LOS ANGELES -- Brady Ebel stood in the batter's box at Dodger Stadium. After laying a bunt down to each side, he took his first hack at the ball.
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He took some more swings. Line drive into the left-field gap. Another line drive, this one down the left-field line.
He took another one.
A towering fly ball to right field that died at the warning track.
One more.
This was the one -- the ball arced high and deep, easily clearing the outfield wall as it landed well into the right-field pavilion seats.
“Who’s that stranger over there?” Dodgers third-base coach Dino Ebel jokingly cracked as he walked out onto the field.
Just two weeks ago, Brady was taking batting practice at American Family Field with Dino throwing to him as father and son. But on Saturday, Brady was on the other side, working out with the Brewers for the first time -- not even an hour removed from signing his contract with the team that drafted him with the No. 32 overall pick in last weekend’s MLB Draft.
“It’s super crazy,” Brady said about the whirlwind that has been his last couple of weeks. “Kind of weird, too, seeing my dad on the other side now. Now, I’m a Brewer.”
“I knew this day would come,” Dino said. “I’ve always told my sons there’s 30 Major League teams, and you only need one team to really like you for them to draft you. And the Brewers believe in him.”
It’s not hard to see what Milwaukee saw in the younger Ebel, a 6-foot-3, 195-pound prospect who can play both shortstop and third base. He only hit two homers with Corona High School as a senior, but he projects to develop more power -- some of which he flashed in BP on Saturday.
It also helps that the Brewers have been able to get a longer look at Ebel over his last few seasons, as he played with their scout team since he was 14. For Brewers regional supervisor of scouting Corey Rodriguez, it was Ebel’s polishedness -- the discipline and maturity with which he approaches the game -- that jumped out immediately.
“He’s a winning player. We’ve seen that every time he comes to the ballpark,” Rodriguez said. “Whether he goes 4-for-4 or 0-for-4, we know what he’s going to do in terms of his effort level, his preparation. Hard to find a high school player -- or even a college player -- that puts the time in like he does.”
That’s a product of a lifetime’s worth of just being around the game, hanging around big league clubhouses throughout his father’s coaching stints with the Angels (2006-18) and Dodgers (since 2019). For most of his 17 years, Ebel has been able to pick the brains of the game’s most elite and incorporate those lessons into his own game.
“Love of the game,” he said about the biggest thing he’s learned. “Just seeing Trout, Freddie, Mookie. These guys love it and compete every day. The way they go about it is the right way, I feel like, and I love taking that info from them.”
Now, Ebel’s excited to keep learning from people in his new environment, especially his new teammates, like Christian Yelich. But the first step in Ebel’s path to the big leagues is getting to Phoenix to report for the Arizona Complex League Brewers.
Dino emphasized that Brady will have all the resources he needs now that he’s in a big league organization -- all he needs to do is ask for it. And while it feels weird that he won’t be throwing his oldest son’s batting practices anymore, Dino just soaked in the moment on Saturday more than anything.
“For me to see him now in a Brewers uniform, it doesn’t matter. Whatever,” he said. “I’m just happy that he got his chance. The Brewers believe in him.”
A few days ago, Dino posed a question to Brady: “Who are you going to root for if the Dodgers and Brewers play each other in the playoffs?”
Brady responded, “Oh Dad, 100% the Brewers.”
Dino laughed a little bit as he recalled the conversation.
“I said, ‘Right answer, son.’”