LYNN — The North Shore Navigators turned to the nearby Merrimack Valley for the two newest members of their 2020 roster, signing one of the best power hitters in franchise history and a more recent high school standout.
Dayton first baseman Alex Brickman of Andover and future Holy Cross middle infielder Jake McElroy of North Andover will both join Lynn’s Futures Collegiate Baseball League club this summer. President and General Manager Derek January made Monday’s announcement.
Brickman was a .306 hitter with three home runs and a team-high 16 RBI in Dayton’s 14 games this spring and now returns to the Navs for a third summer. He transferred to Dayton from St. Petersburg College in 2019 and posted a .264 average while tying for the team’s home run lead with seven. The 6-foot-4, 265-pound slugger recorded 11 homers, 17 doubles and 62 RBI for North Shore over the 2016 and 2017 seasons, earning him a spot on the organization’s FCBL All-Decade Team that was released last week. His 41 RBI from 2017 still stand as the single-season franchise record. Last summer, Brickman hit .301 with four long balls and 17 RBI for the NECBL’s New Bedford Bay Sox.
Scouting Report: Tremendous power and will hit for average … mature hitter and RBI machine … MLB comp: Billy Butler.
The 5-foot-10, 180-pound McElroy will head to Holy Cross after serving as a two-year captain of North Andover’s baseball, football and basketball teams, collecting Boston Globe and Boston Herald All-Scholastic honors in all three sports. He helped the Scarlet Knights win their first-ever Super 8 baseball championship last spring, hitting .466 with 20 RBI, 28 runs scored and 33 stolen bases. McElroy was also the Division 2 Player of the Year as a Super Bowl-winning quarterback in 2018 and scored 1,174 career points in basketball. The Globe’s 2019 Will McDonough Male Athlete of the Year spent this school year as a postgraduate at Proctor Academy and was an All-NEPSAC football player in the fall.
Scouting Report: Versatile infielder who can play anywhere … great athlete and competitor … fun to watch … MLB comp: Bret Boone.
Brickman will join fellow Andover native Cedric Gillette (Merrimack) and Dayton teammates Gavin Bates and Nate Espelin on the Navs roster. McElroy graduated from North Andover with former Gatorade Player of the Year Boston Red Sox draft pick Sebastian Keane, a Northeastern freshman who pitched for North Shore last summer.
The Navs are now preparing for the 13th season of collegiate ball at Fraser Field and their ninth in the Futures League. The 2020 opener is scheduled for Wednesday, May 27. Until then, stay up to date on the latest Navs news by visiting nsnavs.com and following us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
