Randleman grad celebrates his best year yet in pro baseball

LEXINGTON — As millions of people watched the Boston Red Sox take on the New York Yankees last week in the opening round of the MLB playoffs, there was one local person who was paying particular attention and cheering for the Red Sox a little harder than everyone else.

While most can only dream of one day putting on a jersey and playing in the major leagues, Brooks Brannon took a giant leap this past season to fulfill the dream that every boy who ever picks up a baseball certainly has had.

Brannon, a Randleman High School graduate and 2022 ninth-round draft pick of the Boston Red Sox, completed an incredible campaign with the Double-A Portland Sea Dogs and now waits to hear where he will be reporting next year.

“Hopefully I start in Triple-A next year, but if I don’t, I will be going to a place I feel comfortable in and love,” Brannon said of the Portland (Maine) Sea Dogs, the Double-A affiliate of the Red Sox.

This past season, he made quite an impression on his teammates, his coaching staff, the fans, the community and the organization.

Brannon was named an Eastern League All-Star at first base after leading the Sea Dogs in several offensive categories. He finished the season batting .280 with 98 hits, 28 doubles, 22 home runs and 70 RBI. He also led Portland with a .580 slugging percentage, .915 OPS and 52 extra-base hits.

Brannon led the Eastern League in slugging percentage, ranked second in OPS, third in extra-base hits and fourth in doubles. He recorded 29 multi-hit games and 21 multi-RBI performances during the season, highlighted by a six-RBI game on May 8 and a five-RBI performance two days later on May 10.

Oddly enough, his greatest professional season started with an injury.

Brannon underwent surgery in March to repair a broken left hamate bone in his wrist suffered during Spring Training, pushing back the start of his season to April. Upon his return, he also transitioned from catcher, a position he had played his entire life, to first base.

“The surgery in March set me back and that was unfortunate,” said Brannon, who praised the organization’s medical staff in helping him rehab. “When I first got there, I started out slow and I was freaking out. It had been two weeks and I’m hitting .150. Is all the work I have been doing for nothing? They would tell me you just got here, you’re coming off surgery, give it some time.”

Then one magical week set him on a path he followed for the remainder of the season. He was selected the Eastern League Player of the Week for the week of May 4-10 after the 22-year-old enjoyed an incredible run at the plate. For that week, he hit 600 (9-for-15) with two doubles, a triple, three home runs and 11 RBI in four games for the Sea Dogs. For the week, he led the league in average (.600), OBP (.588), SLG (1.467), and OPS (2.055), while he tied for the league lead in home runs (3) and RBI (11).

“It was huge,” Brannon said of the weekly honor. “To know all the work has meant something. I still had spells where I had rough weeks, but because of the success I had prior, I knew I would come out of it. 

“One thing I learned is when you are constantly searching and constantly looking to change things, that’s a dark place you’re in and you don’t want to be there.”

Brannon began his professional career bouncing between Rookie ball with the Florida Coast League Red Sox, Single-A affiliate Salem and High-A Greenville. He was beset by a number of injuries, but was called up to the Double-A Sea Dogs in 2025. He spent the previous fall in the Arizona Fall League, a place he took full advantage of.

“The team I played with was loaded with position players,” Brannon said of his teammates on the Mesa Red Sox, including Nick Kurtz (Athletics), Daniel Susac (San Francisco Giants) and Henry Bolte (Athletics) among others. “That was cool. It was fun to compete and play. The Fall League was great. It was very professional. They let you do your own thing and allowed you to go out and just play. It doesn’t necessarily feel like you were working. You were just having fun.”

Brannon had plenty of fun before he turned pro. He led the Randleman Tigers to back-to-back state 2-A championships in 2021 and 2022. His 2022 senior season was one of the most eye-popping seasons in NCHSAA history. In 34 games, he hit a robust .609 with a nation-leading 91 RBIs and a state-tying single-season record 20 home runs. The 20 home runs Brannon hit that season tied the mark originally set by his father Paul, a 1990 fourth-round pick of the Seattle Mariners after a stellar career at Kings Mountain High School.

“That is great, but I always tell him alphabetically, I’m first,” Brannon joked. “That year was really huge and really one of the only times I have been on a team that dominated and it was fun. Going out every night being with my brothers and winning. It was some of the most fun I ever had playing baseball.”

Prior to his senior season at RHS, Brannon said he was planning to play at the collegiate level.

“I was dead-set on going to college before my senior year,” said Brannon, a one-time UNC commit who said a World Wood Bat Association tournament he participated in began garnering him attention from professional scouts.

”There was a lot of good competition and that’s when I started getting noticed,” he said. “We had talked to scouts, talking about if, when and where I could be drafted. The closer and closer we got to the draft, the more I thought about going straight in.

“Boston gave me that opportunity, drafting me,” Brannon added. “I was thrilled. It was an answer to the prayers me and my family have. Getting drafted was one of the greatest days of my life. It was amazing and the start of a long journey.”

A journey that has him knocking on the door of Triple-A.

“I had a great group of guys and we won some games,” Brannon said of the Sea Dogs, who finished 71-65 and second in the Eastern League’s Northeast Division. “I couldn’t have done what I did without them. The coaches, everyone helped me. It was a lot of fun.”

Brannon was honored for more than just his play on the field. He was also the recipient of the team’s very prestigious Charlie Eshbach Citizen of the Year Award, presented to the player who best recognizes his commitment to the community and those around him. 

Throughout the season, Brannon consistently demonstrated a willingness to give back, including volunteering at the free youth baseball clinic hosted by the Red Sox Foundation, where he worked directly with young players and signed autographs for kids. 

He also shared his personal experiences with fans during the Sea Dogs’ Faith & Family Night, something he said was very important to him.

“I feel a connection to that city and state so to be able to make an impact during the season and be around the fans and especially the kids who come to the game and ask for autographs,” Brannon said. “Fans in Portland are amazing. It felt like a family. I loved everything about Maine. It was sad when the season ended not only because of not playing, but I genuinely felt a connection to Maine and Portland.”

Brannon said he was extremely pleased to spend time before and after games with the fans, getting to know them, spreading the good word and building friendships.

This offseason, Brannon said he has vowed to improve at first base and work hard to continue a trajectory that is far more than making it to the parent club.

“I have goals every year,” he said, “and that’s to honor God and Christ through the way I play.”

He is currently working out at BluePrint Performance in Kernersville, a facility Brannon said has been key to continuing his progression.