Former Summit star Slater de Brun is back on the diamond after missing a full year
The Charleston RiverDogs had just wrapped up a six-game road series against Myrtle Beach Pelicans and it was a dark and rainy Sunday night on the roughly 100-mile bus ride along the South Carolina coast.
Sunday afternoon’s game was called in the bottom of the sixth inning due to rain that showed no signs of stopping.
Slater de Brun had just finished up the series as a player for the RiverDogs, the Class A affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays. de Brun played in four of the games, started three in the outfield and batted leadoff in all three games.
The former Summit baseball star had a lot to ponder, and plenty of time to do it, while on the bus after his first professional series.
“It’s been one of the toughest years of my life,” he said. “You try not to ride the wave of emotions.”
Fourteen months ago, the now 19-year-old de Brun was at the crest of the wave, coming off a state title with the Storm, getting selected in the MLB draft, signing a contract with a multi-million dollar bonus and forgoing college to begin his professional career.
But as quick and steep as those waves swelled, they almost came crashing down. There were difficult choices and negotiations, more than a full year of not playing with a lingering wrist injury, and an unexpected trade all before he even stepped foot in a professional field.
“Getting drafted was amazing, and us obviously winning the state championship right before,” he said. “But that was a really big high, then it was like an immediate low.”
College vs. Going Pro
Getting drafted by the Baltimore Orioles with the 37th pick (Competitive Balance Round A) in the 2025 MLB draft came as a surprise to de Brun. He wasn’t anticipating being picked that high, but not in the normal sense where he felt like a team was reaching for him.
“It wasn’t how I drew it up, but it all turned out good in the end,” de Brun said.
de Brun was a standout for the Storm. In his final high school season, the 5-foot-10-inch senior hit .370, drove in 26 runs, scored 35 runs and stole 22 bases while patrolling center field. He was the Intermountain Conference Player of the Year and was named Class 5A first-team all-state.
He was selected to play on Team USA’s U18 team, and was committed to play college baseball at Vanderbilt, one of the nation’s premier baseball programs.
His predraft counting report on MLB.com had him as a 50-grade player (out of 80), which is considered a solid, everyday Major League starter. de Brun’s speed (65-grade), fielding (60) and hit for contact (55) were his three strongest traits which led to comparisons to Corbin Carroll, the 2023 National League Rookie of the Year with the Arizona Diamondbacks.
“He has very impressive bat-to-ball skills with an advanced eye at the plate, understanding that his job is to put the ball in play and get on base, then using his well-above-average speed on the basepaths,” the scouting report said. “De Brun’s speed is also a huge asset in the outfield. He has plus range and is an excellent defender who can play center field for a long time.”
But the MLB draft is quite different from the other professional leagues drafts. Both the NFL and NBA have a salary cap, and there is minimal negotiations on a player’s signing bonus. Simply put, the higher the player is drafted, the bigger the signing bonus.
In baseball, there is much more flexibility to how MLB teams spend their fixed amount allotted to draft picks. The signing bonuses are heavily negotiated. Unlike the NFL and NBA, lower picks in the MLB draft can negotiate higher signing bonuses than players drafted with higher picks.
de Brun also had the bargaining chip — he could have played at Vanderbilt rather than signing with the Orioles.
For two weeks after getting drafted, there was a lot of back and forth between the Orioles as well as Vanderbilt.
“I let my agent do the professional side of things,” de Brun said. “And let his expertise take over. I set my mind on going to Vanderbilt, and then if I was happily surprised by the Orioles, then that would have been that’s great. And luckily I was.
“I just trusted my faith and I knew that whichever option presented itself was the one that was meant for me.”
The slot value of the 37th pick was $2.631 million. Less than two weeks after getting drafted, de Brun signed a $4 million signing bonus, according to spotrac.com.
de Brun passed up on being a college player in favor of starting his professional career.
“There is a certain point where you can’t say no,” de Brun said.
Lignering injury
Little did de Brun know, even after getting drafted and signed his contract, that when Summit beat Canby 5-1 in the 2025 state title game, where he drove home two runs, that he would not play a competitive baseball game for over a year.
But that’s how it shook out.
de Brun signed his contract with the Orioles on July 24, 2025, and was assigned to play for the FLC Orioles in the Florida Complex League, a rookie-level minor league which serves as a bridge program in Florida for new players drafted out of high school. He was hoping to get 100 or so at-bat during the three-month season.
Two days later, on his first day at the Orioles facility in Saratoga, Florida, while taking batting practice, something went wrong with his right wrist.
It was shooting and unbearable pain that clicked when he swung a bat. For a left-handed batter like de Brun, the right hand is the lead hand and is important to a swing. And it absorbs most of the force at impact.
The pain while swinging a bat would not go away.
“I was just praying that like one day I’d wake up and it would feel better,” de Brun said. “Every day I’d go and do everything but hit. I pick up a bat and try to hit, and it would go good off the tee, but then whenever I get to like anything actually impactful, it would start hurting. I’m like, my career cannot be like this.”
de Brun had a triangular fibrocartilage complex injury to his wrist, a common injury in golf, tennis and hockey due to the repetitive striking nature.
The injury kept him out of the three-month season. In November 2025 he had his first surgery. The clicking and pain when he swung still persisted. He had a follow up procedure in March 2026, which kept him out of spring training and once against delayed his professional debut.
While rehabbing, he could not do a lot of baseball activities, especially swinging a bat. But he could still do things to keep himself ready.
“I just tried to control the controllables,” de Brun said. “I got really good sleep every night. I took a multitude of supplements and nailed that in. My nutrition was really good. So sleep, nutrition, and then every day, I’d show up to the facility and do what I could.”
After a successful second surgery, a stint on the 60-day injured list, and more than a year without playing baseball, de Brun was sent to a rehab assignment in the Florida Complex League where he hit .455 with two doubles, four RBI, three stolen bases and six runs scored over his first seven career minor-league games.
Orioles to Rays
On Dec. 19, 2025, just before Christmas, de Brun was getting a workout in when his phone rang. It was the Orioles’ front office.
de Brun thought he was in trouble.
“I didn’t think I did anything wrong,” de Brun said.
He didn’t do anything wrong, he was just being informed that he was being traded.
He was part of an Orioles package with Baden Bodine, Michael Forrest and Austin Overn along with a draft pick, all sent to the Tampa Bay Rays in exchange for pitcher Shane Baz.
For some players, a trade from one team to another can be life-altering. Especially for established players, it can mean uprooting a family, moving across the country, on top of leaving a team and joining a new locker room.
Still a young player and very early in his career, de Brun had a pretty seamless transition.
“Literally nothing changed at all,” he said, “So that was easy. But definitely different philosophies throughout the two organizations. The Orioles value certain things that the Rays don’t value as much and vice versa.”
His defensive prowess and speed on the baseball paths fits the mold of what the Rays seek in their players.
Still, he has to wait until July to get on the field. And in his first at-bat, he faced left-hander Hunter Barco, a major leaguer who was also on a rehab assignment with the Pirates.
“I was pretty freaked out,” de Brun said. “Luckily, I closed my eyes and managed to get a base hit. That was really big for my confidence.”
On July 31, he was activated from the 60-day injured list and began playing for the Charleston RiverDogs.
So far, he’s batting .314 with five RBIs and six stolen bases in six games.
“It’s nice to see those numbers,” de Brun said. “It’s a fraction (of at bats) of what these other guys have that are really doing. I’ve been happy with where I’m at. It’s definitely a learning experience.”