One week before the start into the new season in the Italian Baseball League, Telemarket Rimini has added a new pitcher with former Major Leaguer Jim Brower. The 37-year-old replaces Harold Eckert on the staff, who cannot come to Italy due to family reasons according to Baseball.it.
Rimini’s manager Mauro Mazzotti said to Mister-Baseball.com: “Brower is going to be our starter, even though he has been a starter only at the beginning of his career. He pitched all winter in Venezuela as a starter and did very well. He pitched for Caribe, Zulia and Magallanes and was the starter of game seven between Caracas and Magallanes.”
Brower was born in Edina, MN, went to High School in Minnetonka, MN and attended the University of Minnesota before being selected by the Texas Rangers in the sixth round of the 1994 amateur draft. Even though he quickly moved up the ladder and reached Triple-A by 1997 he got released in April 1998. He got picked up by the Cleveland Indians, where he also made his big league debut in 1999.
The right-hander became a journey man in the MLB, playing for a total of nine different teams with his last stop being the New York Yankees in 2007. The past two seasons Brower tried his luck in the Minors, in Japan and in the Independent League circuit. Now he and his MLB career ERA of 4.67 are coming to Europe. He is scheduled to arrive today and is supposed to pitch on Sunday in a preseason game.
Mazzotti on why they choose Brower as the replacement for Eckert: “He was in the list of names that we had, but he came out a little later when we already had an agreement with Eckert. When the Eckert situation went in the wrong direction, we went with him.”