I’m not much of a blogger but I’ll do my best here. Fortunately, at Sports360AZ I’m in a place where my team values the things in our personal lives that make us happy. Lucky for me, today that does tie in with sports.
My husband played minor league baseball for 4.5 years after being selected by the Royals in the 5th round of the 2015 MLB Draft. We started dating a few months before he got drafted and I embarked on a lifestyle I knew nothing about. Following him around the country to watch him chase his dream. My husband got released 4.5 years into his career but he created some of the fondest memories of his life in that time (many that I was lucky enough to be a part of). Roman’s younger brother, Isaac, followed in his footsteps soon after…and then took a few leaps forward.
Roman has always told me that Isaac was the better athlete. One of the things that I realized made Isaac so great (especially now after 10 years of knowing him) is his work ethic. We knew his work ethic would bring him so far.
Isaac was drafted by the Colorado Rockies in the 9th round of the 2019 MLB Draft. He spent two seasons in the Rockies before he was selected by the Milwaukee Brewers in the minor league portion of the Rule of Five Draft. He spent last year in Double-A with the Biloxi Shuckers and was called up to Triple-A in Nashville before the end of the season. This year he started the season in Triple-A Nashville and we just had a feeling 2024 would be his year. We were right.
Last night, Sept. 7, my husband got the call from his brother he’d been waiting for. I wasn’t with him at the time, one of his best friends was in town visiting and they were playing poker with Roman’s slow-pitch softball team. He told me he saw Isaac was calling and he thought to himself, “Hmmm, that’s weird. Isaac is calling 10 minutes before his [AAA] game is supposed to start.”
He said he almost didn’t answer because he didn’t want to be rude in front of his group of friends. After about 2 seconds of thinking about it, his thought process switched to, “Wait…did he get called up?”
He tells me their conversation went a little something like this:
Roman: “Hey, what’s up?”
Isaac: “I got scratched from the lineup tonight…”
Roman: “Is that because you got called up?”
Isaac: “I leave for Milwaukee tomorrow morning.”
He says he blacked out after that. Roman called me three times while I was at home. I didn’t answer because I was busy giving my parents a chance to Facetime my daughter. Once I realized he called several times, I finally called back.
Our conversation went something like this:
Claudia: “What the heck is going on?”
Roman: “Why would I be calling you?”
Claudia: “I don’t know. Is everything ok?”
Roman: “Yes, it’s good news. Like REALLY good news.”
Claudia: “I really don’t know. I thought you crashed the car or something.”
Roman: “Think about it. What news have we been waiting for?”
Claudia”…Isaac got called up?!?!”
Roman: “Yup.”
Welcome to the show @IsaacCollins10 ‼️ pic.twitter.com/SF8RE2qY4D
— Milwaukee Brewers (@Brewers) September 8, 2024
We always planned to fly out immediately so we could catch his MLB debut. The thing is, he got this call pretty late last night and the turnover was very quick. In fact, we thought there was no way he would play today. We thought it was likely he’d get his debut on Tuesday in San Francisco against the Giants.
Nope. It all happened much faster than that.
Isaac flew from Nashville to Milwaukee this morning. He landed around 10:30 in the morning CT. First pitch was set for 1:00 pm CT. He texted us at 10:47 am CT and said “I’m starting in left field today.”
That was just minutes after he landed.
Sunday showdown
📺: @BallySportWI
📻: @620wtmj #ThisIsMyCrew X @fleet_farm pic.twitter.com/KhqSYEe4rf— Milwaukee Brewers (@Brewers) September 8, 2024
It was pretty special watching my husband pacing around the house all morning in anticipation of his little brother’s big moment. He was so proud…so was I. This had nothing to do with luck, Isaac deserved every bit of it. Isaac’s fiance Isabella made it out to the game and so did his dad.
Roman and I watched from home with our daughter. His first at-bat was nothing short of a dream for someone who’s worked for this moment their whole life.
Today my brother-in-law made his MLB debut for the @Brewers🎉 Let’s just say his first at-bat was decent…
Melted my heart to see my husband so proud of his little brother. We can’t wait to watch you against the @Dbacks next weekend!! pic.twitter.com/uF9EHv0t60
— Claudia Collins (@ClaudiafCollins) September 9, 2024
Next weekend we’ve got plans. Isaac comes to AZ to face the Diamondbacks. You bet we’ll be at every game…and our daughter will have a later bedtime for the first time ever. It’ll be worth it.
Isaac Collins found out 10 minutes before last night’s Sounds game that he was going to the big leagues.
Here he is talking about a whirlwind 17 hours and how his high on-base profile can help the Brewers. pic.twitter.com/9YyCmHSL9D
— Jack Stern (@ByJackStern) September 8, 2024
