The Brewers used the 20th round of the MLB Draft on Sunday to bring in a familiar name: Carsten Sabathia III, the son of Hall of Fame pitcher CC Sabathia.
This one comes with a twist. The younger Sabathia is a bat-first player, not a power arm like his father. At the University of Houston, he put together a .283/.374/.511 slash line with six home runs and 18 RBI in his final season, showing the kind of offensive profile that got Milwaukee to call his name.
CC Sabathia’s ties to the Brewers run deep. He’s on the club’s Wall of Honor for the massive second-half run he helped spark in 2008, when he made 17 starts after being traded to Milwaukee at the deadline and posted a 1.65 ERA while starting three games in the final week of the season.
That winter, he moved on to the Yankees on a seven-year deal, won the 2009 World Series, and later retired. His son was only 5 years old in 2008.
“Our conversations have always been different because of his baseball IQ and because of how much of a fan he is,” the elder Sabathia said. “Like, you could have a conversation with him about a 2-1 pitch when he was 10 years old. And when he was 14, he would try to hit behind runners and do all these different things instead of just trying to hit a homer, because he always had a mind to try to do the right thing on the diamond.”
The 22-year-old spent four college seasons splitting time between designated hitter and first base. He began his college career at Georgia Tech before transferring to Houston for his final two years.
Sabathia wasn’t the only son of a Yankees great to hear his name called Sunday. The Yankees took Andy Pettitte’s son, Luke, in the eighth round out of Dallas Baptist University. The 21-year-old was listed as a two-way player, though he’s expected to pitch after serving as a DH this season while rehabbing from an arm injury.
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