by Chris Valentine

Most men have dreamed of being a major league baseball player at some point in their lives. It happens at a young age while in the backyard playing catch with friends or in little league games. Here’s how the dream goes: It’s the bottom of the ninth, bases are loaded, two outs down, the count is full, three balls and two strikes. It’s down to you. You step up to the mound, stare down the league-leading homerun hitter, and throw a 90-mile-an-hour fastball past him to win the game and take the world series title for your hometown team.

Okay, maybe most kids dreamed of being the hitter and taking it over the wall, but for Brandon Erbe, the Frederick Key’s rising star, pitching in the majors has always been the dream. The rest of us wake up from the daydream and realize that it takes a lot of natural talent, hard work, and a little luck to be able to reach the major leagues. Even if all these factors fall into place, the chances of ending up playing for the team you grew up routing for is even more unlikely. In fact some may claim that this level of serendipity requires divine intervention.

The Baltimore Orioles drafted Erbe, a right hander, in 2005. He was born in Harford County, Md., and is now considered by ScoutsInc.com to be ranked second best out of the Orioles’ top five minor league prospects. Erbe graduated from McDonough High School in Baltimore. One can only imagine how he felt coming home from work with his dad the day of the draft to find out he was selected by his hometown team. “It was the most exciting, gut wrenching, nerve-wracking day of my life,” he said. “Especially since the draft is in the middle of the day, and it takes a really long time. I just tried to keep my mind on other things. It was unbelievable to be drafted at all.”

Since being drafted, Brandon has fared well in the Orioles’ minor league system. He has been promoted from the Delmarva Shore Birds to the Frederick Keys. The Shore Birds are a rookie-ball team; the Keys are an A-ball team. In 2006 Brandon averaged over 10 strikeouts per nine innings. “I was able to get ahead in counts and had good control of my pitches. The most important thing is that I was able to throw strikes,” he said.

As for when Erbe will get back to the majors, he says, “That’s for the coaches to decide. It’s a hard thing to put a timetable on. All I can do is go out there and do my best and when my time comes, take advantage of it.”

Being a professional pitcher in any level of baseball is tough. It takes a special make-up and an arsenal of pitches to be a success. “You need to have confidence in yourself and stay level headed. You can’t get too high or too low. You also need to be able to forget about the last mistake and move on,” said Erbe. So far he has been able to heed his own advice.

Erbe has a great support system. He credits his father as the reason he got into baseball, and he is thankful that his mother and two sisters have also supported him. He lives with his family just a few minutes from Camden Yards. “I dream about how cool it would be for my family to see me start a game at Camden Yards,” he said. For now, Brandon Erbe enjoys playing for the Keys.