Former Randleman slugger Brooks Brannon is playing for a second year in a row for the Salem Red Sox. (Bob Sutton / Randolph Record)
SALEM, Va. – About two years since Brooks Brannon was drafted by the Boston Red Sox, the former Randleman slugger is inclined to talk plenty about changes.
Don’t worry, he still projects as a power-hitting prospect as he’s in the early stages of what he hopes will be a climb in the Red Sox organization.
He categorizes alterations in his life as positives, a list that includes immersion in faith and a recent engagement.
That’s a lot going on in addition to trying to swat sliders from hard-throwing professional right-handers.
“I want to get better every single day,” he said after a game with the Salem Red Sox on a sticky Sunday afternoon. “Not only being a baseball player, but a human being and a teammate. You can always be better.”
That’s the mission as he spread positive vibes with family and young admirers after a hitless outing.
Sure enough, plenty can happen in a couple of years.
Brannon’s pro debut came in the 2022 season in the Florida Complex League for rookies and continued there in the spring of 2023. Then he made the move to Class A Salem.
There was a setback during this year’s spring training with a meniscus injury, so knee surgery resulted in a two-month recovery period. Then, it was back to Salem.
“I love Salem. I love being here,” he said. “I’m just happy to play ball again, with success or with failure, just happy to be here, being in front of a crowd.”
His path in the Red Sox system could include stops in Greenville, S.C, Portland, Maine and Worcester, Mass. – and Boston.
The benefits in Salem include the convenience of trips home to Kernersville on off days.
Last week’s All-Star break provided another notable occasion.
“I got engaged,” he said. “So that’s cool.”
His fiancée is Bethany Dobias, a 2021 Randleman graduate and current softball player at Western Carolina. A wedding is being planned for November 2025.
Before swinging for the fences in his personal life, Brannon, 20, homered in two of his first five games with Salem this year. He entered July with a .328 batting average, though that took a dip with a recent six-game patch at 0-for-22 before notching hits in two games last week against the Carolina Mudcats.
“It has been a rough stretch,” he said. “The process has been good, but the result has not been what I want it to be. Maturing is being process-oriented and not result-oriented. You can’t come here and hit .600 with 20 home runs in 30 games. It’s not possible, you can’t do that.”
This week, Salem begins a six-game series in Kannapolis on Tuesday night.
Brannon was Randleman’s catcher on two Class 2A state championship teams. His 20 home runs as a senior matched the single-season state record that had been set by his father, Paul Brannon.
Recently, the younger Brannon has been logging some time as a first baseman.
“Kind of going back and forth,” he said. “Still behind the plate.”
So there’s ebbs and flows. Brannon’s spot in the lineup fluctuates and sometimes he doesn’t have a place in the field. He was the designated hitter in two games in a recent series.
“Getting healthy and staying healthy has been the main thing,” he said. “Whenever I get an opportunity, just playing. Just being healthy has been the highlight.”
Brannon is regularly on the receiving end of attention, perhaps to a different degree from the head-turning home runs he smacked during high school.
“To me, it’s the same,” he said.
Now there’s an entire fanbase of Red Sox rooters prone to check on minor leaguers and express enthusiasm for Brannon’s potential. So he said he’s fine with the scrutiny.
“All glory God,” he said. “The more attention, the more opportunities I get to praise Him.”
He said he has loosened up since that final high school season when he was under the watchful eyes of pro scouts. He points to a source of the relaxation.
“I got saved about a year ago,” Brannon said. “In high school, I was a little bit sporadic. Getting saved changed my life and changed my perspective on a lot of things. It allowed me to chill out a little bit and relax a little bit on things. Getting saved is the biggest thing and the most important thing that has ever happened to me.”
From his days with the Randleman Tigers, that quest to be a perfect teammate never stops.
“I still try to be,” he said. “I’ve changed a lot, but I haven’t changed at the same time. I’m a lot different than I used to be. Hopefully, God is sanctifying me every day and making me a better version of myself. I’m not who I want to be, but hallelujah, I’m not who I was.”
Going into that 2022 draft, Brannon was a North Carolina signee if he chose the college route. The Red Sox cut a deal for a nice signing bonus when they picked him in the ninth round.
So far, no complaints.
“I love every second of it,” he said.
