Brant Michael Brown (born June 22, 1971) is an American professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

coach and former

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to catch ...

who is the

hitting coach In baseball, a number of coaches assist in the smooth functioning of a team. They are assistants to the manager, who determines the starting lineup and batting order, decides how to substitute players during the game, and makes strategy decisi ...

for the St. Louis Cardinals of

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

(MLB). He played in MLB from 1996 through 2000 for the

Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central Division. Th ...

Pittsburgh Pirates The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central ...

, and Florida Marlins. He has coached for the

Los Angeles Dodgers The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Div ...

, Miami Marlins, and

Seattle Mariners The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. The Mariners compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, West Division. The team joined the American ...

. He played

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played by Student athlete, student-athletes at institutions of higher education. In the United States, college baseball is sanctioned mainly by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA); in Japan, ...

for the Fresno State Bulldogs.

Playing career

Brown attended Monache High School in Porterville, California, and

California State University, Fresno California State University, Fresno (Fresno State) is a public university in Fresno, California, United States. It is part of the California State University system. The university had a fall 2020 enrollment of 25,341 students. It offers 60 ba ...

, where he played

for the Fresno State Bulldogs. The

selected Brown in the third round, with the 81st overall selection, in the 1992 Major League Baseball Draft. In his first season, he had a .274 batting average for the Peoria Chiefs of the Class A Midwest League. The next year, he hit .342 with the Daytona Cubs of the

Class A-Advanced High-A, officially Class High-A, formerly known as Class A-Advanced, and sometimes abbreviated "A+" in writing, is the third-highest level of play in Minor League Baseball in the United States and Canada, below Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A and D ...

Florida State League and the Orlando Cubs of the Class AA Southern League. On June 15, 1996, Brown made his major league debut, hitting .304 in 69 at-bats that season. On June 18, 1998, Brown hit three

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the Baseball (ball), ball is hit in such a way that the batting (baseball), batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safe (baseball), safely in one play without any error ( ...

s in one game. On September 23, 1998, the Cubs were tied with the

New York Mets The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National ...

for the National League wild card with three games remaining. In a game against the

Milwaukee Brewers The Milwaukee Brewers are an American professional baseball team based in Milwaukee. The Brewers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central Di ...

that day, Chicago held a 7–5 lead in the bottom of the 9th inning. Milwaukee loaded the bases with two outs for Geoff Jenkins, who hit a long fly ball to Brown that should have ended the game. Brown, though, dropped the ball, which then got past him, allowing three runs to score and giving the Brewers an 8–7 win. The Cubs then faced the

San Francisco Giants The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Div ...

in a one-game playoff to break the tie for the Wild Card, which the Cubs won. He hit .291 with 14 home runs and 48

runs batted in A run batted in or runs batted in (RBI) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if th ...

(RBIs) on the 1998 season. After the 1998 season, the Cubs traded Brown to the

for pitcher Jon Lieber. Though primarily a

left fielder In baseball, a left fielder, abbreviated LF, is an outfielder who plays defense in left field. Left field is the area of the outfield to the left of a person standing at home plate and facing towards the pitcher's mound. In the numbering system ...

, the Pirates had Brown open the season as their starting

center fielder A center fielder, abbreviated CF, is the outfielder in baseball who plays defense in center field – the baseball and softball fielding position between left field and right field. In the numbering system used to record defensive plays, the ...

. It didn't work, and the Pirates replaced Brown in their starting lineup with José Guillén in May. Brown hit .232 with 16 home runs and 58 RBIs with 114 strikeouts in 341 at bats for the Pirates in 1999. After the 1999 season, the Pirates traded Brown to the Florida Marlins for Bruce Aven. On June 9, 2000, Brown was involved in a three-team trade, in which he was sent to the Cubs, while Dave Martinez went to the Texas Rangers and the Marlins received Chuck Smith. In August, the Cubs sent Brown to the

Iowa Cubs The Iowa Cubs are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A affiliate of the Chicago Cubs. They are located in Des Moines, Iowa, and are named for their Major League Baseball (MLB) affiliate. T ...

of the Triple-A Pacific Coast League (PCL), replacing him with Ross Gload. Granted free agency after the 2000 season, Brown signed with the Brewers for the 2001 season. He played in the minor leagues for the

Indianapolis Indians The Indianapolis Indians are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League (IL) and the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates. They are located in Indianapolis, Indiana, and play their home games at Victory ...

of the Triple-A

International League The International League (IL) is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the United States. Along with the Pacific Coast League, it is one of two leagues playing at the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A level, which is one grade below Major ...

and the Memphis Redbirds of the PCL, the Triple-A affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals. Brown then played for the Schaumburg Flyers of the independent Northern League in 2003.

Coaching career

After ending his playing career, Brown became a minor league

in the Rangers' organization. He spent the 2007 and 2008 seasons as the hitting coach for the Bakersfield Blaze of the High-A California League. In 2009, he joined the Frisco RoughRiders of the Double-A Texas League. After three seasons with Frisco, he spent the 2012 season with the

Round Rock Express The Round Rock Express are a Minor League Baseball team of the Pacific Coast League (PCL) and the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A affiliate of the Texas Rangers (baseball), Texas Rangers. They are located in Round Rock, Texas, and play their home ...

of the PCL. After the 2012 season, the

hired Brown as their minor league outfield and baserunning coordinator. On December 1, 2017, he was hired by the

to share the dual role of assistant hitting coach and minor league hitting coordinator with Luis Ortiz. For the 2019 season he was promoted to the new position of hitting strategist. On November 27, 2022, Brown was hired to be the hitting coach for the Miami Marlins. On December 7, 2023 Brown was hired to be the offensive coordinator and bench coach for the

. However, after the Mariners offense struggled to begin the 2024 season, the Mariners fired Brown on May 31. On October 22, 2024, Brown was hired to be the hitting coach for the St. Louis Cardinals.

References

External links

Baseballlibrary.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brown, Brant 1971 births Living people Anchorage Bucs players Baseball players from Tulare County, California Chicago Cubs players Daytona Cubs players Florida Marlins players Fresno State Bulldogs baseball players Indianapolis Indians players Iowa Cubs players Los Angeles Dodgers coaches Major League Baseball bench coaches Major League Baseball hitting coaches Major League Baseball outfielders Memphis Redbirds players Minor league baseball coaches Orlando Cubs players Sportspeople from Porterville, California Peoria Chiefs players Pittsburgh Pirates players Schaumburg Flyers players Seattle Mariners coaches St. Louis Cardinals coaches