Some people spend their summer vacation on the beach. Others take a trip, or just while away the long, hot days in air conditioned comfort.

Roosevelt Brown is spending it crafting the next generation of Major League Baseball players.

The Vicksburg native and former major leaguer started his summer job last week as the hitting coach for the Mahoning Valley Scrappers of the MLB Draft League. It’s a developmental league for college players and recently drafted players.

“It’s a great opportunity. It gives me a networking platform, it gives me an opportunity to be with the best kids in the country. It helps me grow my rolodex, being able to help people go places statewide and in my area,” Brown said. “It gives me an opportunity to help people. That’s the main thing, is being in a position to help people who may not be seen or may not be seen enough.”

Brown said the opportunity came from the connections formed during his 12-year career in professional baseball, which included four as an outfielder with the Chicago Cubs.

He said the MLB Draft League’s executive director Sean Campbell and Scrappers manager Quinton McCracken are both longtime friends, and pitching coach Ron Mahay is a former teammate with the Cubs. Brown played for the Cubs from 1999 to 2002.

“It was just a fit for me,” Brown said. “I love the game. I get the most enjoyment out of what I do from the kids at home, so it would have to be something that was attractive to me that I had relationships with.”

This isn’t Brown’s first foray into coaching at the professional level. He was the Mississippi Braves’ hitting coach in 2009.

Most of the time, however, his focus is on youth baseball as the co-owner of The Sandlot training facility on Wisconsin Avenue in Vicksburg. Several baseball and softball travel teams operate under its banner, and individual players can work out there for a $75 monthly membership fee.

“We charge $2.50 a day to come and improve. I’d say it’s worth it,” Brown said.

Brown said the youth baseball tournament schedule lightens up during the summer months, which freed him up to take on a different challenge with the Scrappers.

Until mid-July, the MLB Draft League features players who recently completed their college careers. After the Major League Baseball draft on July 13, players who were selected will join the league.

The Draft League replaced the short-season Single-A summer leagues following minor league baseball’s realignment in 2021. Many of those teams were incorporated into the new format.

Working with pro-level players is a lot different than the 8-12-year-olds who populate The Sandlot’s rosters, but Brown said he tries to employ the same core principles no matter the level.

“It makes it a whole lot easier. You don’t have to get into depth on the fundamentals. But it’s still the same concepts wherever you go,” Brown said. “If you understand the dynamics of being a professional athlete, that don’t change. You’ve got to have major league work ethic, even at the age of 8. Even my 9-, 10-year-old teams, I’m trying to instill in them that you’ve got to go to work if you want something.”

The Draft League’s 80-game schedule runs through the first week of September, so Brown said this is a temporary assignment. The Sandlot will continue to operate as usual — a camp is scheduled in July and other coaches are handling instruction and the travel teams — until Brown returns.

“We have a camp in July. Christian Day and Ryan Thompson will be there, both of them are college coaches. I’ll be doing a lot of Face Time and stuff with the hitters I’ve got with them. We’re not stopping. It’s only three months. I’ll be back Sept. 1 and hit the ground running,” Brown said.

In other words, it’s just another summer on the diamond for a self-described baseball lifer. Brown will turn 50 in August and said he’s spent most of that half-century involved in baseball at one level or another. Hopefully, this summer with the Scrappers will mark the start of another 50 years.

“I’ll be 50 years old this year. Baseball has been a part of my life for 40, or more,” he said. “Some people have a purpose. Some people use the game as a platform to do other stuff. I’ve been doing this stuff a long time. I’m a baseball lifer, there’s no doubt about that.”