Dec. 13, 2005
To say that the last six months have been a whirlwind for these two baseball alumni would be an understatement.
Former Georgetown standouts Eddie Pena and Parker Brooks just spent their first seasons in the world of professional baseball.
Following the conclusion of Georgetown's 2005 season, Eddie Pena returned home to Miami and less than 36 hours later he was headed to Worcester, Massachusetts and the Canadian American Association of Professional Baseball. One week removed from his graduation from the McDonough School of Business, the right-handed pitcher who set the Georgetown records for strikeouts in a season and the career strikeout record in 2005, was about to become a professional baseball player.
With the guidance and effort of head coach Pete Wilk, Eddie signed with the Worcester Tornadoes of the Can-Am league and became their youngest player. Despite having always been a starting pitcher, the Tornadoes looked to Eddie to fill a role in the bullpen as a long reliever. He appeared in 32 games for Worcester, working 67 innings which included 60 strikeouts and just 17 walks. After the adjustment, Eddie really enjoyed his new role in the bullpen. His strong performances helped to lead the Tornadoes to their first postseason appearance in franchise history.
While with the Tornadoes, Eddie received a letter from the San Diego Padres organization inviting him to a tryout at their spring training facility in Arizona. He was unable to attend the tryout because it was during the Tornadoes' playoff run. In game four of the South Division playoff against the New Haven Cutters, Eddie settled down the Cutter bats, going 2-2/3 innings, giving up three hits and a run while striking out three, helping the Tornadoes to win the series and advance to the Can-Am championship series where they would face the best team in the league. In the days leading up to the championship series, he received another letter from the Padres inviting him to a tryout, but he didn't think he would be able to make that one either. The tryout would take place the day after the fourth game of the championship series. For Eddie to be able to attend this tryout, all the pieces would have to fall in to place. And that is exactly what happened. The Tornadoes swept the Quebec Capitales in the championship series and the next morning, on a just a couple of hours of sleep after celebrating with his teammates, Eddie headed to the Padres tryout.
The Padres invited 150 players to that tryout in Arizona. The organization said they were only going to keep those kids who they thought could replace someone that they already had. They kept three, including Eddie who was offered an invitation to Spring Training with the Padres in 2006.
When Eddie first went to Worcester, they thought he would be a good reliever, but not just any reliever, a sidearm reliever. As a starter at Georgetown, Eddie would show glimpses of his sidearm motion, using it for 10-15 pitches a game. You might see the sidearm from Eddie against a righty, ahead in the count with men on base. Or Eddie could surprise a batter with a sidearm changeup. The Tornadoes coaching staff saw a lot of potential in Eddie as a sidearm reliever. Besides working with the Worcester pitching coach, Eddie had a little Major League help with his transition to sidearm reliever. Wilk again helped his former player by contacting Jason Larocque, a former Georgetown assistant coach and current bullpen catcher for the Boston Red Sox, who arranged a special meeting for Eddie. While still in season and on the morning of a night game, Jason and the Red Sox's left-handed submarine reliever Mike Myers met at Harvard University to watch Eddie throw. This meeting turned into a bullpen session with Jason catching and Mike giving pointers. Eddie will now spend the off-season working on the sidearm slider that major leaguer Mike Myers taught him how to throw!
Eddie is at home in Miami now, waiting for his Can-Am Championship ring to arrive in the mail. After giving his arm a month off to rest, he is back at work now. Eddie has been working out with a couple guys he used to play with, and has a training partner in the grandson of one of his mother's clients who is also going to spring training with the Padres. Eddie is working on his new side-arm mechanics and hoping to impress the Padres organization come March.
Parker Brooks knows the date: June 6, 2005. That is the day his lifelong dream came true, he was a professional ballplayer. Parker signed with the Dodger organization and was shipped off to their spring training facility in Vero Beach, Florida just two weeks after his graduation from Georgetown's College of Arts & Sciences.
Soon after arriving in Vero Beach, Parker became a Gulf Coast League Dodger, playing rookie ball in legendary Dodgertown. Dodgertown is a convention center with hotels, swimming pools, basketball courts that the players call home. So, there was Parker living in Dodgertown, sleeping in the same hallways where Dodger legends Sandy Koufax, Jackie Robinson, Kirk Gibson, and Orel Hershiser once roamed.
In August, Parker was sent to the Dodger's rookie league team, the Ogden (Utah) Raptors to be their second baseman. Following his first game with the Raptors, in which he went 2-4 with a run scored, Parker was talking to a reporter on the field and signing autographs for some of the 4,500 fans at the ballpark. One fan stuck out his ticket stub, and said, "Can you sign this?" and when Parker turned around he saw his dad standing there. After hearing that Parker would be starting that night, Mr. Brooks had made the trip from Vegas to Ogden to see his son make his rookie league debut. The relationship between the Brooks men is built on baseball. Mr. Brooks wouldn't have missed that game for the world.
Ogden, Utah was great for Parker. The Raptors' Lindquist Field was voted as having the Best View in all of Professional Baseball by Baseballparks.com. The field sits in the heart of the Wasatch Mountains, offering spectacular mountain views and breathtaking sunset scenery. Another special treat for the Raptors players was their pitching coach, 1990 Cy Young winner Bob Welch. Welch spent more than half of his playing days with the Dodgers, before spending seven years with the Oakland A's. Bob was the pitching coach for the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2001 when all-star pitchers Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling led them to the World Series title. Looking to take up fly fishing and still wanting to coach, Welch found the best of both worlds in Ogden. The players learned so much from the two-time All-Star's knowledge of the game. He could watch a hitter in the on-deck circle and size him up right away. He even taught a bunch of guys how to fly fish. Parker says he didn't get into fly fishing like some of his teammates, but there were plenty of things he learned from this baseball legend.
Parker may have spent a lot of time around baseball legends of yesteryear, but he also got to play against the legends of tomorrow. Before getting sent to Ogden, he was called up to high-A, the Vero Beach Dodgers. He played on the same fields as New York Mets Doug Mientkiewicz, Miguel Cairo and Kaz Matsui. In fact, while playing against the St. Lucie Mets, Cairo caught one of Parker's ground balls. The next week, when Cairo returned healthy to the Mets, his "webgem" play was shown all over SportsCenter. When Parker saw the highlight, he knew that he helped Cairo make that play by giving him practice the week before.
After the Raptors lost in the Southern Division Playoffs of the Pioneer League, Parker headed home to Las Vegas. There is no off-season for a player trying to make it. Parker will spend the next five months working on his skills. He wants to put on 15 pounds without losing any of his speed or putting on any body fat. Georgetown's current strength and conditioning coach Augie Maurelli designed a full workout program for Parker to follow six days a week this winter. He lifts and runs twice a day in addition to working on his swing and taking ground balls. He eats 8,000 to 9,000 calories a day, and says that his mom is so tired of cooking to feed him. So far, Parker has added 8 lbs, but knows he has a long way to go. When he heads back to Dodgertown in March, he hopes to be sent to low-A, Columbus, GA or back to Ogden. As long as he is getting to play, Parker will go anywhere.
For spring training, Eddie will travel west to Arizona and Parker will venture east to Florida, but really both Hoyas are heading towards their life long dreams.
