Hunter Brown always dreamed of pitching in Comerica Park. He never pictured it like this. As he loosened his arm in front of the visitor’s dugout down the right field line Monday afternoon, Brown said to a teammate, “I didn’t think of myself throwing on this side. It was more on the left field line.” The Detroit native came home this week pitching for the Astros.
Brown used to pitch around the corner. He even pitched on the corner, at the intersection of Michigan and Trumbull, where he played a few games at The Corner Ballpark in 2018 during his sophomore season at Wayne State. Mostly, Brown pitched at Harwell Field, about two miles from the bright lights of Comerica that illuminated his youth. He starred for the Warriors in 2019, finishing that season 9-0 and leaving with the program’s all-time record in winning percentage.
Like any Little Leaguer from St. Clair Shores, Brown grew up idolizing Justin Verlander. He was six when the future Hall of Famer made his Tigers debut, eight when he made his first All-Star Game, 12 when he won the AL Triple Crown and took the mantle as the best pitcher in baseball. Every boy wants to be like his idol. Brown is a darn-near carbon copy of his. When the 24-year-old made his MLB debut last week, it looked like the Astros had cloned their 39-year-old ace.
As if that wasn’t suspicious enough, Brown pitched his team to a 1-0 win.
"I modeled a lot of my game after Verlander," he said this spring.
Brown’s second start came Tuesday in Detroit. He hadn’t been to Comerica Park since his sister, who used to have Tigers season tickets, brought him to a game sometime in 2018 or 2019. They sat in the right field bleachers and Brown remembers seeing the face of former Tigers utility man Niko Goodrum on the big screen. The two would briefly become teammates this season with the Triple-A affiliate of the Astros. Times change.
“There’s a picture somewhere of me and my sister and on the scoreboard, there’s Niko. He was up to bat or whatever, so I let him know about that,” Brown said with a smile.
After a lead-off walk to Riley Greene, Brown made quick work of the Tigers. He struck out Javier Baez to end the first and heard a bunch of cheers from the hometown crowd. That’s when he realized how many fans he had in the building, including the entire Wayne State baseball team and a few of his former teammates and coaches.
“All the boys were here. It was nice to look up in the stands and see them,” said Brown. “We had some good years, man. We played a lot of good baseball. Made the (Division II Midwest) Regional two years while I was there. A lot of lifelong friends and teammates. Makes you feel good to see them up there.”
Brown got better as the night went on. He allowed an RBI double to fellow Detroit native Eric Haase in the second and an RBI single to Greene in the third, but struck them out in their next at-bats. He retired nine of the last 10 batters he faced, throwing gas in his final inning as his idol watched from the Astros’ dugout. “Electric right shoulder,” Wayne State head coach Ryan Kelley told Bally Sports Detroit during the game. “Unbelievable flexibility and athleticism.” He could have been describing Verlander.
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It was an injury to Verlander, ironically, that led to Brown’s call-up to Houston. The AL Cy Young frontrunner is expected to return this weekend, but Brown is making his case to stick around. He’s 2-0 with 11 strikeouts in two big-league starts and said after Tuesday’s win that he’s “hoping to show (manager) Dusty (Baker) and my teammates that I can keep contributing” as the Astros close in on their third straight division title.
“Whatever my role going forward is, whatever the club needs out of me is what I’ll do,” said Brown.
He is the second Wayne State product to reach the majors, and the first to beat the Tigers. There was no beating Tuesday night for Brown, who starred on the stage where he fell in love with the game.