Arnold Brathwaite brings a wealth of experience and knowledge to the advisory board of the New Balance Baseball Future Stars Series.
Drafted back in 1993 by the Seattle Mariners as a player, Brathwaite instead elected to play at Broward College, setting up a career path at the time as an assistant coach at Southern University for six years before getting started on his current path in the big leagues as a scout.
A member of the Buck O’Neil Professional Baseball Scouts & Coaches Association, Brathwaite took an internship with the Atlanta Braves and turned it into being hired by the then-defending World Series Champion Los Angeles Angeles in 2003 as an area supervisor, where he’s been credited with signing major-leaguers Ryan Brasier, David Carpenter, Garrett Richards and Jordan Walden to name a few. He also did two stints with Major League Baseball International during that time, working in Aruba, Nigeria and Johannesburg, South Africa between 2003-07, taking part in the “All Africa Games.”
He joined the San Francisco Giants organization after the 2010 season, where he’s been ever since as first the Midwest scouting supervisor and now the Northeast scouting supervisor. He’s helped the team win two World Series, earning rings for his efforts in both 2012 and 2014, and was a crosschecker on significant pieces like Kyle Crick, Kelby Tomlinson, Clayton Blackburn, Cody Hall, Chris Stratton, Steven Okert, Ty Blach, DJ Shelton, Tyler Rogers and Sam Coonrod.
Brathwaite was recently featured in a Yale Daily News story, spotlighting the due diligence he did in signing a young pitcher, taking the time to watch an extended bullpen session and then pull him aside to gather invaluable information and data to dig into his personality, with that type of extra effort typical of what’s helped him gain a stellar reputation in the game. It’s work like that which helped earn him Mid-Atlantic Scout Association Scout of the Year honors in 2020.
It’s also something that long-time friend Jeremy Booth, president and CEO of the Future Stars Series, is happy to attest to.
“AB is the epitome of pay your dues,” Booth said.
“He’s been a college coach, area scout, crosschecker, been in the conversation for scouting director and pro scouting director jobs, and is capable of achieving in whatever he does. He won’t be outworked ever, grinds in all aspects, has an opinion with reasons and validity behind it, knows when to punt, and knows when to fight. He’s everything you want in someone who cares about the community, organization, and game as a whole and will do whatever is asked thinking about the bigger vision before himself. It’s outright impressive to watch him work and I’m grateful for the relationship.”
