A 48-year-long fairytale brought Brian Milner to Tropicana Field in early April.
Milner watched his son Hoby toss a scoreless relief appearance for the Chicago Cubs during a win against the Tampa Bay Rays in a full-circle moment for the family. Brian spent 12 seasons (1996-2007) as a Cubs scout and now gets to see Hoby representing the team.
In the stands at Tropicana, Brian wore the Cubs-issued scout jersey, No. 34, that he would wear to tryout showcases so players knew which teams were represented.
When Hoby signed with the Cubs in the offseason, “oh, he was pumped,” the 35-year-old lefty said about his father. “I rooted for the Cubs growing up, but once I got into high school, I started thinking, like, ‘Oh, what’s it going to be like with my dad being a scout?’”
Brian’s time as a Cubs scout saw him assigned to the north Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas regions and also involved pro team coverage, which during his last five years included the Houston Astros and Texas Rangers.
Beyond his scouting expertise, Brian understood better than most the challenges of making it to the majors. From four years of minor-league ball to coaching in the New York Yankees organization (1990-95) and then to scouting, Brian knew the road that awaited Hoby.
In 1978, Brian became the first catcher — and still the only one — to go directly to the majors after being drafted out of high school. Only 18, Brian had committed to play baseball and football at Arizona State when the Toronto Blue Jays chose him in the seventh round.
Even the day before the draft, Brian informed any team calling that he planned to go to college. The Blue Jays brought him to Toronto to show him the ballpark and city; they had room on their big-league roster for 10 days and gave Brian a shot.
He made the most of the chance, going 4-for-9 with a triple and two RBIs in two games. Toronto optioned him to rookie league, where he played the rest of the ‘78 season. Brian, a Type 1 diabetic, played four more seasons in the minors, getting up to Double A, but was hampered by injuries.
“I was there long enough to order my cup of coffee, but I couldn’t get my cup of coffee,” Brian, 66, told the Tribune. “It was a great ride with the Blue Jays. … Life has been good. You can look back and say, hey, if I’m gone, it’s been a good ride.”
His connection to the game ultimately led to working as a hitting instructor for the Yankees short-season and High-A affiliates, where he crossed paths with future greats Derek Jeter, Andy Pettitte and Mariano Rivera at the beginning of their pro careers.
When Brian moved into his scouting role with the Cubs, he often was gone four to five weeks straight after the June amateur draft to get eyes on all the players he needed to see before the July trade deadline.
Brian loved scouting. The job took its toll, however.
“When you talk about professional baseball, it’s synonymous with the word ‘away,'” he said. “You’re just away — a lot of times it was tough. Baseball is a tough grind on families. I missed a lot of opportunities with Hoby and can’t get them back, but that is what it is. There’s a lot of heartbreak whenever you have to drive out the driveway and down the street, knowing you’re going to another assignment.
“Baseball’s kind of weird because everybody that’s involved with it really loves doing what they do, so it’s kind of like, well, at least I’m enjoying what I’m doing, even though I’m away.”
Looking back, Brian wishes he would have found a way to be there more for Hoby. No matter how often scouting assignments sent Brian on the road, Hoby always knew he had him in his corner, whether wearing his dad hat or his catcher hat during a conversation.
After games, they would spend five minutes talking about baseball and then move on. Brian didn’t want to burn him out.
“It was nice because he gave me realistic expectations,” said Hoby, now a dad himself. “There’s a lot of dads out there who are like, ‘You can do whatever you want,’ but he wasn’t like that. He was like, ‘You’re good, keep working on your changeup,’ even though I was throwing 90 in high school — there’s a lot of guys that can’t hit that — but he told me to still throw my changeup.
“He helped me a lot developmentally.”
Brian parted ways with the Cubs during Hoby’s sophomore year. It was the right time for a reset: “I couldn’t have scripted it better,” he declared.
He went back to college and earned his degree at 49, then went into teaching, initially for eight years in high school and then special education at an elementary school for five years. Now living in Port St. Lucie, Fla., Brian still substitute teaches two or three times a week.
“That’s kind of what I wanted to do all along,” he said, “but baseball kind of got in the way.”
Hoby started understanding what his dad’s job entailed when he started playing Little League, grasping that his dad was gone to watch other baseball games in order to sign players. He got a chance to watch his dad in action during his freshman year of high school in Fort Worth, Texas, when he would travel to varsity games in the district.
Once that meant getting to see a pair of future MLB All-Star pitchers, Zack Britton and Jordan Walden, start against each other. Brian let Hoby hold the radar gun; he was wowed by Walden and Britton hitting the mid-to-upper 90s.
“Grandma can give you the tools, but who’s going to be the guy that’s going to have the ability to put all of them together?” Brian said. “And I think Hoby just sat and watched and soaked in so much of the baseball life.”
Hoby was a different type of pitcher than the ones who get drafted with high picks. He knew any path to the big leagues wouldn’t be fueled by his fastball.
He opted to play college ball at Texas rather than turn pro after the Washington Nationals drafted him in the 44th round in 2009. Brian believed Hoby, a projectable lefty, had the best chance of making the big leagues as a reliever. Hoby was also a solid hitter, playing center field or first base when he wasn’t pitching.
But he fully embraced the pitching side in college, where he posted a 2.53 ERA in 34 games, including 12 starts, over two seasons for the Longhorns, leading the Philadelphia Phillies to select him in the seventh round of the 2012 draft. The Phillies utilized Hoby as a starter during his first three minor-league seasons until they shifted him to the bullpen when he repeated the Double-A level in 2015.
Hoby credits his experience relieving at Texas for positioning him well for the transition to the bullpen in pro ball.
“It definitely helped me from a reliever standpoint, going out there and playing to win every single day,” Hoby said of his college experience. “It’s a different atmosphere than minor-league baseball. You’re not going to go out back-to-back at the lower levels in the minors.
“I was throwing every day, and it prepared me to do what I do today. I don’t know if I’d be where I’m at today if I started in the normal minor-league system and just pitched every third day.”
Switching to a relief role in the Phillies organization came with a big change. Hoby went away from the traditional over-the-top arm slot he had pitched with his entire baseball career and dramatically lowered it to a sidearm angle. His minus-4-degree arm angle is the lowest in the majors.
“You don’t have bullpen stuff, so let’s get some creative action,” Hoby said of the adjustment.
Brian gives Hoby a lot of credit for dropping to the low slot. He wouldn’t have done something like that if he had been in Hoby’s position.
“If that’s what you feel like you need to do, do it,” Brian said. “And he’s a guy that sets a goal and chooses to do it — he’s as stubborn as anybody, and he’s going to go make sure it gets done. But he’s got the savviness and situational awareness to make those little side steps at the right time.”
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It’s an attribute Brian traces back to Hoby’s childhood. When Hoby was a wiry 13-year-old pitcher on a 14-and-under travel team in Fort Worth, he barely played. Brian suggested they switch to a team that would give him more opportunities to get on the field.
Hoby refused, telling his dad: “These guys are teaching me how to go about my business, and they’re teaching me how to win. I want to be a part of that.”
“That’s his makeup,” Brian said. “Whatever it takes, I’ll get it done and we get a chance to win.”
Hoby appeared in the majors with four teams in a five-year span (2017-21) before back-to-back workhorse seasons in Milwaukee. Playing for manager Craig Counsell again, Hoby quickly became a linchpin in the Cubs bullpen as injuries mounted.
His 2.45 ERA is second-best among Cubs relievers (minimum 10 innings), and his success doesn’t rely on a big fastball (87.5 mph) or strikeouts (six in 18 1/3 innings) in order to provide Counsell a valuable high-leverage option.
“Such a good part of that foundation of a great fairytale is to see it all come together,” Brian said, “but Hoby’s success and his career exceeded everything I could probably hope for him at this point, other than winning a World Series.
“He knows he’s not finished yet. It’s nerve-racking because I can’t do anything about it to help him, but it’s really been neat to see him develop into who he is.”
