In 2014, Phillies international scouting director Sal Agostinelli was in South Korea but needed to have someone watch a Cuban catcher work out in the Domincan Republic.

“I would call him on the phone and say, ‘Bart, I need you there.’ He would be in there tomorrow morning,” Agostinelli said. “He wouldn’t care about anything else and I knew I was going to get the right evaluation.”

The Cuban catcher, Mr. Braun told Agostinelli, wasn’t worth signing. But Mr. Braun needed Agostinelli to send him $35,000 so he could sign the pitcher who was throwing against the Cuban player the Phillies were initially after.

“I said, ‘Bart, 35 grand? You got it. You know more about this stuff than I do,’” Agostinelli said. “He ended up signing Sixto Sanchez, who winds up being our No. 1 prospect.

“Bart was always in the right place at the right time. We know he was a great evaluator, but he was also the hardest worker I ever saw in my life.”

Assistant general manager Scott Proefrock, who worked with Mr. Braun in Pittsburgh and Tampa Bay before reuniting in Philadelphia, said Mr. Braun was the best evaluator he ever knew and “lived and loved baseball.”

He laughed about the way Mr. Braun would fall asleep in the middle of a conversation during their drive to see minor-leaguers in Reading but somehow happened to perk up just as they reached Mr. Braun’s favorite diner.

Mr. Braun’s go-to order was potato salad, as he said his wife, Patty, made the world’s best. And that was his way to get a taste of home during all of those nights on the road.

“His ability to care about people genuinely is something that really, really moved me,” special assistant to the general manager Johnny Alamaraz said.

swishnicholson wrote:Man, I hoped to catch the end of this game but it wrapped up early. Hope this doesn't portend the future of baseball

Uncle Milty wrote:Orioles pitcher also TBD - to be demolished!

ReadingPhilly wrote:

Uncle Milty wrote:Orioles pitcher also TBD - to be demolished!

think it's supposed to be ol' friend eshelman. so that's accurate.

ek20 wrote:Velasquez pitching tomorrow, Arrieta staying behind to pitch intrasquad. honestly 3-5 in any order is a crapshoot