After spending four years as a part-time player at TCU, Reagan grad Porter Brown has blossomed into a bona fide star in the outfield for Texas.
Texas outfielder Porter Brown gets a hit during the baseball game between Texas Longhorns and UT Arlington Mavericks on May 9, 2023, at UFCU Disch-Falk Field in Austin, TX.AUSTIN — Porter Brown’s new teammates haven’t forgotten where he came from.
How could they? Brown spent four years playing for Big 12 intrastate rival TCU, and the Longhorns still let the upstate defector hear about it every so often. At the same time, they can’t imagine life without Brown these days. Texas has embraced the former Reagan star and one-time enemy, and he’s done more than just blend in — he’s stood out as an All-Big 12 first-team outfielder enjoying a career year. “Oh, it’s been huge,” redshirt senior outfielder Eric Kennedy said Monday of Brown’s impact. “Obviously, he’s put up great numbers. He’s another veteran guy who’s been through it. And I just don’t know where we’d be without him.” This is why Brown came to Texas, to be a major part of a team with bold aspirations. These Longhorns, co-Big 12 champions with West Virginia, are just that.Texas enters this year’s NCAA tournament as the No. 2 seed in the Coral Gables Regional, hosted by No. 9 national seed Miami at Alex Rodriguez Park. And as this program seeks its third straight appearance in the Men’s College World Series, Brown feels fully prepared for the moment after spending his days at TCU shuffling in and out of the starting lineup. “I feel like transferring from TCU and coming here, I had a lot to prove,” Brown said last month. “I know my stats weren’t the best but I kept my head up and kept on working. And I think the hard work I’ve been doing through the whole fall and spring is kind of paying off. It’s a happy feeling.” It’s not that Brown wasn’t capable. Or motivated. But his path to success took a few unexpected turns. Brown’s true freshman season was cut short by a dislocated shoulder in mid-March of 2019. His sophomore campaign lasted 15 games before the COVID-19 pandemic forced the NCAA to cancel the remainder of the season. In 2021, the zippy outfielder started just 30 of 60 games but hit .342 overall and was selected as the MVP of the Big 12 tournament. But Brown couldn’t parlay that into an everyday role as a senior. He appeared in 43 of TCU’s 60 games in 2022, starting 24 times and hitting .276 with five home runs, 23 RBI and eight stolen bases. So, Brown decided to pack up and head down I-35 for his final season as a graduate transfer. It’s been, both for him and Texas, a beautiful marriage. Heading into Friday’s 1 p.m. regional opener against Louisiana , Brown is hitting .332 with a 1.007 OPS, 12 home runs, 55 RBI, 43 runs scored and 10 stolen bases. Each of those numbers represents a career-best save for the batting average, though when he hit .342 in 2021 it was in 91 fewer at-bats. Brown’s output isn’t totally shocking — except for that power surge. He hit nine home runs in 332 career at-bats at TCU. He blasted three inthis season, spraying bombs over Disch-Falk Field’s wall while driving in eight runs during a 12-2 rout of first-place West Virginia that kicked off a three-game sweep. “You don’t wake up every day saying you’re going to hit three home runs,” Brown told reporters that night. “I got the first one. The second one was a crazy feeling. And the second one I kind of blacked out. I feel like me and Caleb Longley, our hitting coach, were working on stuff all week and kind of tweaking some things.”
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