By T. Scott Boatright
Former Cedar Creek and Mississippi State baseball standout Brooks Auger has his own mantra when it comes to approaching the game of baseball — just have fun playing a kid’s game with overthinking and stressing about it.
But as he talked to participants at Cedar Creek’s baseball camp last Thursday, Auger admitted to his mantra being put to a test the previous weekend as he waited in hopes of hearing his name called as a 2024 MLB draft selection.
Eventually Auger became the 190th overall selection as the Los Angeles Dodgers made him their sixth-round pick.
And suddenly, just like that, Auger was reminded that he should just focus on being able to enjoy the opportunity he had just been presented to play a kid’s game on the professional level.
Sometimes maintaining his mantra was admittedly tough for Auger due to circumstances he could not control.
After battling an injury earlier on, Auger experienced his senior season at Creek being canceled by the COVID-19 pandemic.
In one season at Hinds Community College, Auger went 7-1 in 40 2/3 innings with an ERA of 2.88. He then transferred to Mississippi State, where as a sophomore he appeared in 16 games, all in relief, finishing with an ERA of 3.05, and compiling a 2-0 record in 20.2 innings of work with 27 strikeouts.
But then Auger missed the 2023 season after having surgery to repair a torn UCL.
The 6-5 righthander split time as a starter and a reliever in 2024, making 20 appearances with five starts posting a 1-2 record with a pair of saves with a 3.35 ERA, second best of the season for the Bulldogs, while totaling 50 strikeouts and holding opponents to a .215 batting average.
Thirteen of those strikeouts came in a postseason contest against Ole Miss that helped Auger earn SEC All-Tournament Team honors.
Over his career at Mississippi State, Auger made 36 appearances with a 3.26 ERA in 66 1/3 innings while striking out 77 batters.
Not bad numbers for just playing a fun kid’s game. But as he sat and watched the MLB Draft in his sister’s living room in Sterlington, his mantra became a little hard to maintain.
“I sat down and thought about it and told myself even if I was the last pick in the 20th round, I would still be the only Cedar Creek guy ever drafted,” Auger said. “So, I wanted to be able to get that recognition at some point. Because just to be able to say that is unbelievable — a dream come true.
Auger thought he was going to be drafted by Kansas City in the sixth round after a call from Royals officials.
“The five weeks leading up to it I didn’t sleep a lot,” Auger said. “I’m a big thinker. A big processor. So, I just kept running all kinds of different scenarios in my mind. I’d be driving and find myself thinking about it.
“Then those first two days I knew I wasn’t going to get selected, so I just had fun sitting around watching the draft. I was pretty much fine for those first two rounds. But when that fifth-round hit, I had to stand up and walk around. And then I started getting some of those calls at the end of the fifth and start of the sixth, my stomach was turning, and I was starting to physically shake a little bit. But it kept not being me as names were called.”
Auger said it was fear of not getting drafted that got to him.
“I might sound terrible to say, but by then I just wanted to get it all over with,” Auger said. “I just had so many nerves and so much angst that I just felt once my name got called then I could just be a kid again and sit back and enjoy all of it.
“Then the Royals called me and told me they were going to take me with the second pick of the sixth round. And I’m watching the second pick (of that round) being announced, but it was, ‘With the second pick of the sixth round the Royals select no Brooks Auger.’ It was a crushing feeling.”
But sitting there in his sister’s living room, Auger flashed back to his “just have fun playing a kid’s game” mantra and slowly settled back down.
Shortly later Auger’s name was finally called as the 190th overall selection as the Los Angeles Dodgers made him their sixth-round pick.
“Suddenly I was back to just being a kid playing the game I love,” Auger said. “This is truly something I’ve been dreaming of since I was a kid. So now it’s just seeing what the Dodgers next have in mind for me.
“I’ll do whatever they want and go wherever they want me to go. Right now, all I know is that they intend to give me a chance to become a starter. Living a dream come true is a pretty exciting thing, so I’m really ready to get out there and show the Dodgers what I’ve got.”
Current Cedar Creek baseball coach Chad Yates never got to coach Auger but said it was still an exciting day for the Cougars baseball program and school with a former athlete drafted into the professional sports ranks and then come talk to youth during last week’s baseball camp.
“This was my first time meeting him,” Yates said. “But I’ve been following him and just hearing him talk brought me back to my playing days. Having a guy coming out of our program who is now representing us in professional baseball, and then coming back and sharing his experiences with these kids is what it’s all about for me.
“There are 30 kids here along with our players, and you just don’t know who this kind of thing is going to touch … who it’s going to ignite by getting to see someone live that dream of trying to play professional baseball and hearing what it takes. When I reached out to him, he immediately said yes. So, we’re fortunate. Now these kids have someone to follow. Brooks just got 40 new fans.”
Auger earned his bachelor’s degree in business administration with a minor in marketing.
“I still plan on going back and getting a master’s sometime,” said Auger, who also earned SEC Spring Honor Roll accolades in 2022, ’23 and ’24 SEC Spring Honor Rolls. “I just don’t know what it will be in yet.
“But right now it’s all about focusing on baseball and having fun. I’m 22 years with a college degree getting to play a kid’s game. It’s hard to imagine things being any better right now.”
