“It was a decision that I made,” Brasher said on Friday. “It was still up in the air where I was going to go. I was looking at a bunch of places and I was set to go to a bunch of places. Finally, he called me about three nights ago and he talked to me. I had a lot of questions that I need to have answered and he answered them. I talked to my parents and that’s where I figured that I wanted to go.”
Pell City head coach Andrew Tarver knew once Brasher came to high school that he had the potential to be a good pitcher.
“We knew Jared as a freshman was going to be a pretty legit pitcher for our program,” Tarver said. “He has a tremendous fast ball as a freshman and every year it has progressed. Now on certain days he is throwing in the 90s and that is what guys want now. He also has a really good curve ball and change up. I think he is trying to figure some things out. I think Samford is a good choice for Jared. He will be close to home, so we will be able to go watch him and we enjoy seeing our former players play somewhere else. We know that Coach Dunn at Samford is a great coach and they have a great staff over there. I think that will work very well for Jared and the role they want him to be in.”
Brasher’s life has changed drastically in the last two weeks. The senior went through various tryouts all over the United States in which he was selected to play in the Under Armor All-American game at Wrigley Field in Chicago.
“It has been crazy,” Brasher said. “I went from the first tryout that I went to at the beginning of the summer. That got me noticed for the Minneapolis tryout. From there it went on and on. Finally, I figured out that I made the All-American team. I went out there and had some fun. I had a lot of fun. I got a chance to meet a lot of good guys and go up against good competition.”
After going to San Diego, Minneapolis and Chicago in the last few weeks. Brasher said he would be glad if he didn’t have to board a flight ever again.
“It has been two weeks and it has been the craziest two weeks of my life,” Brasher said. “Luckily, God blessed me with these two weeks, but I don’t want to see an airplane again in my life. I am so tired of going to different places.”
Brasher played on the National team in the All-American game. The 6-foot, 210-pound right-handed pitcher turned in a 1-2-3 inning in his lone inning of action.
“It was different because you have all the fans there, but you get in the zone where the fans are gone and you are just playing,” Brasher said. “Being out there was just like playing Little League in the park, it was fun. Having all the kids come up to you ask for autographs was cool. I love playing good competition. We were all equal and we all treated each other like we were equal. They took good care of us out there.”
Tarver said he was proud of the way that his senior represented Pell City .
“We are very proud of him for that,” Tarver said. “He was able to get our town and community exposed. He is one of the good kids in Pell City that we would like to go out there and represent our community. He pitched in San Diego and at Wrigley Field. That is a huge accomplishment for a kid that age to be able to do that. Very few kids have an opportunity to do that on that stage and perform like he did. That is very impressive and it says a lot for Jared as a player.”
Brasher said playing the Minnesota Twins old stadium was one his most memorable moments from the past couple of weeks.
“The Metro Dome was cooler than any other field,” Brasher said. “I have never been in a dome baseball field, so that was cool. Petco (in San Diego) was really nice. The field is impeccable, so it was really nice to play on it.”
Brasher said he knew thought that he would never be experiencing what he has the past few weeks.
“When I was a little kid I told my parents that I just wanted to be part of a team,” Brasher said. “I played t-ball and from there I played All-Stars. When I got to Junior High, I was like I’m not special; everybody made All-Stars in their area, I am just another person. Then it kind of happened when I got noticed to go to that showcase. God blessed me to have good performances in those three showcases. It has been a blessing.”
