In mid-December, Brendan Summerhill, his girlfriend, and their friends were preparing to go to Top Golf for a fun evening of friendly competition. What sweetened the deal was that it was a Tuesday, and that night’s Top Golf round would be half-price. ‘Nothing can top this,’ Brendan thought.
Just as the group prepared to leave, Brendan’s phone buzzed. He checked to see that it was another social media notification. Before he put his phone away, he gave it a second glance. The surprise that waited for him left him speechless.
He was named the No. 10 draft prospect for the 2025 MLB draft.
“I was shocked, honestly,” said Summerhill. “I don’t look up when they’re announcing that stuff. I had no clue they were putting a list out. Just seeing that out of nowhere on a random Tuesday, I was shocked but really happy. It was joyful but obviously still work to be done.”
If the projection holds, Summerhill will be the 54th Gateman to be drafted in the first round in team history and the first since Paul Skenes (Wareham Gatemen ‘21) went as the first overall pick to the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2023. Summerhill would also be the 15th Arizona Wildcat to be a first-round pick, and the second to be picked in the top-ten in school history, the only other being Eddie Leon who was picked ninth overall to the Minnesota Twins in the 1965 MLB Draft.
He would also be the fourth Wildcat first-round pick in the last six years, joining the likes of Daniel Susac (Oakland Athletics) in 2022, Chase Davis (St. Louis Cardinals), also a former Gateman, in 2023, and Austin Wells (New York Yankees) in 2020.
The Chicago native had a stellar summer with the Gatemen in 2024. In 24 games he posted a .286 batting average with 24 hits, five doubles, one triple, two home runs and 14 RBI. His first season in the Cape named him Cape Cod League All-Star, recognizing his tenacity both at the plate and in the outfield.
“He’s obviously an extremely talented player,” Wareham Gatemen manager Ryan Smyth said. “One of the coolest things ever was that Brendan was all about baseball, like ‘hey, let’s get after it’. It didn’t matter where it was, what the field looked like, or the fact that he had to ride a school bus for an away game, it was always pure baseball.”
While some players struggled to adjust from Division I collegiate facilities to Cape Cod high school fields, Summerhill embraced the opportunity to play, and brought his ‘pure baseball’ attitude to the Cape, willing to play anywhere, anytime.
“I just wanted to win, I didn’t care if it was raining, cold, crappy weather, or foggy, I just wanted to win,” said Summerhill. “You know, everyone is worried about their stats and how well they do, but that wasn’t why we were there. We committed ourselves for the whole summer and we thought, if we are gonna be here, we might as well win.”
That winning mentality resonated with his Gatemen teammates and propelled them to a strong season, leading to a West Division-leading seven All-Star selections and the team’s first playoff birth in five years. Summerhill always put in the extra effort on every play, including in the 2024 Cape Cod All-Star Game, where he caught a fly ball in center field after colliding headfirst with the outfield fence, causing him to go down for over twenty-five minutes.
The play before, he went after a ball in right-center and the ball hit the heel of his glove, which ended as an uncharacteristic error. The very next pitch, Daniel Cuvet from Miami hit it right over his head, but Summerhill sensed the opportunity for redemption.
“I said to myself, I am not dropping this ball, I am going to make this play, and I’ll run through the wall if I have to,” said Summerhill. “So, you know Falmouth has the choppy grass and I’m running all over the place, nearly rolled an ankle, then I go to jump with no warning track, I didn’t really know where I was at and I was just thinking, okay I am going to catch this ball. I hit my face, and nothing broke, but I went unconscious for a few seconds, woke up, realized what was going on, held up the ball, and threw it in.”
“I was in the dugout when he ran into the fence,” said Smyth. “It was scary, I remember him running into the fence and going to the ground. The next thing I know, I’m sprinting like 300-400 feet to get to him and it was really scary to see. But, it shows you the type of player he is. Running into fences in an all-star game, and making the catch no less, you know it just speaks volumes of how much the kid loves to play baseball.”
Summerhill has loved the game of baseball since a young age. At the age of four, he played his first organized game at Hamlin Park in downtown Chicago, a mile from the historic Wrigley Field. The park, which still holds a special place in his heart, was the site of so many Little League games and marked the first steps of his baseball journey.
As he got older he started to play travel ball where the competition became tougher and tougher. At age 12, he and his team went to Cooperstown, a trip that deepened his love for the game as he competed against some of the best in the country while seeing his favorite player, Ken Griffey Jr., get inducted into the Hall of Fame.
In his early teens, he played for his father’s team. Despite having some good players, they did not win much, but his father and his experience taught him to be competitive.
“My dad taught me how to compete. You know, our team had some good players but we were small and we had to be fierce competitors,” said Summerhill. “Being so mentally tough at a young age I think was able to help me find success at higher levels in tough situations.”
In high school, his career was shortened by the COVID-19 pandemic, and he committed to Kentucky over a Zoom call with recruiters. However, he changed his mind a year and a half later, switching his commitment to Arizona, a decision he loved from the moment he made it.
“Not that Kentucky wasn’t where I wanted to be but I just didn’t give myself that chance to get recruited the real way,” said Summerhill. I felt I owed it to myself to pick a place that felt like home for the next four years, I had to be really comfortable with my decision. The coaching staff at Arizona built an unbelievable culture, they were honest, and to me, it was a no-brainer.”
Now Summerhill enters his junior season with the Wildcats, who were ranked No. 21 in the country in preseason rankings. There will be new challenges this season with Arizona entering the Big 12 conference and the added pressure of being a top-10 prospect, however, he welcomes the challenges and is staying committed to his current goal: winning a national championship.
“It’s exciting,” said Summerhill. “We have a very talented roster. We have a tough schedule early on, but down the road that will only help us. We’re gonna get to see Texas A&M, ranked No. 1, Tennessee in the top five, and Clemson at eighth, like those are good schools with some of the best players in the country so we’ll have a great idea of where we need to be.”
Current mock drafts have Summerhill being picked by the St. Louis Cardinals, which, as a Cubs fan, seems like betraying his roots to play for an archrival. However, no matter what major league team he plays for, he will play his hardest.
“We’ll see what happens, being a kid a mile from Wrigley when the Cubs won it all in 2016 was surreal, but if I end up as a Cardinal, I’m gonna try to be the best Cardinal out there and beat the Cubs as many times as possible, but being able to play at Wrigley Field would be a dream come true,” said Summerhill.
The Wareham Gatemen organization is beyond proud of Brendan Summerhill and his achievements on and off the field. We wish him the best in this upcoming spring season, the draft and his next steps towards the Majors.
Photo Caption: Brendan Summerhill (Wareham Gatemen '24) throwing a baseball in center field in the 2024 Cape Cod Baseball League All-Star Game on July 27, 2024. Photo by Andrew Duffy.
