The N.C. A&T baseball team has produced back-to-back MLB draftees. Last year, former player, Xavier Meachem, was selected in the 10th round by the Miami Marlins. This year, junior catcher Canyon Brown, was selected in the ninth round by the Kansas City Royals. Brown becomes the 22nd player from A&T to be drafted into the MLB and the fourth one under Coach Ben Hall to be selected.
With being selected in the ninth round as the 257th pick, Brown became the highest Aggie to be drafted since Al Holland who was drafted 81st overall by the San Diego Padres in 1975.
Brown was invited to the MLB Combine earlier this year in June to showcase his abilities on the diamond.
“The experience was once in a lifetime,” Brown said. “I just wanted to showcase my abilities; I’ve prepared my whole life to achieve these dreams. I wanted to show them what I’ve done this whole year.”
Brown was also invited to the HBCU Swingman Classic at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas. The classic took place during All- Star week on July 12th. Teammates Coley Kilpatrick, Tre Williams and Tatsunori Negishi joined him at the classic.
“It’s huge for the program… it goes to show how great of a coaching staff we have and how much they put into the players,” Brown said, when asked what it means for an Aggie player to be drafted consecutive years. “I believe it sets an expectation for future players to meet.”
Though the Aggie baseball team didn’t finish with a winning record (25-28), they had one of the better seasons since 2019 with one of the best starts in program history, going 15-5 in the first 20 games. Brown was one of the leaders of that turnaround for the Aggies.
“We had a great group of guys who bought into what we were trying to do. It took a lot of hard work and long and focused practices to achieve,” Brown said. “We knew we were the underdogs in the conference, and our goal was to progress every year.”
Brown was selected on the first-team All-CAA for his career year. He batted a career-best .310 with a .414 OBP, 49 RBIs, six home runs, 12 doubles, three triples, 41 runs scored and 97 total bases.
His play behind the plate stood out among all conference catchers as he gunned down 27 base runners attempting to steal, leading the CAA. Brown also led DI baseball catchers across all conferences in 2024 with 3.3 throwing runs saved.
Coach Hall had a lot to say about his all-conference catcher as Brown continues to chase his childhood dream.
“It is a dream realized, and I’m so proud of all the work he put in to make this happen,” Hall said. “Canyon is a true testament to a player who set a goal, put the work in, stayed true to his commitments, developed, and earned this opportunity. He will be a high-level professional; the Royals got a complete player.”
