by ARV KOONTZ, for the Tribune
Zack Brown said it’s good to be back throwing on a mound again.
Brown has been a pitcher in the Milwaukee Brewers organization since 2016 when he was drafted by the Brewers after pitching for three years at the University of Kentucky.
He hasn’t seen much action on the mound the past two years, though.
He pitched for Milwaukee’s Triple A team, San Antonio, in 2018, working 116.2 innings and posting a 3-7 record with 94 strikeouts, 64 walks and a 5.79 earned run average.
Brown was with the Brewers in spring training in Arizona in 2020 when sports leagues were shut down because of COVID-19.
Major League Baseball played a shortened season in 2020, and there wasn’t any minor league baseball.
The 2013 graduate of Seymour High School said he spent part of the 2020 summer at the Brewers’ alternate site in Appleton, Wisconsin, pitching to other minor league players.
The Brewers faced the Dodgers in Los Angeles in the National League playoffs, and Brown was invited to fly to Los Angeles for some workouts and pitched off the mound in Dodgers Stadium.
He was looking forward to a big and successful 2021 season and reported to the Brewers in Arizona for spring training.
Brown pitched a couple of innings against San Diego, then in his second game, he began to experience arm problems.
“It was a combination of things,” he said. “My arm wasn’t responding like it should have.”
He underwent an MRI, and the Brewers shut him down and placed him on the 60-day injured list.
Brown resumed throwing in mid-June and has gradually built up his arm speed.
He did some live pitching last week and again Monday night, and on Tuesday, he was assigned to the Brewers’ Class 2A team in Biloxi, Mississippi.
Brown pitched in Biloxi in 2019, where he compiled a 9-1 record, threw 127 innings with 116 strike outs, 36 walks, posted a 2.40 ERA and was named the Brewers Minor League Pitcher of the Year.
The minor leagues have changed this year and Biloxi is in the Double A South League’s south division with another team from Mississippi, plus teams from Montgomery, Alabama and Pensacola, Florida.
Biloxi is in last place in the south division with a record of 26-47 through press time Thursday night.
“I’ll probably be in the bullpen through the rest of the year and build up my innings and hope things go well,” he said. “I’ll take it as it comes.”
He said he has been throwing in the low 90s and his arm feels good.
“I’m hoping to get to 93-94. The mid 90s would be realistic,” he said.
Brown will be working with the same manager, Mike Guerrero, and same pitching coach, Nick Childs, as he did in 2018.
Brown throws a two-seam fastball, a sinker, a slider and a change-up.
“I’ll go to the park every day and work as hard as I can,” he said.
Biloxi’s regular season ends Sept. 19.