it was July that I was really kind of just having that breakdown and it was 10 months later in May that I got the call that I was going um to the big leagues and you know it's something that you dream about your whole life and when it's finally there it doesn't really seem real yeah uh you put so much thought into what that day is gonna feel like and how it's gonna go um and so really for me um it was it was more of a celebration of just being able to persevere through all those failures um there were so many times that I wanted to quit and not do it but I kept telling myself to keep going I had my wife in my corner my family in my corner and uh I honestly couldn't do it without them and so to me that's what it was it was a celebrate uh celebration of I mean all the hard work but all dogs that you really had to look at yourself in the mirror and say do I really want to do this and I kept saying yes because I'm a passionate about the game I feel like I'm a good enough player to be able to contribute at the big league level and um I was fortunate to do that for for just a couple games last year didn't go like I wanted to do but uh like we talked about before it doesn't really Define the player that I am for sure Offseason Goals yeah and I love that perspective too because you think about like no matter what Journey you're on whether it's in athletes or Athletics or um you're just trying to do something else you're gonna you're gonna run into bumps on the road on your way to that to trying to get to the top end goal and if you're not celebrating those small victories or just kind of figuring out things along the way like it's hard like you start kind of going into the to the ruts that you've kind of talked about um so I love that and so kind of building on to this off season uh what's the one thing you're kind of looking forward to during this off season but going into the next year to kind of really build on I think I want to build off just like what I did last year I mean I had a good statistical year there were some things that I want to continue to develop um as far as the analytical side of things that they deem uh and the red category um a lot of things you know went well and I had some success but you know at the end of the day like there's always room for improvement and I'm you know the first person to be a perfectionist about my own craft like I'm constantly criticizing what I'm doing and you know that's just my personality like I want to be the best at everything I do but yeah I think you know going into this year it's literally just taking advantage of that day and focusing for those four you know three four five at bath whatever you may have for that day and man just trying to you know when in the slippery slope goes down just to try to level it out and get back on top instead of just letting it keep go down because I would have you know not really you know days that I was like checked out but it just it just seemed like it kept going down down and then I hit the oh right back up high yeah so just a little bit more even kill um easier said than done man you know how it is it's a hard game but yeah that's kind of the goal and uh just you know along the way just you know pull the teammates together and enjoy our time together because I mean we spend more time with that than we do our family so that becomes your family yeah I love that perspective I talked about a little bit about statistics I know you mentioned that but you came close but to the 30 30 30 Club come on one double right two home or short man I had three weeks and I just absolutely choked uh choked at the end but I mean you know I really didn't change anything I just I mean we ran into some good pitching and um timing was off body didn't feel great success didn't happen but I mean what's the difference in two home runs like we you know I tried to just take it from the perspective of hey man it was a still good year would have been awesome because I don't think anybody's done that in like 10 years um but didn't do it now we gotta do it this year yeah now the other thing I like that you Personality touched on too um you talked about kind of being a people person and kind of being that person that everybody kind of goes to um so what helped you develop that outside of the game because a lot of times people are so focused on baseball that kind of forget to kind of develop themselves outside of the game but what has kind of developed your personality to kind of be that Clubhouse guy and kind of be that leader in the clubhouse I mean I've always been a naturally extroverted person I've always enjoyed meeting new people and building new relationships I think uh you know going to college and just kind of my coach instilling um that kind of humility in me to like realize that you know you're not any better than anybody else and um I think just serving others like you really kind of start to find more value in your own life when you look to add value in other people's life so that's just kind of an Outlook that I've taken throughout my career and obviously some days are better than others but like I just want to like them to go home knowing that they have at least one teammate that really cares about them and that's going to be praying for them and that you know can just be there to talk if they need to talk you know there's so many different scenarios that go on in a year a lot of people just don't have anybody to talk to and so um you know in any field whether a business or not like it's always just important to be that person for somebody and I'm fortunate to have mental Source in my life that are calling on me and and you know checking in on me and so I just want to be that for other people um that's just where my heart is and something that I've kind of just grown into I mean I love leadership I love studying leadership I love how it brings people together I love how it makes teams better businesses better communities better there's really no bad thing to good leadership and so I just try to be the best leader that I can be and I mean I I still can be better so I'm just trying to be be the best I can yeah the one Leadership thing I the one thing that you really touch on that I love is that you talk about in leadership it's being there for other people right it's not just leading the team but it's also making sure they know that you're there for them um but thinking about yourself too like because you're putting so much energy into others which is great but what do you do away from the game to kind of help you focus on the like the ups and the Downs of the game but really develop those passions outside of the game that kind of help you stay grounded I think the biggest thing is just my foundation and my faith and Jesus Christ like at the end of the day um like the game of baseball is not what's important in life I mean we're all called here to further and Advance the kingdom of Christ so I try to have that Outlook every day but granted I'm as competitive as it gets so like when you go between the lines like I want to knock your teeth um but when I do that I'll pick you up and tell you I love you and uh but yeah I think I think you know in any any relationship any marriage uh any team I mean any country whatever like if the roots are founded in Christ which is humility Grace patience serving others like what can go wrong you know like you just have this Freedom that is just unexplainable that a lot of people don't understand like we get so bound up and feel like we're weighed down by life circumstances so often um but the freedom that we get you know to have a savior that died on the cross for our sins and forgave us of those it's second to none and um you know there's really no other way to put it other than simply put Jesus Christ is the reason I'm able to to be grounded and have that Foundation doesn't mean I don't have bad days definitely have bad days um but I do find myself if I do get get back to the source and get back to the Vine I always seem to have a lot more patience um and peace yeah I think that's the the beautiful Foundation thing about even being grounded hey does that you have that Foundation to go back to right no matter what changes in life no matter what the good or the bad there's something to go back to and I think that's the important thing that a lot of people don't have especially when they're coming into the minor leagues or just in anything in general in life is like you don't have that Foundation to go back to it gets real tough to find out where you are roller coaster man that's just and it's hard to live a life with a roller coaster people can't depend on you and um that's one thing I want to be is I want to be Dependable I want people to know that uh whether it's a good day or bad day for me or good day or bad day for them I want to be the same guy I want to try to just love on them and um that's you know it's really one of my biggest goals this year is just to be better at that and I mean you know not carrying it home with me and being present with my wife and my crazy dog and enjoying the time with them after a rough game or even a good game um you know it is funny you go home and you just when you have good games you just feel different and I'm just trying to take that extra personality like that infectious feeling into each and every day um because that seems like when I'm at my best yeah and that's amazing I Advice just kind of diving into the last question you touch on a lot about what we try to talk about on the Beyond baseball podcast is we really want this to be something that that fans can enjoy and really enjoy The Human Side of The Players behind the numbers and their performances on on the field and get kind of a bigger look of like who these guys are and who they are humans but we also want the podcast to be like a way for future model leaders to kind of learn and get some lessons um to help teach them as they try to transition into professional baseballs I kind of figure out who they are so if you had like the one piece of advice for future athletes who might be going through some of the same up and downs that you were going through or trying to figure out who they are outside of the game what would that piece of advice be and uh I'll give I've been giving some good advice in my time I think you know and you've probably heard it before but it's just to be where your feet are I mean there's you know you can want to be so many different places in life but you can't make a true impact on the people around you unless you're just being present where you are so what does that look like I mean you know you're at practice and you're you know in the 10U team and you're you know thinking about going home and playing video games or you're thinking about a test the next day or you're thinking about uh a game in a couple days or a tournament in a couple weeks that doesn't benefit anything because you can't control any of that the only thing that you can control in the moment is you Fielding that Grumble taking that swing stepping out taking another swing and um to me that's that's I mean the biggest benefit that I ever got or you know that I was able to find uh the biggest gains is just to be present to be where my feet are I found that that was one not only the best thing for me athletically and physically but also for me emotionally because it just really took the fear and anxiety away of worrying about things that I can't control I mean there's so many things in this life that we can't control and we want to have our hands on um but you just gotta let go and just be where your feet are and let God um you know run his course I wear a bracelet that says to telestyle it means it is finished God's work's already been done and um you know I'm literally just living out you know the Playbook that he has for me and um the only thing I can do is to be on the page that I am for that day yeah yeah I think that's a perfect thing to end on because you think about it it's like you can't get where you want to go unless you succeed or you're having success in the current moment um awesome and Brewer we can't thank you enough for joining us this is an awesome interview you're an incredible person you can see why you're one of the clubhouse leaders and where's you but nothing but the best in Big League spring training as it comes close here um yeah man really appreciate you uh threading everybody's stories and just let people share their heart I wish you guys nothing but the best and uh look forward to talking to you in 2023