Inside The Milwaukee Brewers Players Project: Longhorn Stars Come To Milwaukee

[Michael Trzinski]

Over the last couple months, @Brock Beauchampand I have been working on adding players to the Milwaukee Brewers Players Project. Since Thanksgiving, we have added about 60 player bios to our collection. It is our goal to add 3-5 players every week, with the majority of them getting 400 words or so, while 'select' bios will run about 700 words. It is a great way to learn Brewer history and get to know the individual players.

Last night after my cat Hudson woke me up, I got to thinking about the Players Project. Normally I have been doing three 'short' bios per week and then try to tie them together with a piece on the front page. Which made me ask: why not do bios and try to have a common theme that connects the trio of players? So that is my goal from now on.

This week's piece features players that not only were born and bred in Texas but played college ball at the University of Texas. Enjoy!

Billy Bates
Billy Bates was a fireplug (5-foot-7, 155 pound) second baseman who played in only 21 games for Milwaukee in 1989-1990. Bates holds three University of Texas records for runs scored and triples. But his failure to hit big-league pitching (.125/.189/.146) shortened his career. He did earn a World Series ring in 1990 while playing at the end of the season for the Cincinnati Reds. He got a base hit off Oakland ace closer Dennis Eckersley in Game 2 and scored the winning run in a 5-4 Reds win. 

Bates also beat a cheetah in a 'handicapped' race. Check out the video here.

Brooks Kieschnick
Before Shohei Ohtani, there was Brooks Kieschnick. In college, Kieschnick won 34 games in three seasons for Texas, while hitting 43 home runs and batting .360. He was drafted by the Chicago Cubs but wasn't given a chance to pitch. After a couple years with the Reds and the Rockies, Kieschnick was signed as a free agent by Milwaukee, who made him a full-time pitcher. He played in only three games as an outfielder for the Brewers, but pitched in 74 games during 2003-2004, pitching to a respectable ERA+ of 95 and FIP of 4.13. Not bad for a guy who only had 48 innings pitched in his professional career prior to that.

Taylor Jungmann
Jungmann (pronounced 'YOUNG-men') was also a star player for the Longhorns. Jungmann is in the Top 10 in eight different pitching categories in the U of T record book. He was selected 12th overall by the Brewers in 2011. Jungmann had a nice season in 2015 for Milwaukee as a rookie, winning nine games with an ERA+ of 105 and FIP of 3.92. He only pitched in nine more games for Milwaukee and was out of baseball by 2020.

What is the Players Project? It's a community-driven, wiki-style project that focuses on Brewers players of all stripes. It's open to all Brewer Fanatic users and we've had contributions for current players, past players, and players who never even made the major leagues but played in the Brewers farm system. Create your favorite player today!

The Milwaukee Brewers Players Project is open to all Brewer Fanatic users. If you're a Brewers history buff or just want to dive into the background of your favorite player, come on board!

Are you interested in Brewers history? Then check out the Milwaukee Brewers Players Project, a community-driven project to discover and collect great information on every player to wear a Brewers uniform!

 

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