Brandon Downes, South Plainfield slugger, heads to East Coast Pro Showcase

July 10, 2010

By PAUL FRANKLIN
STAFF WRITER

The steady thumps can be heard every day, sometimes late at night when Mike and Kathy Downes are trying to fall asleep. The sound in the basement is like an intermittent beat of a drum, but in fact is the sound of a baseball being hit by a bat.
The culprit is their son, Brandon.
The reason, of course, is the dream.
"I can attest to that," said his mother with a smile one afternoon last week, upstairs in the kitchen. "I hear the ball and I hear him saying stuff to himself. He's in a zone down there."
Imperfection, however, causes baseballs to divert from the circular, blue netting of the "Instant Screen." The desired result, of course, is a line drive into the concrete block wall some six feet from where a soft toss machine lobs pitches to the kid.
Over the past 10 years his swings have also sent balls banging off the washer/dryer, water pipes and shattered windows.
One time a ricochet tagged him on the nose.
He no longer breaks the two windows to the right of the portable home plate. Eventually his father, a mason, cemented them shut.
Aside from his concrete field of dreams, the basement is essentially like many others: a little dark . . . a ping pong table here, a Foosball table there . . . posters on the walls . . . a blue plastic wash basket filled with baseballs, and, well, stuff.
In stark comparison is a large table filled with gold trophies. Tall trophies. More than two dozen of them.
That is the first hint of a talented baseball player as you walk down the narrow stairs to the basement. And that is why it comes as no surprise as to why the 17-year old will attend one of the country's most prestigious baseball showcases next month.
The East Coast Pro Showcase website says its ultimate purpose is, "to provide a venue for the premier youth baseball players across the Eastern United States to compete in a professional environment and allow evaluation opportunities for scouts from every Major League organization."
Games will be played Aug. 1-4 at the Detroit Tigers spring training facility in Lakeland, Fla.
In addition, the MLB team sponsoring the one Downes will play for, the Angels, will hold one practice at Yankee Stadium on July 27.
"That's gonna be really cool," said Downes, who will be a senior this year at South Plainfield High School. "I want to take batting practice. I can't wait."
He stands a good chance of reaching the seats at Yankee Stadium — even if he's a Mets fan. He hit 15 home runs this past spring, many of them bombs into the trees at South Plainfield's home field.
Generally an outfielder, Downes has a cannon for an arm and is actually catching this summer for three teams: Full Count, an AAU team; Senior Legion; and the Greater Middlesex County Coaches League.
Almost 6-foot-3, Downes is not the prototype catcher at 175 pounds.
"I like being involved in every play," he said of the position. "The outfield sometimes is boring. All I do is yell a lot. I like running down fly balls though, and I usually don't hit the cutoff man. My coach told me once to stop showcasing my arm."
Downes said that with a smile. An unassuming teenager, his athletic success has not gone to his head. He can be excited about his accomplishments and his potential, but he doesn't brag about it.
He credits his parents.
His dad played football and baseball at South Plainfield (mom was a cheerleader), older brother Michael played baseball for South Plainfield, and his sister Kelly will play her final year of softball at Drexel. She was an outstanding player at SPHS as well.
Rutgers, Virginia, Tennessee and Vanderbilt are among the colleges recruiting Downes, who is considering majoring in electrical or environmental engineering.
Even if he's drafted next year, he said, he is pretty sure he will attend college before taking a crack at professional baseball.
"I've been told I won't be ready," he said of pro ball. "And I don't think I will be."
Eventually, of course, he wants to. Eventually he wants to return to Yankee Stadium in a major-league uniform.
"I always wanted to play in the pros, but I never thought I'd get this close," he said. "I remember when I started playing baseball, I hit a lot of home runs and I would think, "I can't wait to hit them in the majors.' "
Until then he'll keep taking his swings in the basement, where the washer/dryer can serve as a left field foul pole, the water pipes as a shot into McCovey Cove, and where concrete windows continue to drum the rhythm of a dream.

http://www.mycentraljersey.com/article/20100710/SPORTS0103/7100328/1109