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Recent Normal West grad McCade Brown projected to be MLB draft pick
Courtesy: Steph Mazanowski

Recent Normal West grad McCade Brown projected to be MLB draft pick

NORMAL, Ill. — Normal West’s Head Baseball Coach says that recent grad McCade Brown is projected to be in the Top 5 Round Draft pick. McCade won the Big 12 Conference Pitcher of the Year in 2018, his senior year as a Wildcat. Brown’s collegiate pitching career has been impacted by COVID, including cancelled plans last summer to play in the Cape Cod League, but he continues to train and improve via the Hoosiers baseball program.

PERSONAL STATS

Age: 20
School: Indiana University
Grade: Sophomore
Favorite Sport: Baseball

What sports do you play? How long have you played them?

I currently play baseball for Indiana University. I have been playing baseball for about 15 years. However, in high school at Normal West, I played basketball for 2 years, plus baseball and soccer for all four years.

What are some of the most memorable wins you’ve had?

There are a couple wins that stand out to me from high school. The first one being the win over U-High in soccer my senior year. We beat them on a last second goal. Another memorable win would be over Normal Community in baseball my junior year. We beat them in the Regional Championship game in extra innings. The last most memorable win for me has to be from the spring break baseball trip my senior season. We were in Fairhope, Alabama playing against a solid team. There was some tension between the dugouts, and it was a high energy game. In the end we took it to them and beat them by a lot. That game stands out to me the most because of the energy we had as a team.

As an athlete, what is a rule you live by?

I live by the rule of staying humble and continuing to work. Hard work is what allows people to be successful and staying humble through the successes is important to continuing to have success and for being a person that people enjoy being around.

What’s the best piece of advice you received from a coach or mentor?

The biggest pieces of advice that coaches of mine have ever given to me is to “be confident” and to “trust the work put in.” What that means is going out on game day and not worrying about how it’s going to go. Instead, trust that the work you did throughout the time before will allow you to preform and succeed come game day. The work you invest during practices is what allows you to be confident in yourself come game day.

Describe a mistake you made while competing and how you overcame it.

Back in junior year of high school, we had a baseball game, and it was fairly close. There was a routine flyball to me out in left field and I completely missed it. It ended up costing us a crucial couple runs that lost us the game. The following couple weeks, I took as many flyball reps as possible to make sure something like that wouldn’t happen again.

Do you have a pre-game ritual? Do you have a favorite pre-game song to listen to?

I don’t really have a pre-game ritual. I tend to try and treat my day to pitch like any other day. I enjoy walking around the locker room and talking to different guys as well as sitting back and playing some cards. I find that this keeps me relaxed and allows me to not overthink the game too much. However, about 15-30 minutes before I start getting stretched, I will pop on my headphones and begin trying to get in the right mindset.

What do you like to do when you’re not playing your sport?

I am a big video game guy. I enjoy playing games such as Call of Duty, Fortnite, and Rocket League, as well as the typical sports video games of NHL, 2K, FIFA, and more. However, if I’m not playing video games or participating in a sport, then you can find me watching a sporting event on television with my family.

What’s your favorite snack food?

I prefer snack food with a good protein base to it typically. That usually would be a protein bar or a protein shake. Although I will say a good bag of beef jerky or some chips are another favorite of mine.

If someone in your family chose one word to describe you, who would you pick and what word would they use? Why?

I would choose my sister and I believe that she would use the word competitive. Growing up and always playing different games together, the competitiveness was something that came out and showed quickly…not a thing has changed to this day.

How would you describe your personality?

I would describe my personality as a laid back, but good guy. I get along with pretty much everyone, but I don’t typically go out of my way to talk to people and I can be a little quieter around people I first meet. However, the biggest piece of my personality goes back to that competitiveness. No matter what the game or situation is, I want to win and do well.

When you close your eyes and dream about your future, what does that look like?

My dream for the future is to become a Major League Baseball player. To be able to play baseball at the highest level would be something I would never take for granted. It’s been a childhood dream of mine and something that I’ve been working towards for years.

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