Bearden senior Brooks Wright was recruited in his eighth grade year to play catcher for Tennessee.
Although he will likely exclusively be a catcher for the Vols, a key strength of his development as a player has been his ability to play in multiple positions. Wright even pitches for Bearden, meaning he arguably plays both of the two most niche positions in the sport.
Throughout his career, he has grown immensely due to constant challenges in his age bracket or playing different positions without previous experiences which created a versatile player. Tennessee liked that in him, and he signed with the Vols earlier this year.
“They (Tennessee) were looking for a home-town catcher,” Wright said. “It is never a bad thing to have too many catchers on one roster.
“It is probably the most physically-tolling position, so it’s probably never too bad to have too many of them. I guess they saw something in me.”
The Bulldogs (7-0) had a successful spring break, going unbeaten in the Playing for the Cure tournament. They’ll hope to keep their undefeated start to the season alive when they host Farragut at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday.
Wright has learned to thrive in multiple positions despite challenges. They push his versatility and strength as a player overall.
“Playing with the teams I played with when I was younger, I had to find ways to get on the field with a bunch of older guys, so learning all of the different positions and jobs was going to help me get on the field and that has kind of paid off here,” Wright said.
Moving from high school to the college level is one of the biggest changes an athlete can go through, but Wright said that’s a challenge that excites him.
“The biggest environmental change will probably be just being around older people with the same goals and mindset as me – not like it isn’t like that here, but you’ve got a lot of diversity in age, in physical fitness,” Wright said.
Getting recruited to the D1 level is a long and involved process.
“I played in a few different nationally seen and televised events in 2019 which was summer between seventh and eighth grade, and I guess that kind of put me on their radar and then I eventually got invited to a prospect camp in fall of eighth grade,” Wright said. “I guess they liked what they saw out of me, and I kept in contact with the coaching staff there for a few months.
“They offered me a scholarship, and I took it.”
Although Wright is preparing for college, he isn’t letting his mind drift away from the current season ahead. What he brings to the table now is what he hopes to bring at the higher level.
“Experience and leadership is what I am looking to bring, and obviously I am going to hopefully produce with the in-game aspects of it, but with those I am trying to bring up the whole team to make it as far as we can,” Wright said. “Age-wise, I’m the oldest and experience-wise, I have started every game for the past three years.
“Knowing that they have someone who isn’t a coach they can lean on for advice is going to help.”