D-backs reliever Charles Brewer fulfills lifelong dream
Jul 7, 2013, 8:46 PM | Updated: 9:09 pm
He had pitched before.
He had worn the uniform before.
But he had not pitched and worn the uniform on that mound, the mound at Chase Field.
“Obviously, my whole life I’ve been dreaming of getting that opportunity to pitch on this field because I’ve always been a fan growing up,” rookie reliever Charles Brewer said. “I’ve been a fan since 1998 in the stands; same season tickets every year.”
The Paradise Valley resident and Scottsdale Chaparral High School star pitched a scoreless ninth inning Saturday. He allowed a one-out double to Carlos Gonzalez before striking out Michael Cuddyer and getting Nolan Arenado to line out to left field sending the Diamondbacks to their fourth straight win, 11-1 over the Colorado Rockies.
“Man, it was unbelievable,” Brewer said Sunday. “I had more energy and I was more locked in than I think I did in my previous first two outings. The excitement was even more so than even my debut.”
Brewer made his Major League debut on June 10 at the Los Angeles Dodgers, tossing 1 2/3 scoreless innings. He pitched two more scoreless frames five days later in San Diego.
Soon after though, Brewer was optioned back to Triple-A Reno.
He had made two appearances, but both were road appearances.
“It’s a lot different being at home,” the 25-year-old said. “The sound of the crowd after your name gets announced as opposed to being on the road. Last night when my name got announced, I think everyone knew that I was the hometown kid. The crowd kind of went nuts for me, so it was a really great feeling just having my hometown support behind me as I was going out there.”
To be fair, Brewer, who is the first Major Leaguer born in Arizona to make his debut with the D-backs, had pitched at Chase Field before. He played in a high school all-star game after his senior year and then participated in a D-backs pre-draft workout.
Saturday night, however, was different.
“It’s been really cool,” he said. “Being the local kid, everyone comes down to the bullpen, even people I don’t know. But people that know me and know I’m from the area, know that I went to Chaparral High School, high school kids coming down saying, ‘Hey, we know you went to Chaparral’; just people, random people here and there that come to say ‘Hi’.
“It’s cool that I have that place in the community and that people know that I’m from this community,” Brewer continued. “I’m very proud of that.”
