The Oakland Athletics drafted Dartmouth baseball's senior ace Conor Brooks in the 26th round (780th overall) last Monday.
"It's an absolute dream come true," Brooks said. "I still can't believe it has happened. I am so excited to play for the A's. They were actually the team I was hoping to go with all along."
Brooks' selection follows a stand out senior year that saw him garner Ivy Pitcher of the Year honors while leading the league in strikeouts for the second consecutive year with 91. Brooks also posted a 2.05 ERA while going 8-2 with his only losses coming against last year's national champion Miami Hurricanes and in the championship game to the Ivy champion Princeton.
Brook's 5-0 Ivy record helped lead the team to his first Red Rolfe Division title with a stunning 17-3 Ivy record and an all time high 29-14 overall record. Completing all his Ivy starts and throwing two shutouts including two 13 strikeout performances, Brooks' leadership and poise on the mound served as an inspiration to the players behind him.
"When Conor's on the mound, the guys just play better," Head Coach Bob Whalen said.
The workhorse of the Dartmouth squad this season, Brooks hurled a team high 87.2 innings while proving his stamina in an 11 extra inning win against division rival Harvard. In that game Dartmouth clinched the division title while Brooks threw nearly 150 pitches.
The 6' 1" right-hander from Plymouth, Mass. was the first Dartmouth pitcher since Atlanta Brave Mark Remlinger '86 to secure the Ivy Pitcher of the Year honor. Brooks also took Dartmouth's Male Athlete of the Year Award, was selected on the first team All-Ivy team and recently played in the All New England all-star team in Norwich, Conn.
The message of Brooks' selection in the draft came relayed from his father Tuesday afternoon after turning in his last paper. Though he hasn't spoken directly with the Athletics yet, the next step will be contract negotiations and reporting to the A's single-A short season affiliate team in Vancouver, British Columbia on June 20.
" I am going to get a chance to go out west, something I've been dying to do. I'm on Cloud Nine right now, and I don't think I'm going to be coming down for a while," Brooks said.
