James Brooks has traveled quite a long way to play baseball—all the way from the sunny land of Australia.
Brooks started playing baseball at 17, but he had been playing softball since he was around 5 because his brother and sister were playing.
“[Softball and baseball] are minority sports in Australia,” said Brooks, who has finished his sophomore year at Cochise College in Arizona and will be playing baseball at the University of Utah.
While he was playing on the Cochise College roster, he placed second in the Arizona Community College Athletic Conference (ACCAC) with 25 stolen bases, and fourth with seven homeruns in 2009.
For the summer, though, Brooks has been playing baseball for the Santa Maria Valley Packers because his coach back at Cochise recommended the team to him.
Brooks is boasting a .435 batting average on the team, which is the highest. In addition, he has five doubles and two homeruns; and he has the highest slugging percentage on base percentage, hits, and runs batted in, as well as total bases and steal attempts.
During the rest of Brooks’ tenure on the Packers, he hopes he will be able to improve his performance because after the season is over, he is on his way to Utah, where he will be playing on a Division I baseball team.
“It’s a big step,” Brooks said. “But I’m excited about using a metal bat. I’ve only used wood bats; Australia only has wood … “
This article appears in Jun 24 – Jul 1, 2010.
