Right-handed pitcher Brad Case was drafted in the 17th round by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 2018 draft. One full year after he signed, he was already playing at his fifth level in the minors. He’s 6’7″, with a mix of pitches, excellent command and a fastball that gets up to 94 MPH, along with what he described as an absolute hatred of issuing walks. That has led to a 3.38 ERA, a 1.10 WHIP and a 148:34 SO/BB ratio over his two seasons. He began his career in the GCL, then advanced to Bristol and on to Morgantown in his first season. He started 2019 in Greensboro and dominated, which led to a mid-season promotion to Bradenton. This spring he was competing for a starting rotation spot in Altoona when all of baseball was shut down. Case wasn’t one of the player in the Alternate Training Camp at Altoona, but he had to stay ready all spring and summer just in case that call came.
I talked to him back on April 1st when we were early in the shutdown and had no idea how it would play out, but didn’t get a chance to catch up until now. You can tell the creative juices were already starting to flow (he was creating minimalist edits at the time) and I figured it would lead to something more. That turned out to be true.
I recently noticed that he was posting interviews on his new podcast called The Minor League Take. I was late to the party as he had eight episodes already posted, including four with current Pirates prospects (now up to five). I wanted to share them here because it’s great content, but I didn’t want to just make this a plug for the podcast, so I asked Case about his summer training, and plans for a 2021 season, which he knows will be a big season for his future. I’ve included the links for his talks with other Pittsburgh Pirates prospects. Let’s face it, if you’re reading this article, then you’re going to be interested in these interviews. The players seem to open up better to a fellow minor league teammate and it’s more like a conversation between friends than an interview.
Here are the links:
Today’s latest podcast features right-handed pitcher Michael Burrows, a top 20 prospect in the system. This is the first one up on YouTube.
The others are on Apple Podcasts here and they include Pirates minor leaguers Mason Martin, Joe Jacques, Hunter Stratton, Garrett Leonard and former Pirates prospect Pat Dorrian.
Here are the same episodes on Spotify
You can follow on The Minor League Take Twitter page for new episodes.
The Start of the Podcast
by Brad Case
Once I got home from Spring Training, my daily routine would be to go to my old high school and train with these two brothers. One was a freshman at Marist playing for the college team there, and he was exceptional and I think he’s going to really flourish there. The other was his 16-year-old brother, who is a catcher and is currently committed to St. John’s ( I don’t think he’s going to play an inning there because I think the draft is going to go extremely well for him). Occasionally one of my former high school teammates would make an appearance who now plays with the Rays. Everyday we dissected each other’s video and learned more and more about how our bodies moved and how different pitches left our hand.
As I moved through the summer months I enjoyed plenty of time with family, but as I moved into the fall I decided to take up a new project, a podcast. It’s called The Minor League Take and you can find it on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and now YouTube. Over on YouTube I now am going to a more segmented version of the show along with full interviews. Also going to be using TikTok as well.
Every week I sit down with one a fellow minor leaguer and we discuss their journey and experience so far into minor league baseball. I wanted to create this platform to give my teammates a chance to stand up and tell their story. I have found through my few short years in the minors there are truly a million ways to get to where my teammates and I are today. With this year being canceled it’s giving me a great opportunity to create this platform and build it as much as I can until next year.
I do plan on continuing to grow this page as the year continues and plays out but it will definitely be a challenge. As Burrows said after the last interview, “It can be like the minor league version of Watch Momentum.” (Trevor Bauer’s media company).
My plans currently are to continue to live in NY until the shutdowns happen again and the gyms close. Once that happens I will try my best to move down south somewhere, hopefully Florida. At that point I will move to either Tampa or Jupiter to continue my training and preparation for the 2021 season. I am REALLY eager to have a good year next year because it will be leading into the Rule 5 draft which could be a huge opportunity to be placed on a 40-man roster. I am well aware in order to do that I have to become the Major Leaguer that I want to be before that can happen.
