March 29, 2013

Brewers By the (Jersey) Numbers – #3 Scooter Gennett

Good morning!

We’re a weekend away from Opening Day at Miller Park. Three days until the games starting to matter. However, those aren’t the first games at Miller Park in 2013. Tonight there will be the first of a pair of exhibition games against the Chicago White Sox.

But for the wins and losses to start to matter in the standings, and what should be a holiday at work, Opening Day is three days away.

Now if you were expecting a profile of Yuniesky Betancourt in this space because after he was signed he took back his old number of 3, you’ll still get it, but not until much later today. Instead, this morning, I’m profiling the prospect who was been wearing number 3 for 99% of camp…

Scooter Gennett.

This is going to be a unique profile as I won’t do much explanation of background, or personal history here in the column itself. Why? Well that’s because of the convenience of modern technology coupled with the graciousness of Gennett himself. In other words, I interviewed Scooter last night and will be posting a link to that here.

It’s got the story behind his nickname if you don’t already know it. We discuss his childhood play and what led to him moving to Sarasota, Florida (where he was drafted out of high school) after being born in Cincinnati, Ohio. I ask him for a self-scouting report so you can get to know his game a bit better. There’s really a lot of information and a bit of fun involved in the conversation.

(To download an MP3 file of the interview from my Box.com site, CLICK HERE. I’m not sure if it can only be downloaded so many times, so get it while you can. I’ll replace this link with a permanent one after the file gets uploaded to our usual audio archive website.)

As for his 2013 outlook though, Ryan Joseph Gennett (soft G) told me in the interview where he is expecting to start play in the regular season. More than that though, this year will be another proving ground type year. Gennett has advanced up the organizational ladder every year since beginning professional play. He played in full-season affiliated ball right away in 2010 after signing in late 2009. He was with the Class-A Wisconsin Timber Rattlers in 2010, the Class-A Advanced Brevard County Manatees in 2011 and spent all of 2012 racking up a .293 batting average with five home runs, 44 RBI and 11 stolen bases at Class-AA Huntsville.

But as Scooter said in my interview with him, the location where he’s doing his work doesn’t matter as much as always working hard to get better with that work. He’s sounds like a hungry player who not only wants to get better but needs to get better. That’s a distinction in professional athletes where the drive to succeed burns within them.

Just a couple of final notes as an addendum to what you can hear in the audio of our interview:

Scooter’s dad, Joe, was a scout with the Houston Astros.
Gennett was added to the 40-man roster last year on November 20, 2012.
Gennett hits left-handed, and is listed at 5’10” and 157 pounds in this year’s Brewers Media Guide

And, as I mention in the interview, you can follow Scooter Gennett on Twitter: @Scooterg11

The Brewer Nation

Brewers By the (Jersey) Numbers – #3 Scooter Gennett

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