by Malcolm Butler
Brooks Auger was sitting in his sister’s living room in Sterlington Monday when he got a call that he has dreamed about since he was a little boy.
The former Cedar Creek School baseball alum was surrounded by his parents, his sister and brother-in-law and their kids when his cell phone rang.
It was family friend and Los Angeles Dodgers scout Jack Cressend on the other end.
“We have terrible service at the house in Farmerville so we drove over to Sterlington to my sister’s house,” said Auger. “We were all over there hanging out, watching it up on the TV. Leading up to the draft (Jack) had been telling me, ‘Hey, we want you bad. He texted me before I was selected and said, ‘Dude, I’m trying to get you right here. I’m trying to get you.'”
Cressend succeeded.
“Our TV was actually a minute or two behind the live feed (of the MLB Draft),” said Auger. “So my phone starts ringing, and I look down and I pick it up, and he goes, ‘Well, congratulations.’ About that time they said (on the live feed), ‘And with the 190th pick, the Dodgers select …
“I was like hold on just a second. I was able to watch it live on the TV screen while I was on the phone with him. It was a pretty neat experience to get that call from him.”
And that experience brought with it a wide range of emotions.
“When he called me personally and told me, ‘Hey man. We are going to take you with this next pick … ‘” said Auger. “Just that overflow of emotion and that moment where I finally reached my goal where I can say that I have been drafted and I am at that level of professional baseball. It’s just kind of surreal.
“Every little kid looks forward to the idea of one day getting to play professional baseball. I have been through a lot of ups and downs in my baseball career. Finally having it come true today means the world to me, especially with a team like the Dodgers.”
Despite a collegiate career that was at times sidelined by injuries — he missed the entire 2023 season — the former Cougar star and recently finished Mississippi State product was taken in the sixth round Monday with the 190th overall pick. He became the first Cedar Creek baseball alum ever taken in the MLB Draft.
Auger began his collegiate career at Hinds Community College in 2021 where he compiled a 7-1 record and a 2.88 earned run average, striking out 53 and walking 18 in 40.2 innings of action.
He signed with the Bulldogs out of Starkville and played 16 in games in relief in 2022 before suffering an injury that sidelined him for the entirety of 2023. This past season, Auger was 1-2 in 20 appearances and five starts with a 3.35 ERA and two saves.
And he saved his best effort for his next-to-last.
Auger struck out a career-high 13 batters and walked zero while allowing just three hits in 8.0 innings against Ole Miss in the 2024 SEC Tournament. Not a bad way to cap your college career.
During his time at Cedar Creek, he played for former Cougar head coach Ben Haddox and was selected as a 2020 Rawlings-Perfect Game Senior Preseason Honorable Mention selection for the Southeast Region during his final year. As a junior Auger struck out 79 batters in 56.2 innings pitched while compiling a 3.47 ERA for the Cougars. He lost the majority of his senior season in high school due to Covid canceling spring sports.
So now that he has been drafted, what is next?
“I don’t know yet,” said Auger. “Since the draft is still going and they are still trying to get some other guys picked … they told me they would reach back out to me in the next couple of days. I am sure I will go out to Arizona to the spring training facility and work out a little bit.
“I guess depending on that on whether I will go jump into a league and play so or go to the Dominica Republic. I could be in another country playing baseball at some point this year. It’s still up in the air, but I will be out in Arizona at some point before too long.”
Auger said he already knows one player in the Dodgers organization in former Louisiana Tech star Taylor Young.
“I actually played with his little brother for a little while,” said Auger. “So I have a pretty good connection to him.”
When asked who is favorite major league team was growing up, Auger kind of laughed.
“I went through that phase of every little kid where I wanted to be a Yankee when Alex Rodriguez and all of those guys were playing with them,” said Auger. “But my dad has always been a Cubs fan so the older I got and the more I really understood baseball, I kind of gravitated towards the Cubs.”
That fandom will have to be set to the side for the immediate future as Auger joins one of the most storied franchises in major league baseball history.
