By Brad Morris
SportingPumpkin.com
When Brett Carson was called into the manager’s office of the Washington (Pa.) Wild Things on June 16, the Teays Valley alumnus feared that his dream of playing professional baseball may have just ended.
Since signing with the Wild Things on June 5, Carson had appeared in only four games and went an uncharacteristic 1-for-9 at the plate.
“I was trying to get in the groove of playing pro baseball, which I am confident in my abilities to perform at this level, but I didn’t get off to the greatest start in my first game and then I sat the bench the next couple of games. I played again after that, but it was weird that I wasn’t able to get myself into a groove,” Carson said. “I feel like I allowed the pressure to get to me more than I even realized at first.
“It was just the fact that I wasn’t an everyday starter and knowing that I had to show something in order to become an everyday starter. We got back from a road trip and after the second game of our homestand, I got called into the manager’s office, and with the way things were going for me, I was worried that I was actually being released.”
Instead, Washington manager Tom Vaeth told Carson that he was being traded to the Rocky Mountain Vibes, a fellow independent professional baseball team located in Colorado Springs.
“He told me that I wasn’t going to be an everyday starter for Washington, so he looked at the next possibility for me and that’s when he decided to trade me and send me out to Colorado Springs,” Carson said. “At first, I didn’t know how to take it, because I almost felt like I failed.
“In actuality, being traded to the Vibes was one of the best things because the Vibes traded for me because they wanted me. I had to get used to a brand-new team, move across the country and learn some things on the way, but it has honestly turned out to be the best fit that I could have asked for.”
Carson has taken full advantage of a second chance to play professional baseball with the Vibes by batting .386 in 18 games with two home runs, eight doubles, 18 RBI, 28 runs scored and seven stolen bases.
The Wild Things and Vibes both gave Carson a chance after his All-American senior season at Division III Marietta College, where the left-hander batted .419 with 21 doubles, two triples, 12 home runs and 58 RBI.
Carson believes his resurgence in the Rocky Mountains can be traced back to getting used to the professional game and trusting his ability.
“Spending the week-and-a-half that I did in Washington helped me understand the ins and outs and what a clubhouse is like at the professional level,” he said. “Coming out here to Colorado Springs, I knew that I had to prove myself, but I also told myself to just trust my abilities and let my natural talents and hard work play out.”
In his second game with the Vibes, Carson went 2-for-5 with a home run and two RBI in an 8-6 win over the Billings Mustangs. It was the first of 10 multi-hit games for the Teays Valley alumnus.
“I was taking some swings in batting practice when I first got here, and the coaches told me that they saw something in me that they already liked, and that gave me some confidence when I first stepped on the field here for a game,” Carson said. “I still didn’t produce the way I felt like I am capable of in my first few games, but I was working to get in a groove and being able to play every day allowed me to finally get in a groove.”
Carson was 12-for-24 in his last five games with eight RBI and 10 runs scored, but suffered a season-ending injury when he broke a bone in his right hand in an 11-9 loss against the Ogden Raptors on July 12.
“I really took over in the last week,” Carson observed. “I was seeing everything very well and anything I hit was hard. It made me feel great to finally show what I can truly do and start to make a name for myself here and playing professional baseball, to where I could potentially sign a contract with a Major League organization one day.”
Carson noted that he has dreamed since his Little League days of traveling the country and playing baseball. He is now living that dream out in the Rocky Mountains and has fallen in love with living in Colorado Springs.
“I have absolutely loved it out here in Colorado. I’ve never been this far away from home before, but since I was a little kid my dream was to travel the country and play baseball,” he said. “I was lucky to have my family and my dog travel out with me to experience this part of the country, since they had never been out here, either.
“Everywhere we go out here, I’m just trying to soak in all the memories and soak in the beautiful parts of this country that God has created for us. Even though on the map being 1,200 miles away from home, Colorado Springs from the start has made me feel right at home. So much so that when my playing career comes to an end, I could definitely see myself moving out here and starting a life out here.”
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