Before the general public, the media and the world became aware, Brooks Timmons received a group text message that he will likely never forget.
His former teammate, classmate and still current close friend was sharing perhaps the greatest news of his life. On Monday, the San Francisco Giants called up their 2013 first-round draft pick, 21-year-old Christian Arroyo.
It was four years ago that Arroyo, Timmons and the two others who were in that text conversation, Tampa Bay Rays minor-leaguer Brandon Lawson and Andrew Zabriskie, were enjoying their senior seasons at Hernando High. Now they’re all getting to revel as one of their own lives the dream.
“I’ve known Christian for almost eight years now. We played all through high school together. We’ve been friends for a long time,” Timmons said. “There’s no words I can put to it. I’m in shock. I don’t believe what I’m seeing on TV. It’s unbelievable.
“We’re really proud of him and happy seeing him do what he loves to do.”
As his first week in the big leagues has played out, there have been videos of Arroyo’s immediate family cheering him on from the stands at AT&T Park. But his extended baseball family back home is also very much in his corner.
“It’s been late nights,” Hernando head baseball coach Tim Sims said. “It’s been a crazy week. We’re finishing up the high school regular season and then watching Christian beginning the next chapter of his life. It’s kind of surreal.”
Sims was at practice and away from his phone when news of Arroyo’s promotion broke. He and the rest of his team found out when Curt Cornell, the announcer for Leopard home games, came by the field while walking his dog and spread the word.
Since then, the Facebook pages of both Sims and Timmons, as well as others with connection to the program, have been a steady stream of Arroyo coverage and highlights.
So far, Arroyo has done plenty to excite fans in Brooksville and San Francisco. He had been tearing it up with the Triple-A Sacramento River Cats, hitting a Pacific Coast League-leading .446 with three home runs and 12 runs batted in over 16 games.
According to Timmons, Arroyo received an early-morning call from River Cats manager Dave Brundage on Monday, asking him to come to the field early to take some groundballs at third base. The request seemed strange to Arroyo, considering he typically took pregame grounders at third despite being a regular shortstop.
Shortly before Arroyo headed out of the locker room, Brundage dropped a bomb. Arroyo would be playing third that night, he’d just be doing it for the Giants.
Since recent stories out of San Francisco claimed the team wasn’t on the verge of promoting Arroyo, he needed some extra convincing. Then he called his mother, Kim Drummond, who didn’t initially believe it, either, Timmons said.
But it was all true, and Arroyo has been immediately inserted into the lineup at third base, as the Giants hope he can bolster a staggering offense.
On Tuesday, Arroyo recorded his first Major League hit, a single off none other than Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Clayton Kershaw. The next night, he hit his first home run, then went 2-for-4 with a RBI on Thursday in the finale of the series.
Sims has gone through this before nearly two decades ago, when another of his former players, Bronson Arroyo, started his major-league career with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2000.
The now 40-year-old Bronson Arroyo, who is not related to Christian, is in the midst of a comeback season with the Cincinnati Reds after missing the past two years with injury.
“It’s the same feeling,” Sims said. “You’re proud as a coach because the neat thing about the two of them is they’re not different now than when we had them here.”
Bronson Arroyo has won a World Series, a Gold Glove and made an All-Star team in his career, and now Sims and many others are hoping Christian Arroyo can represent the community just as well, if not better.
“Our area is a baseball-driven community,” Sims said. “I don’t apologize for it. Maybe there’s a little Christian Arroyo running around Anderson Snow (Sports Complex) or Ernie Wever Park right now. They’ve got a hometown player to watch. He’s definitely the talk of Hernando High baseball, I can tell you that.”
Follow Chris Bernhardt Jr. on Twitter @cpbernhardtjr.