Beau Wallace was sitting at work one day — real work, the kind that paid the bills and not necessarily the kind he loved — and stared out at the warm sunny day with a sense of longing.

“I was at work at Ergon, and it was 70 degrees outside and I was in the warehouse. I said this is bullcrap,” Wallace said bluntly. “I should be playing baseball.”

So, with that, Wallace soon became determined to leave that job and get one he really loved. The former Warren Central and Hinds Community College star, who had been released by the Pittsburgh Pirates a few months earlier, wrangled a tryout in front of scouts and landed a free agent offer from the Milwaukee Brewers.

It’s nothing glamorous. Wallace has spent the past six weeks bouncing around the team’s minor league spring training camp in Florida. If he does well enough, he’ll likely start the season with one of their Class A affiliates in Helena, Montana or Appleton, Wisconsin.

What it is, however, is an opportunity Wallace is grateful to have.

“When the scout signed me, he told me second chances aren’t given out every day. So I’m grateful for this second chance,” Wallace said.

Wallace was a standout shortstop at Warren Central. He hit .500 in his senior season and won The Vicksburg Post’s Player of the Year award in 2011. He spent the next two years at Hinds, where he continued to blossom as a player. He was a third-team NJCAA All-American in 2012, and a second-team All-MACJC selection in 2013.

Wallace’s success at Hinds put him on the radar of Major League Baseball scouts. The Pirates selected him in the 12th round of the 2013 draft.

Everything after that was a disaster.

In 37 games with the Pirates Class A affiliates in the New York-Penn and Gulf Coast Leagues in 2013, he hit just .137 with five RBIs. He struck out 32 times in 117 at-bats. Even his stellar defense slipped. He committed 10 errors in 29 games as a fielder.

On June 9, 2014, one year and one day after they drafted him, the Pirates gave Wallace his unconditional release.

Wallace readily admits he wasn’t productive and said he understood the organization’s decision. The usually personable 22-year-old gets tight-lipped, however, when pressed about it.

“It just didn’t work out,” he said, shortly. “It was difficult to swallow. But it’s a business and I understand that. Things happen for a reason.”

Wallace returned to Vicksburg and went to work at the Ergon refinery. It was a good job, but not what he wanted. What he wanted, was to play baseball.

Wallace talked about it with his father, who convinced him to give it a go. The next step was a call to Hinds head coach Sam Temple, who helped arrange a one-on-one tryout with Brewers scout Scott Nichols, an old friend.

A few days later, Wallace’s longshot comeback gained some legs when the Brewers signed him to a minor league free agent contract.

“When I got that call saying the Milwaukee Brewers wanted to sign you, I just said woooo-hoooo,” Wallace said with a laugh.

Getting an opportunity was a difficult task, but still only the first one. To make it as a pro, Wallace was going to have to reinvent his game on a number of levels.

First was the hitting. He said his time in the Brewers’ camp has been like giving his bat a shot of adrenaline.

“I’m seeing the ball well. When I was with the Pirates, I wasn’t seeing nothing. With the Brewers, it’s like it clicked again. It feels good. It feels like the old Beau Wallace,” he said.

The more difficult adjustment, and the one his career might hinge on, is a position switch. Wallace played shortstop in high school and was drafted as a third baseman out of Hinds. To make it as a pro, he’s learning to play catcher.

He said the physical demands of the position, as well as some different techniques, are challenging.

“The hardest part is judging when to block a ball,” he said. I played third base and I want to scoop it. You can’t do that when you’re catching. You have to knock it down and then pick it up.”

Wallace has never been a full-time catcher but he does have some experience at the position. Although was primarily a third baseman at Hinds, he played a number of different positions. That included a stint as one of the team’s catchers during fall practice in 2012.

“I always did a little catching with him on the side, and always felt deep down that because of his arm strength and toughness that he could’ve been a really great catcher. It’s just for so long that everybody needed him to play shortstop and third base,” Temple said. “Without a lot of work, he would jump back there and it would just be uncanny how quick he could do it. That’s not easy to do at all. It takes a lot of reps and he’s just a natural at it. Hopefully he’s able to do something with that.”

Wallace, recalling that fall ball work, said he never thought he’d actually have to use it later on.

“It’s funny how things work. It’s nothing I really expected,” Wallace said. “I always liked catching. You’re right in the middle of everything. You have to love it, because you are getting the crap beat out of you.”

Of course, Wallace’s whole journey back to professional baseball seems unexpected. Washed out middle-round draft picks aren’t supposed to get second chances, and yet there he is in the warm Florida sunshine, working to get back.

It’s real work. The kind he enjoys. And the kind he appreciates being able to do.

“When things go bad, don’t hold your head down because there’s always a new day,” Wallace said. “Have a good attitude, stay positive, and good things will happen to you.”