MLB Draft Pick Breaks Down in Tears as He's Selected No. 2 Just a Month After Mother's Death from Breast Cancer

NEED TO KNOW

• Tyler Bremner was selected as the No. 2 pick in the MLB Draft, just weeks after his mother Jen died of cancer
• The California native was drafted by the Los Angeles Angels
• The right-handed pitcher played college ball at UC Santa Barbara

The No. 2 pick of the 2025 MLB Draft lost his No. 1 fan just a month ago.

When Tyler Bremner was selected by the Los Angeles Angels on Sunday, July 13, he broke down in tears and celebrated alongside members of his family, with one notable exception — his mother, Jen, died on June 11 after a five-year battle with breast cancer. 

“She came out to all the games,” Bremner, 21, told the Los Angeles Times, “all the way to the point where her body wouldn’t let her any more.”

Bremner, a right-handed pitcher from UC Santa Barbara, was a surprise pick at No. 2, according to multiple outlets. 

With a 3.49 ERA, scouts could have overlooked him, but as he closed out his college career, his game got better, according to Baseball America.

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The 6-foot-2 ace posted a 2.94 ERA and recorded 74 strikeouts from April 4 to May 16, and set a school record as its all-time strikeout leader, the outlet reported.

“I mean, I have a lot of confidence in my stuff and I know it’s all gonna click,” Bremner told the publication in March. “It’s only minor adjustments for sure. But I mean, it’s really the same thought process as last year. I’m just trying to go out and dominate with my stuff. I’m not trying to think about the future too much. I think the best thing for me is to stay as present as I can and let everything kind of fall into place as I throw, you know?”

Bremner, a San Diego native, began to pitch better just as his mother’s health took a turn, according to the Times.

“I think, funny enough, as she got worse, that’s when I got stronger on the field,” Bremner said. “I feel I did a very good job of using that kind of negative energy and challenging it into pitching.”

He added, “Pitching angry, or pitching for her, or pitching for something bigger than myself, I feel like, in a way, it helped me on the field. But it’s not easy mentally to wrap my head around what’s going on off the field while trying to compete at a high level.”

After his mother died last month, the athlete penned an emotional tribute on Instagram.

“Saying goodbye to you has been the hardest thing I have had to go through in my life,” Bremner began. “My mom was truly a beautiful person inside and out. The kind of person who wore her heart on her sleeve. She taught me that emotional strength comes from the ability to express how you’re feeling to the people around you. She was someone who said how she felt regardless of the environment. Authentically herself. It’s the thing I envied the most about her. I couldn’t have asked for a better mom.”

The now-Los Angeles Angel ended his post: "Rest easy my Angel."

Read the original article on People