Freehold’s Brad Brach
Yearns for the Mound at Citi Field
BY TIM MORRIS
TheJournalNJ.com | JUNE 2020 31
Brad Brach has discovered the pleasures of gardening.
“I’m just starting to enjoy it,” he said from his Tennessee home
while doing yard work. “Growing up, I used to work with a lawn service.”
As much as the former Monmouth University baseball star has loved
gardening, he would rather be on a pitcher’s mound throwing strikes for
the New York Mets.
“I can’t remember the last time I wasn’t playing baseball at this time
of the year,” said the right-handed pitcher. “It has been a huge change of
pace, really odd. I’ve enjoyed the family time.”
While Brach is savoring his time with wife Jenae Cherry and their
2-year-old daughter, he hasn’t put baseball on hold.
“Every day I’m doing what I need to do for baseball,” said Brach.
That meant going out and buying weights to work out with at home
and throwing twice a week. Fortunately for the Freehold Township native,
Chicago White Sox catcher James McCann lives near Brach. The two have
to a Major League backstop.
While working out alone, Brach is in constant contact with the Mets.
“They give us a plan once a week to follow,” he said. “I follow their
directions.”
Before the baseball season was put on hold, Brach was looking forward
to a big comeback season with the Mets.
“I felt great,” explained Brach, who was the Northeast Conference
Pitcher of the Year when he was the ace of the Hawks’ pitching staff. “My
arm felt the best it has in three years. I was real excited for the season.”
However, two weeks before the Mets were to leave Florida and spring
training for Opening Day, the season was put on hold.
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yond two weeks, he decided to take his family back to Nashville.
While the baseball season is still up in the air, Brach is training as if
he will be on the mound for the Mets this year. He has heard a number of
scenarios for baseball’s opening, but they are just rumors.
“All kinds of ideas have popped up,” he said. “Right now, it’s wait and
It seems likely that no matter which idea the league goes with, games
will most likely not be played in empty stadiums.
If baseball were to return without fans, Brach will at least have experience
playing in an empty ballpark. In 2015, following a riot in Baltimore,
the Orioles played their scheduled home game without fans because of
concern for public safety.
“It was very eerie,” Brach recalled. “There was nothing there. It was a
lot different.”
Whether there is baseball or not in 2020 pales in comparison to the
suffering the pandemic is causing; its return could provide the nation with
a needed lift. Brach and his fellow Major Leaguers would like to have the
chance to bring a smile to people.
“Baseball could be part of the rebuilding,” Brach said. “We hope we
get the chance to play. Everyone wants something to root for. It would give
them something to look forward to.”
As a 10-year Major League veteran, Brach has seen it all. He worked
his way up from the Minor Leagues to the Majors, eventually becoming an
all-star. His teams have won division titles and played in the postseason –
not bad for someone who was a long shot at best to go professional.
Following a great career at Monmouth where he helped the Hawks
win NEC championships and qualify for the NCAA Tournament, Brach was
a 42nd round pick in the baseball draft, hardly an encouraging sign for a
long career. But anyone who doubted success didn’t know Brach’s work
ethic, self-motivation, commitment and love for baseball. He rode a 90
mph fastball with pinpoint accuracy to the highest levels of the game.
Brach’s career began in San Diego after the Padres drafted him in
2008. He exceled at every stop in the Padres’ Minor League organization
and made his Major League debut in 2011. After three seasons in San Diego,
he signed with the Baltimore Orioles (2014-18) where he experienced
his most success as the eighth-inning setup man. Brach went 7-1 in 2014
when Baltimore won the Eastern Division crown, and he made the American
League All-Star Team in 2016. That year, Brach was 10-4 with a 2.05
earned run average. He had 24 holds and two saves.
“We had a great run in Baltimore,” he said. “It was hard to leave, but it
was time to move on.”
Brach landed in the post-season again in 2018 when he was traded
mid-season to the Atlanta Braves. In 2019, he played with the Chicago
Cubs who released him in August. He signed three days later with the Mets
who signed him for the 2020 season with a player option for 2021.
“I’ve been through everything, and it has been a great experience,”
Brach said. “It has been everything and more than I expected. I’ve been fortunate.
I was a Met fan growing up. I went to the 2015 World Series (Mets
against the Kansas City Royals), and it was a great experience.”
No matter what his future is, Brach knows baseball will be a part of it.
“I love the game. It’s a huge part of my life,” he explained. “I’m going
to stay in it. In what capacity, I’ll see.”
Brach noted that his post-college goal was to be a teacher and baseball
coach. With a daughter and twin boys on the way, he added it could be
coaching them.
Photo courtesy of Monmouth University Athletics. Former Monmouth University ace Brad Brach
Is now pitching for the New York Mets. Like all the other Major League players, he’s staying in
shape while waiting to see if there is a 2020 season.
/TheJournalNJ.com