Bren Spillane

Brenden Patrick Spillane (born September 21, 1996) is an American professional baseball first baseman and outfielder in the Cincinnati Reds organization.

Bren Spillane
Cincinnati Reds
First baseman/Outfielder
Born: (1996-09-21) September 21, 1996
Hinsdale, Illinois
Bats: Right Throws: Right
Career highlights and awards

Amateur career

Spillane attended Wheeling High School in Wheeling, Illinois.[1] During his high school career he captained the baseball team at Wheeling for three years and hit .429, .512 OBP, 8 HR, 23 RBI, 20 R, 38 SB as a senior. Spillane was named all-conference, all-area, all-state first team, and was drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 34th round of the 2015 MLB Draft, but instead, he committed to the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign to play college baseball. While in high school, Spillane underwent successful Tommy John surgery.[2] Spillane was ranked 89th nationally and 7th in the State of Illinois by Prep Baseball Report in the 2015 recruiting class.[2]

As a freshman in 2016, he appeared in 5 games with 2 starts. As a sophomore in 2017, Spillane batted .295 with six doubles, a triple, five homers and 23 RBIs in 36 games, missing some time after suffering a concussion.[2] After the season, Spillane played Collegiate summer baseball with the Rockford Rivets of the Northwoods League.[3]

As a junior, Spillane switched from playing the outfield to assume the role of first baseman duties.[4] During his breakout junior season, Spillane was the first player ever to be named the Big Ten Player of the Week for three consecutive weeks and the first Illinois baseball player to be twice named Collegiate Baseball Newspaper's Player of the Week.[5] On April 4, 2018, Spillane was named Midseason Player of the Year and Midseason First Team All-American by Perfect Game/Rawlings College Baseball after batting .494, .579 OBP, 1.149 OPS, 32 Runs, 43 Hits, 13 2B, 1 3B, 14 HR, 38 RBI, and 12 SB as of April 2.[6] On May 22, 2018, Spillane was named First Team All-Big Ten Conference and was also the Big Ten Conference Baseball Player of the Year for 2018.[7] Following the 2018 season, Spillane was named the Collegiate Baseball Player of the Year and was named to the Baseball America and Collegiate Baseball College Baseball All-America Teams.[8][9] Spillane was one of three position players in the nation named unanimous first team All-Americans, along with Cal's Andrew Vaughn and Texas' Kody Clemens. Spillane led the nation in slugging percentage (.903), OPS (1.401), home runs per game (0.46) and weighted on-base average (.569). Spillane's single-season Illinois ranks included second in slugging (.903), second in home runs (23), second in Big Ten home runs (10), tied for fourth in total bases (158), tied for fourth in Big Ten total bases (67) and fifth in on-base percentage (.498). Spillane was the first player in Big Ten history to win three straight Big Ten Player of the Week awards (March 19 – April 2, 2018) and the first player in Illinois history to win two national player of the week awards.[10]

Professional career

On June 5, 2018, Spillane was drafted in the 2018 MLB draft in the third round (82nd overall) by the Cincinnati Reds.[11] He was the highest drafted position player in University of Illinois baseball history. He signed with the Reds for $600,000[12] and was assigned to the Billings Mustangs.[13] He spent the whole season there, batting .236 with five home runs and 22 RBIs in 48 games.[14]

Spillane spent the 2019 season with the Dayton Dragons,[15] hitting .207 with five home runs and 19 RBIs over 62 games.

References
  1. Martorano, Dion. "Bren Spillane Goes 82nd Overall To Cincinnati Reds". Journal & Topics. Journal & Topics Online Media Group. Retrieved November 13, 2019.
  2. Rogers, Kendall (March 28, 2018). "GSA Spotlight Bren Spillane". USA Baseball. Retrieved April 4, 2018.
  3. "Rivets sign Illini duo". Rockford Rivets. December 6, 2016. Retrieved April 4, 2018.
  4. Likas, Colin (March 30, 2018). "Spillane's hitting tear powers Illinois baseball". News Gazette. Retrieved April 4, 2018.
  5. Fisher, Erich (April 4, 2018). "Bren Spillane not flinching under national spotlight". SB Nation. Retrieved April 4, 2018.
  6. Ebert, Patrick; Rooney, Mike (April 4, 2018). "Midseason College Honors". Perfect Game. Retrieved April 4, 2018.
  7. "Bren Spillane, Patrick Fredrickson pace 2018 All-Big Ten Baseball Team". Big Ten Conference. May 22, 2018. Retrieved May 22, 2018.
  8. "2018 NCAA Div 1 Baseball All-Americans". Collegiate Baseball Newspaper. May 31, 2018. Retrieved May 31, 2018.
  9. "2018 College Baseball All-Americans". Baseball America. May 31, 2018. Retrieved May 31, 2018.
  10. Brett Moore (June 5, 2018). "Spillane Named D1Baseball.com All-American". www.fightingillini.com. University of Illinois. Retrieved June 13, 2018.
  11. Scott Richey (June 5, 2018). "Spillane drafted by Reds". www.news-gazette.com. The News-Gazette, Inc. Retrieved June 5, 2018.
  12. http://www.illinoishomepage.net/sports/illini/spillane-signs-with-reds/1234768202
  13. http://406mtsports.com/baseball/pioneer-league/big-ten-player-of-the-year-highlights-billings-mustangs-roster/article_3fdba48f-77fb-5d42-b3ba-8b69d9631d79.html
  14. "Bren Spillane Stats, Highlights, Bio - MiLB.com Stats - The Official Site of Minor League Baseball". MiLB.com. Retrieved September 11, 2018.
  15. https://www.redreporter.com/2019/4/5/18296741/season-preview-dayton-dragons
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