Right on Time
Brandon Drury was a stalled prospect who emerged after most had given up
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With the All-Star game less than two weeks away and the August 2 trade deadline approaching, it feels like a good time to talk about Brandon Drury.
I’ll be honest. I’ve been waiting to have good reason to talk about Drury for a while.
Last week, we considered the life and times of Justin Upton. Well, when Upton was traded to Atlanta in early 2013, Drury was the youngest of four prospects, in addition to established big leaguer Martin Prado, the Diamondbacks received in return.
Drury had spent the 2012 season with the Braves Low-A affiliate in Rome, Ga. Still only 19 years old, he was very young for the league.
While his offensive numbers there certainly didn’t jump out, we had two bullish scouting reports on Drury from that season. I remember one of our more experienced and respected amateur scouts turned him in as a future solid-average Major Leaguer. (After the draft, many teams assign minor league and Major League coverage to amateur scouts. Among other reasons, it’s important for those scouts to stay calibrated to professional ball.)
Our other report came from the late Clay Daniel. When Clay talked about Drury, he didn’t lead with potential power or the player’s glovework. Instead, he regaled us in a story about not being able to beat Drury to the ballpark.
Clay loved being at the park. He wasn’t one to sit around in his hotel room, and he didn’t want to miss anything that could give him an advantage over later-arriving scouts.
So on the first day that he scouted the Rome Braves, he saw Drury already on the field taking early work — practicing his defense at third base, fielding ground balls before the official pre-game practice began. The next day, Clay arrived a bit earlier, and Drury was already there.
The following day, Clay arrived even earlier, but he still couldn’t beat the player to the park. The story continued over five days of coverage.
Clay Daniel grew more and more enamored with Brandon Drury because he had found someone who, apparently, enjoyed being at the ballpark as much as he did. For Clay, it was this work ethic and passion — on top of the obvious talent — that was going to make Drury a very good big leaguer one day.
Over the next two seasons, now in the D-backs minor league system, Drury performed well. In September 2015, shortly after his 23rd birthday, he made his Major League debut.
His first full season the following year also went well. He posted a .282 / .329 / .458 slash line. He hit 16 homers. By a couple different measures, he graded just above league average offensively.
Then things took a turn. From 2017-2020, during stints with the Diamondbacks, Yankees, and Blue Jays, he slashed .233 / .283 / .392.
Drury bounced back during limited time with the Mets last season, but New York allowed him to become a free agent anyway.
This season, after a journey that can’t be done justice in only a handful of paragraphs, the stars have aligned to allow for an All-Star worthy campaign. A minor-league deal with the Reds led to a spot not only on the Opening Day roster but in the Opening Day lineup.
A three-run homer on the first game of the season set the tempo, and a red-hot June contributed to his team-leading 17 home runs and 45 RBIs.
I asked Reds manager David Bell for his impressions of Drury.
“Brandon Drury is tough, hard-working, serious, and intense about being a successful Major League player,” Bell says.
“He doesn’t smile a lot on the field, but he takes great joy in playing the game, supporting his teammates, and helping the team win. He is incredibly driven to show what kind of player he knows he is.”
Expectations and results are starting to look alike.
This Sunday, I expect him to be named a reserve for the NL All-Star team. A couple weeks later, I expect him to be traded from the Reds.
In addition to his power (he’s slugging .524 through yesterday’s game), Drury’s defensive versatility makes him attractive for nearly all contending teams; the 29-year-old has played primarily at third base, but he’s also logged innings at first, second and short. He’s no stranger to the corner outfield positions either.
Will he end up in Philadelphia? Anaheim? San Diego? Perhaps back with one of his former teams in either Atlanta or with the Mets? There’s still plenty that can happen this month to shape the market.
In the meantime, I’m hoping that Drury gets a late-inning at-bat in the Midsummer Classic with the game on the line.
Last Sunday, he was summoned off the bench in the 8th inning of a tied game with runners on first and second.
You can click here to see the swing and the approach that I had hoped — years ago — would win games for the D-backs. Drury laced a double to right-center field, driving in two. That’s the swing I’d like to see him put on a ball at Dodger Stadium in a couple weeks with the entire (baseball-loving) world watching.
Brandon Drury is finally becoming the all-around player we had thought he might be. Sure, the uniform is different — and it’s likely going to change again soon — but the performance completes the picture that D-backs scouts painted 10 years ago.
“Sometimes he almost cares too much, but that makes him the player and person he is,” admits Bell. “I wouldn’t want him to change one bit.”
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