The Rockaway Wave
Originally published April 21, 2023
About halfway through the 2022 season, the Mets came to Quinn Brodey with a choice — hitting or pitching. If the answer was hitting, it would have to be with a different organization. If it was pitching, then he could stay with the Mets.
He picked the Mets.
“It’s been kind of a blessing for me that I’ve had something else to jump into,” Brodey said. “Because a lot of guys, it’s taken away from them, or they finish, and they don’t get to keep playing the game another way.”
At the time that choice was presented to him, he hadn’t pitched in a game since 2015
Throughout his professional baseball career, he had been almost exclusively an outfielder. He made 10 pitching appearances for Stanford in college and eight for the Newport Gulls, an independent baseball team, both in 2015.
Rob Masse, who was the lead play-by-play broadcaster for the Gulls in 2015, remembered Brodey as a reliable pitcher for the team.
“He was one of those pitchers that wanted to pitch,” Masse said. “There was no sense of a day off for him. … [He] was always a competitor. Always willing to take the ball, and a leader in the bullpen.”
He played another year of indy ball with Cotuit Kettleers and two more years of college ball for Stanford before being drafted, but didn’t pitch in a single game after 2015.
When he was drafted in the third round by the Mets in the 2017 MLB draft it was as an outfielder only, which is no surprise considering it had been about two years since his last pitching appearance.
Brodey spent parts of five seasons as a position player with the Mets, including 54 games with the Cyclones back in 2017 when Brooklyn was a Class A Short Season team in the New York- Penn league managed by Edgardo Alfonzo.
He never crushed it at the plate, but did have some moderate success. His best season was 2019 when he hit .266/.323/.403, good for a .726 OPS, with 10 home runs over 130 games between Class A-Advanced (now known as High-A) and Double-A.
His numbers took a big hit in 2021 though and didn’t really recover in 2022 in Triple-A, even getting sent down to Double-A for about a month at one point.
That’s when he was presented with his choice.
“Timing wise, and just based on my career trajectory, I think it made sense for me to dive into this,” Brodey said.
As an outfielder he always had a strong arm, and he’s a lefty which brings added value. He’s a fastball-slider-changeup pitcher, with a heater that Brooklyn pitching coach Victor Ramos says reaches 93-94 mph.
“There’s so much more data now then there was when I pitched last,” Brodey said. “So it’s fun to try to use that to try to craft an arsenal.”
Brodey said he feels confident with each of his three pitches, but recognizes that it’s also something that can vary from day to day. Some days, he said, you might just not have a certain pitch working and have to recognize that early and adjust.
I think it’s just being able to recognize that earlier and just say alright, that’s fine,” Brodey said. “I’m gonna trust my other stuff and go with that and just have confidence in what I’m throwing.”
Confidence, Ramos said, is one of the biggest challenges for those making the transition from being a position player. He said what often happens is once a pitcher starts getting hit is that they then start shying away from contact — which just isn’t the answer. One of the biggest hurdles is getting pitchers to still attack the zone with confidence even after they’ve given up some hard-hit balls.
“You belong out there, you deserve to be out there, and you’re good enough to compete on a nightly basis,” is what Ramos said new pitchers need to remember.
On the flip side, being a former hitter can actually be a huge benefit. Brodey said he knows firsthand how hard it is to hit, and he can use that to stay confident on the mound.
“Thinking about for me, what was hard — which was a lot,” Brodey said. “Hitting’s tough. So I think about how I can recreate that.”
Knowing that, he said, helps him refocus. Each pitch is a different pitch, each at-bat is a different at-bat. It’s something his coaches have recognized as well.
“He’s got a little bit of wisdom going in his favor,” Cyclones manager Chris Newell said. “I think being a former hitter, he’s going to know what hitters are looking for, so hopefully he can keep them off balance.”
Ramos even personally knows exactly what Brodey is going through. Drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2000 as a catcher, the Buccos had him make the same transition when he was a minor leaguer.
He made two relief appearances in his first two minor league seasons for a total of 1.1 innings pitched, but really only started pitching regularly in 2004.
Brodey said he and Ramos have a great relationship, dating all the way back to 2019 when Ramos was on the St. Lucie Mets coaching staff.
“He has just such a wealth of knowledge, and he loves to share it with us,” Brodey said. “He loves to just tell us his experience.”
It has been an incredibly different experience for Brodey since he made the switch, even in the years he did pitch some. When he pitched in 2015 for the Stanford Cardinals and Newport Gulls, he was still primarily a hitter. Pitching was just something he did on the side when needed.
Now, he hasn’t even picked up a bat in a while. At times he said he has missed it, but there’s so much for him to dive into with pitching that it’s kept his mind off it.
Through his first three appearances in 2023 he has pitched pretty well, giving up two earned runs over 5.0 innings while striking out four.
Brodey isn’t even the only one making the transition on the Cyclones roster. Manny Rodriguez, who was drafted by the Mets in 2018 as an infielder, is also becoming a pitcher. He made four appearances in 2022 in rookie ball, and so far in 2023 has made three. In his 7.2 innings, he’s also given up just two earned runs while striking out five, and Ramos said his fastball has touched 96 on the radar gun.
Rodriguez is 26 and Brodey is 27, which is on the older side for people in High-A. Ramos, drawing on his own experience, has made a point of communicating with them that it is not an issue.
“That’s most of the conversation I’ve been having with both of them,” Ramos said. “You’re still on track to actually help the team and go forward in your career. You’re not late, you’re not behind of the game, because sometimes they feel like they’re a little bit behind.”
It can even be an asset. Newell said that Brodey is one of the leaders in his locker room.
“I give him a lot of credit, because a lot of guys in his situation would have just said to heck with this, I’m gonna move on with the next phase of my life,” Newell said. “And obviously [He] has a
great passion for the game. He’s doing everything he can to help the New York Mets down the road. And he’s a leader, he’s a quiet leader, and I love everything about the kid.”
For the 2023 season, Brodey above all else wants to stay healthy. As long as he’s healthy, he can keep pitching and keep learning.
“You have no value if you can’t get out there,” Brodey said.
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