San Antonio Express-News (Sunday)
Reagan product Brown relishes chance with Flying Chanclas.
Brown relishes chance playing for Flying Chanclas
Porter Brown and his teammates on the Flying Chanclas de San Antonio walked off the field in Amarillo at about 10:30 p.m. Thursday and began readying for the eight-hour bus ride home.
The Flying Chanclas just earned their first Texas Collegiate League win, beating the Sod Squad 11-5. Playing a schedule of 30 games in 34 days, San Antonio had about 20 hours to travel 500 miles and prepare for the team’s home opener Friday against the Acadiana Cane Cutters.
Brown said he slept as well as he could on the ride back, adhering to a team rule requiring players to wear masks for the duration of the trip. When the Flying Chanclas arrived in San Antonio around 8 a.m., Brown drove home, ate a quick breakfast and then slept until 3:45 p.m., leaving just enough time to be back at Wolff Stadium by 4:30 p.m.
Despite the rigorous schedule, Brown said he’s “thankful and blessed” to have the opportunity. As a freshman at TCU last year, the Reagan product’s promising season was cut short by an injury. Coming back in 2020, Brown struggled with his swing and never hit his stride, sliding down the batting order before the season was upended by the coronavirus pandemic.
Playing for the Flying Chanclas this summer gives Brown an opportunity to get back into game shape, refine his timing and repair the holes in his swing, which he hopes will help propel him to a return to form at TCU next year.
“I’m happy I got this experience to play summer baseball, because this is my chance to fix things, and try new things,” Brown said. “Try to find what I’m comfortable with, and what works for me again.”
Brown said he’s been pleased with his play during the Flying Chanclas’ first four games, batting .400 with three walks in 15 at-bats.
San Antonio manager John McLaren rattled off a list of attributes that make Brown an early standout: a “great, great” hitting technique, an intelligent game plan, sound fundamentals and an outgoing personality.
“Everything I see in him, I like,” McLaren said. “He has a chance to be a really good ball player. He has a strong, athletic body, and he’s got a really nice future ahead of him.”
That potential was on full display during Brown’s initial days at TCU last season. Joining a program that made four straight College World Series appearances from 2014 through 2017, Brown started his first 16 games, hitting .279 with a .405 on-base percentage.
But during a March game against Eastern Michigan, Brown dislocated his shoulder on a swing. He had issues with his shoulder popping out of socket before, dating back to a slide during his time at Reagan.
In high school, the pain subsided after a day, and Brown didn’t think much of it. But after the swing against Eastern Michigan, Brown said he felt paralyzed by the pain. Doctors determined he had suffered a torn labrum.
“At first, I was on top of the world, being able to start at such a program like TCU,” Brown said. “When the injury happened, I was like, ‘Oh gosh, this is the worst news I could’ve heard.’ ”
Brown underwent surgery and began a six-month recovery process, wearing a sling on his arm that prevented him from even driving during the first four weeks.
He said he was fortunate to qualify for a medical redshirt, coming in just one game under the limit to preserve a year of eligibility. But after missing the summer season, Brown struggled upon his return to TCU in 2020.
He started the year batting leadoff and playing left field before moving down the order or being left out of the lineup entirely. His timing was off, his swing felt too long, and the slump was hurting his mentality. Through 13 games, he hit .189 with 15 strikeouts in 53 at-bats.
“I’m not going to lie,” Brown said, “I feel like I did terrible.”
After the pandemic derailed the 2020 season in March, Brown studied video of his old swings, analyzing his strikeouts to look for mistakes. He set up a makeshift bench in his garage for weight training and took batting practice at Reagan with his father almost daily.
Brown was scheduled to join a summer league in Cape Cod this year, but the competition was called off because of the pandemic. His coaches at TCU set him up with a Five Tool Baseball event in Houston, but Brown changed course when the TCL planted a team in San Antonio.
After growing up watching Missions games at Wolff Stadium, Brown jumped at the opportunity to don the Flying Chanclas uniform.
“Every time I’m on the field, I think back and it’s like, ‘Man, I was that 12- or 11-year-old boy in the stands looking at it, and now I’m on it,’ ” Brown said. “It’s crazy.”
With a surge of confirmed COVID-19 cases continuing across Texas, the Chanclas implemented teamwide testing, daily health screenings and various distancing protocols.
Brown said the “air highfives” after wins have required some getting used to, but otherwise the players have taken the unusual circumstances in stride.
“We’re solid on safety precautions,” Brown said. “The Missions and Chanclas are taking good care of us and making sure we’re safe. Health and safety is the first priority in this summer league, absolutely.”