Blake Brown enters his fourth and final year with Gateway, where he has become one of the faces of the franchise. A 2017 Frontier League All-Star, Brown led the Grizzlies last year with 18 home runs and 69 RBIs, both of which ranked third in the Frontier League. He finished the season with a .300 batting average in a team-high 93 games. He also piled up a career-high 70 walks on the season, which helped his .425 on-base percentage easily lead qualified Gateway batters, and added nine steals in 11 attempts.

Brown's previous best batting average was .261 in 2015 (his first Frontier League campaign) before hitting .300 last season, and he'd never posted more than 11 doubles in a season before collecting 19 two-baggers a year ago. He enters the season as Gateway's active career leaders in games played (250), home runs (48), RBIs (165), doubles (40), and walks (148).

Brown signed with the Grizzlies in April 2015 after spending three seasons in the Atlanta Braves' minor league system. His most recent action in affiliated baseball came with the Lynchburg Hillcats (Class A-Advanced) in 2014.

Prior to playing in the minors, Brown spent three years at the University of Missouri. He smacked 19 home runs during his time in Mizzou's program, including a towering drive off of current St. Louis Cardinals right-hander Michael Wacha in the Big 12 Tournament when Wacha was at Texas A&M. The Braves selected the Bloomington, Ill., native in the fifth round of the 2012 MLB Draft. He will turn 27 on June 30.