MILWAUKEE -- Plenty of Major Leaguers have baseball in their bloodlines, but few have the sport coursing through their veins like Brewers rookie shortstop Cooper Pratt.
His father, Russell, played collegiate baseball at Utah. So did Cooper’s uncles Trent (at Arizona State for a young coach named Pat Murphy before going to Auburn and then reaching the Double-A level with Philadelphia), Scott (Auburn before reaching Triple-A with Cleveland and Atlanta), Paul (Air Force) and Kyle (Dixie State).
Cooper’s older brother, Ozzie, played college ball at Ole Miss, where Cooper would have followed in his big brother’s footsteps had he not signed with the Brewers. One of their younger brothers, Quincy, is a catcher who already is committed to Ole Miss, but has a chance to be a very high pick in next year’s Draft. Another younger brother, Jett, doesn’t graduate high school until 2027, but is already being talked about as a prospect.
And it’s not just the men in the family. Cooper’s mother, Heidi, played college softball at Nova Southeastern and is in that school’s Hall of Fame. It was often mom who threw batting practice to her boys when they were young. But instead of pursuing softball as a profession, she went to medical school and became a family physician.
And if all that’s not enough, another of Cooper’s uncles, Mark, played football for Youngstown State.
Which is a notable achievement for Uncle Mark. But this is a baseball family first.
“I’m incredibly grateful,” Cooper said.
Of course he is, because after a successful .281/.350/.368 slash line in his first 74 regular-season games in the big leagues while turning 22 along the way, Pratt is hitting .310 so far in the postseason. He’s also provided even more entertainment during the Brewers’ clubhouse celebrations, chugging orange soda and sparkling cider and explaining how much “frickin’ fun” he’s having. (Pratt is a proud member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and doesn’t drink or curse.)
There was a time not so long ago that he questioned his love for baseball. His dad runs a youth baseball organization in Northern Mississippi called the Yalobusha Giants, and because of Russell’s own history in baseball and his brothers’ -- Cooper’s uncles’ -- experiences in pro ball, he instilled a serious work ethic in his boys at a young age.
That didn’t always sit well with young Cooper.
“My dad used to take me and my older brother to hit every night. Every single night,” Pratt said. “Like, we literally had no days off. Christmas, birthdays, sick days. We hit until our hands were bleeding. We didn’t do anything but baseball. I didn’t go to parties or dances.”
He pauses to stress that he always loved playing baseball, and that he still has great friends from those days. There were even plenty of nights when he eagerly grabbed a bat and went into the cage to practice hitting. It’s just he had other days when he wanted to play video games or watch TV instead.
Sometimes, he pushed back hard.
“I hated it for the longest time,” Pratt said.
But he stuck with it.
Pratt had a growth spurt before his junior season at Magnolia Heights High School and became a prospect, and after the Brewers drafted him in the sixth round in 2023 and signed him to an above-slot deal to get him into the professional ranks, he quickly understood why dad drove him so hard. That’s often the biggest adjustment for players coming from high school or even some collegiate programs to the pros -- the long, everyday grind of the professional season.
For Pratt, that transition was relatively smooth.
“I think it gives him a nice foundation,” said Brewers infield coach Matt Erickson. “That’s why you see such repeatability and consistency. I’m sure he’s gotten really good, detailed coaching at a young age, and his instincts are so good. I think he’s got a really high ceiling as a defender that maybe he didn’t even know about.”
It’s a small world, because Erickson and Pratt go way back, even though they never met until Pratt was a Brewers prospect. Erickson’s sister teaches at Magnolia Heights High School, where Pratt attended, and his parents before him. Her kids, including 2026 second-round Draft pick Cole Prosek, befriended Cooper and his brothers through baseball, and Cooper spent countless afternoons with the Prosek family.
“Now that I know him, it makes perfect sense. He’s an idiot, just like my nephews,” Erickson said with a smile.
It’s a case of a coach giving a hard time to one of the players he likes most.
Pratt possesses one of the traits Erickson loves: He’s a hard worker.
“My dad knew why the work was so important,” Cooper said. “He loves it. He loves baseball. He loves that it gives him something to do with us, loves that he coaches us, loves that baseball keeps us close. To have them all there at my debut was so cool. I know they put in so much to give me every opportunity. It’s paid off. To see the end result -- or, not the end result, but the beginning -- I appreciate it.
“This has always been my dream. My dad, my uncles, they all played, and they never made it [to the Majors]. To be the first one is really cool.”
It’s cool for his parents, too.
“You can’t put it into words,” Russell told MLB.com the day his son debuted. “But his heart doesn’t beat. He’s so level, so steady. Never too up, never too down. He’s just a good, humble kid.”
“The word is bliss,” Heidi Pratt said the same day. “Because you worked so hard to get here.”
Looking back now, Cooper wouldn’t change anything.
“It would have been fun to hang out with friends more and do that kid stuff,” Pratt said. “But, I mean, maybe I wouldn’t be here. I love it now. I love baseball. I’m so grateful for it now, and I think it’s helping me now because I know what it’s like to go hit every single night.
“Like, there’s no, ‘I don’t feel good today.’ You suck it up and you go in and hit.”