talent will out

Baseball is hard. Even for those among us who are very good at it, the game can be humbling. On a recent steamy night at Trustmark Park in Pearl, Brett Cumberland stepped to the plate for his first at-bat with the Mississippi Braves, his first at-bat in Double-A. Keep in mind that just getting to this level of the game is an accomplishment; many a good player never gets to play pro ball, and many a pro player never gets out of A-ball. Cumberland cleared that hurdle. As the 23-year-old switch-hitter dug in on the left side for that first AB, there was no special announcement on the P.A. system. Just “Brett Cumberland.” The great majority of the fans in attendance had no idea who he is. There was no noticeable reaction when he was introduced and none when that first AB ended in a strikeout. Cumberland went 0-for-3 in that debut game and is 0-for-8 in two games since. Baseball is hard, but Cumberland is very good at it. Two years ago, unbeknownst to much of the TeePee crowd, Cumberland, a catcher, was the Pac-12 player of the year. He hit .344 with 16 home runs and 51 RBIs for Cal-Berkley. He was a Golden Spikes Award semifinalist. The Atlanta Braves, looking for catching help in their system, drafted him in the supplemental phase of the second round in 2016, 76th overall. He immediately became one of Atlanta’s rated prospects. But his pro debut didn’t go so well. He hit .216 in rookie ball that summer. The Braves sent him to low-A Rome to start 2017, and he hit .263 with 10 homers in a half-season there before moving up to high-A Florida. He batted .269 at the new level but managed just one homer. Overall last year, he showed enough promise, including a .400 on-base percentage, that he was rated the No. 22 prospect in the Braves’ system entering 2018. Back in Florida to start the year, he put up decent numbers — .236 (.367 OBP), 11 homers, 39 RBIs — before his promotion to the M-Braves, who desperately need catching help. Still, Cumberland dropped out of MLB Pipeline’s recently updated ratings of the Braves’ Top 30 prospects. Baseball can be humbling. But here Cumberland is, in Double-A, the make-or-break level, with a chance most never get. Baseball is hard, but talent will out.