2024 Player Spotlight: Brandon Sproat
“It’s definitely been a big roller-coaster, looking back a couple of years ago where I was really struggling mentally with my game, to where I’m at now, it’s night and day…it’s defi - nitely skyrocketed”, Sproat said. “I’m super happy and proud of myself not because of go- ing to the game, but mainly just how far I’ve come with my game and mainly my mental side.”
In talking with Sproat a few weeks after the Future’s Game appearance, he said the experience was “a lot of fun” and he enjoyed meeting new players and catching up with old friends. Interestingly, he said he didn’t have his normal set of nerves because of all the pregame obligations he had surrounding the game. Once he got the call from the bullpen to enter the game before the bottom of the third inning, he said he experi- enced a “huge wave of emotions.”
“I had to just do what I do and accept those feelings and run with them…take this nervousness and excitement with me and just run with it”, he said. He even described his legs feeling like “Jell-O” as he made the run from the bullpen on to the field ahead of his appearance. Twelve pitches later, eight of them for strikes in that dominant frame against the best young talent baseball has to offer, it was clear Sproat’s unique mental clarity is a big part of his success.
Family
Sproat was also excited to see his family in Arlington, as his dad John, mother Carolyn, and younger sisters Brooke and Bailey all were in attendance. When he found out he was selected to the Futures Game, the first call he made was to his parents. Sproat says his earliest memory of baseball was playing catch with his father in the back- yard and that it “really helped him fall in love with the game.” While Brandon didn’t have a specific team he grew up rooting for, he says about his dad “seeing how much he enjoyed the game made me want to enjoy it that much as well.” John was his first baseball coach and Brandon said that “no matter how big the stadium is I always somehow find him in the stands.” He said he normally sees him behind home plate or off to the side pacing back and forth and confirmed after the game that he spot - ted him in Arlington as well.
Gator Bred
As Sproat makes his ascent in the Mets system, another right-hander out of the Univer- sity of Florida has already made it to “The Show” this season in Christian Scott. The two overlapped as college teammates in 2020 and 2021. Both are Florida natives as well, with Scott from the southeast portion of the state and Sproat growing up in Pace, Florida, in the panhandle.
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