Brian Fitzpatrick is not the first Long Island-born ballplayer to hear his name called in the Major League Baseball Draft, having been selected 312th overall by the Milwaukee Brewers in the 10th round on Monday. And he won’t be the last.
But, this week, the Port Jefferson native was definitely the happiest – and most poised to get right to work.
“I have a great support system around me that has always been there for me through everything, through the ups and downs,” Fitzpatrick told The Messenger Sports. “This is definitely an “up” on that scale. I’m trying to keep the humility because I know it’s already the beginning. And this is certainly not the end goal – this is just my foot in the door.”
The room said door leads to: becoming a big leaguer – the ultimate boyhood dream. First, he will report to Arizona on Sunday, July 24. Here, he will complete his physical before signing a contract to officially commence, as Moneyball (2011) pegged it, his “paid to play the children’s game” career.
Despite his 22 years of age, Fitzpatrick agrees that to truly believe in yourself is to envision a world without limitations; where, as he put it, having “trust in God” has always made all the difference. His still-unfolding “road to the show” is far from a sealed fate, he notes. “The only thing I focus on is controlling what I can control, and then everything else will take care of itself.”
“With injuries [including a missed junior year of high school due to a UCL strain, and a shortened freshman year of college after undergoing Tommy John Surgery], I didn’t really know what the future held,” Fitzpatrick added. “So I left it up to God. He paved the way for me with my faith, and everything that comes with that, and with life in general. Thankfully, it’s worked out, and I’m so excited to start this new journey.”
Those who witnessed Fitzpatrick’s early efforts, while he was still developing his craft past the pitfalls of growing pains and 30-deep high school rosters, knew it would require hard work. That it would require determination. That it would require potential—three things his varsity coach confirms “were always there.”
“The injury kinda put him behind the 8-ball, but we kept him on the team. Because we felt he belonged, and he had earned his spot,” former St. Anthony’s High School head baseball coach, John Phelan, recalled. Phelan coached the left-handed hurler during both his injury-plagued 2017 season and his 2018 “bounce back” campaign.
As a senior, “Fitz” produced big-game performances, both as a starter and in relief, for the Friars. The self-described “late bloomer” showcased his repertoire enough during these games to draw the attention of Rutgers. By April, Fitzpatrick committed to the university and their “Big Ten” ball club, despite being the “furthest thing from mightily pursued” up to that point. “I was not a highly touted recruit out of high school in any way,” Fitzpatrick admitted.
Fast-forward three years and a Dr. James Andrews-completed surgical operation later, and Fitzpatrick’s stellar 2021 summer in New England’s prestigious Cape Cod League was enough to allow Fitzpatrick to finally claim “on scholarship” student-athlete status this past school year.
In “The Cape,” Fitzpatrick compiled a regular-season (plus playoffs) line of: 23 innings pitched, 32 strikeouts against just 5 walks, and 19 hits surrendered to the tune of an eye-popping 1.93 Earned Run Average (ERA). Yet this was just his opening act. After striking out 28 in 23 innings pitched, with a 3.91 ERA for Rutgers as a standout senior the following Spring, Fitzpatrick returned to the Cape-set Brewster Whitecaps for the top half of this summer. There, he wowed loud crowds with 19 scoreless innings – a 0.00 ERA.
This would surely be the summer highlight for anyone not currently in Fitzpatrick’s most unique position. For by this time next week, he will be employed to do what he and his proud-beyond-calculation family always knew he was capable of doing.
“We’re over the Moon about it!” said Brian’s paternal uncle, Assemblyman Mike Fitzpatrick (R-Smithtown). “When I used to have a catch with him when he was a kid, probably early high school. The ball just started coming in really hard. You could tell he wasn’t even throwing it with much effort, he was just tossing. The pop of the mitt, the soreness in the palm of my left hand.. it got to a point where later in the day I had trouble seeing the ball, it was coming in so fast. I said ‘Brian, I can’t do this anymore!”
The Assemblyman added, “He had this velocity. ‘This kid’s got potential to play at the college level.’” Now, he’s headed even beyond that.
“I coached him over the summer one year and I always knew he had the potential to be something special with his (now-6’7, 230-lb.) frame,” said PJ Contreras, 25, an All-County catcher out of Hauppauge, class of 2015, and former Long Island Titans coach. “It was just a matter of could he put it all together.”
“He was a quick study,” Phelan added. “He would make adjustments in the bullpen. He was willing to work, always willing to put the work in. That was an admirable trait since he was a freshman. There was never an argument about doing his running. Doing all of his physical work. And he worked at it. And was a productive participant. And now he’s gone on to bigger and better things. Always a good kid to be around.”
Stay tuned, and keep a watchful lookout, as a local-boy-made-good strides for greatness – one level, one season, one game, one inning, one batter, and one pitch at a time.
“I couldn’t be more thankful and more grateful to the Milwaukee Brewers organization for giving me this opportunity,” said Fitzpatrick. “I’m really, really excited to get to work.”
