DURHAM, NC- The contract of Lincoln Saltdogs RHP Eric Brooks (pictured) has been sold to the Arizona Diamondbacks. Brooks will be assigned to extended Spring Training in Arizona with the Diamondbacks, where he will await further assignment.
Brooks has started two games on the mound so far for the Saltdogs in 2014. On May 16, he threw six innings at the Kansas City T-Bones, allowing two runs on only two hits with one walk and six strikeouts. In his second outing of the year on May 21, a road start at the Grand Prairie AirHogs, he again allowed two runs in six innings, this time on seven hits with two walks and two strikeouts.
2014 is Brooks’ first year in the American Association. He was an 11th round pick of the Texas Rangers in the June 2012 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft out of McLennan Community College in Waco, Texas. Brooks spent the 2012 season with the Spokane Indians, the Class A Short Season affiliate of the Rangers in the Northwest League. There, he carried a 2-3 record and 3.68 ERA over 15 games, 13 of them starts. In 51 and 1/3 innings pitched, the Round Rock, Texas native struck out 48 hitters and only walked 13.
In 2013, Brooks returned to Spokane and appeared in 16 games with six starts. He threw 58 innings with 61 strikeouts and a 2.79 ERA, and matched his 2-3 record from the prior season. He also made three starts with the Class A Hickory Crawdads in the South Atlantic League, where he struck out nine hitters in 11 innings pitched with no record.
Brooks becomes the second Lincoln Saltdogs player and third American Association player to be sold this week. His teammate, SS Maikol Gonzalez, and Amarillo Sox 1B Joe Weik were both sold to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.
