SAN DIEGO - Former Oakland baseball alumnus Mike Brosseau delivered the shot heard around the Major League Baseball world as he belted a 3-2 pitch into the stands off New York Yankees' closer Aroldis Chapman in the top of the ninth inning sending the Tampa Bay Rays to the American League Championship Series with a 2-1 win on Friday night.
Earlier during the regular season, Chapman threw a 101 mph fastball over Brosseau's head which caused tensions to reach a breaking point in the dugouts and only amped up the rivalry between the two clubs. The next day, Brosseau hit two home runs helping the Rays beat the Yanks to close out the series. On Friday night on the biggest stage with it all on the line, Brosseau let his bat do the talking battling Chapman from 0-2 down in the count before hitting a 100 mph fastball over the left-field wall on the 10th pitch of the at-bat.
Brosseau went undrafted and signed a free-agent contract with the Rays after his senior year at Oakland in 2016. He was called up to the Rays on June 22, 2019. In his first Major League at-bat, he posted a single and went on to hit .273 with 36 hits, 16 RBI, 17 runs, six home runs and seven doubles in 50 games.
In the shortened 2020 regular season, Brosseau posted a .302 average on 26 hits, 12 RBI, 12 runs and five home runs in 36 games played. So far in the post season, he is making the most of his limited at-bats going 4-for-8 (.500) with a home run, RBI and two runs scored.
Brosseau earned his way to the majors hitting .313 with 75 hits, 57 RBI, 14 home runs and 20 doubles with a 16-game hitting streak for the Rays' AAA affiliate Durham Bulls.
In 2018, Brosseau was moved up to the AA affiliate Montgomery Biscuits of the Southern League and then called up to Durham to begin the 2019 season.
He started his professional career playing for the Gulf Coast League Rays and then moved up to the Bowling Green Hot Rods in 2017 where led the Midwest League in hitting (.318) and on-base percentage (.393) while recording 32 RBI, 96 hits, 21 doubles, two triples and six home runs. From there, he was called up to the Class A-Advanced affiliate Charlotte Stone Crabs in the Florida State League.
A native of Munster, Ind., Brosseau was an All-Horizon League first team selection in 2014 and 2016 at Oakland. He was tops in the Horizon League in on-base percentage (.456), second in home runs (10) and slugging percentage (.571), and top-10 in batting average (.354) and runs scored (49). He also led the Golden Grizzlies in walks (27), stolen bases (8) and second in RBIs (33) during his senior campaign.
Brosseau finished his career as one of the top hitters in program history. He became just the fifth player in school history to amass over 200 hits, is the program leader in assists and ranks in the top-10 in games played, at-bats, runs scored, doubles, home runs and total bases.
###
