When I first met Vaun Brown I was a graduate transfer at Florida Southern College. I came into the Moc’s baseball program as a mid-80’s lefty with about 100 innings under my belt and a fully rehabbed torn rotator cuff. Looking around the first team meeting I noticed about 25% of my team had place in the SEC/ACC at some point in their career, another 25% of the guys had D1 experience, and the other half of the team had just flat-out raw potential. I was surrounded by a bunch of DUDES, especially for being at the D2 level. Although I had pitched in high leverage games throughout my college career including conference championships, regionals, and a world series, I knew that no matter how many innings I threw for this team, I would have great impact off the field. By now, I had already trained well over 500 athletes between training guys on my own team in previous years and working at the Florida Baseball Ranch. Looking back on my time atFlorida Southern, I had the opportunity to train some of the best collegiate athletes during that time both at FSC and later with Connected Performance.However, there’s one story that sticks out amongst the rest.
When I first met Vaun he was rocking his signature Florida Southern look, a tank top and shorts that were just slightly too short to show off his tree trunk thighs. This guy was absolutely shredded. When we finally got to the field and I was able to get a glimpse of the outfielders at work, I noticed two things: 1. He could flat out fly 2. He had an absolute rocket of an arm. Vaun was the definition of a “toolsy.” However, he never cracked .250 during his first four years at Florida Southern or even found himself as a consistent everyday player each year. My interactions with Vaun throughout the year weren’t extensive, I think the moment we bonded the most was on pro day. I promised each hitter I would get them at least 2 pitches to hit in each of their at bats and Vaun took me about 400 feet to left field. That was just about the only time I felt good about myself after giving up a home run.
After the 2019 season ended, I began Connected Performance.I went back to Florida Southern to be the director of player development and finish my MBA. After a hot start for the Moc’s, Covid unfortunately ended a promising season. I graduated and began to pursue CP’s future more heavily andI never really spoke with Vaun for about 9 months. After that time, we randomly connected and started talking about his goals. “I want to pitch,” he told me.This made the most sense to me, he could throw about 94 effortlessly off the mound. All I need do is clean him up a bit and develop a slider and I’m sure someone would give him a shot at the next level.
Vaun began training with us in the winter of 2020. He already had laid most of the groundwork for himself by being brutally strong and athletic. However, there was a missing link of athleticism. The throwing portion of his development I saw as cut and dry. Instead of trying to “turn him into a pitcher,” I just needed to take his elite throwing patterns and transfer them onto the mound. The lifting and mobility side I saw as an uphill battle. How am I supposed to convince someone who easily back squats 405 and benches 275 that he shouldn’t be lifting heavy? At the time, Ben Baggett wasn’t fully on with CP yet. I consulted with Ben, and we put together an advanced lifting program for him. Something that would force him to produce power quickly ,reduce muscle slack while playing, and take all the power and strength he developed and finally transfer it onto the field. To Vaun’s credit he bought in immediately knowing that this was his fifth and final year of college baseball.
During the month of intersquads Vaun was consistently touching 95-96 mph on the mound. He was progressing well as a pitcher. However, something interesting was also developing during that time for Vaun. He was swinging the bat like he never did before. Vaun was hitting for power and average for the first time in his career. Right before the season began the FSC coaches made the wise decision to make Vaun the everyday outfielder and only use him in emergency situations on the mound. The results? Vaun was conference player of the year, all-region, and an All-American. He hit .386 with 13 home runs in 26 games (shortened 2021 Covid season) while swiping 9 bags. All career best. Vaun was drafted in the 10th round to the SanFrancisco Giants. However, this was only the beginning of his story.
After a full year of training with CP under his belt Vaun made a national splash after two season of minor league baseball. Vaun absolutely terrorized minor league baseball producing some of the best statistical numbers in minor league baseball… ever. After an impressive short season in2021, Vaun didn’t stop his performance in 2022 finishing the season in AA. Vaun finished his 2022 as the MiLB.com Giants Organization All-Star leading the minors in average and OPS.
Finally, after just a year and a half in the minor league system, Vaun received a non-roster invite to big league spring training with the San Francisco Giants.
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