Local double - Dalian HorizonSure Technologies Group

by: Sam Granville

Posted: Mar 6, 2023 / 10:57 PM CST

Updated: Mar 6, 2023 / 10:57 PM CST

COTTONDALE, Fla. (WMBB) – High School sophomore, Jacob Brown is playing his first-ever season of organized baseball at Cottondale, and doing so as a double-amputee.

"It's the first time I’ve tried out for a team," Brown said. "I’ve always played for fun with my friends and my family, and I always used to do great. So I was just like, ‘Well if I do great with them I can do great on the field.'"

Cottondale head baseball coach, Skylar Davis said that Brown's hard work and recognizable effort earned him a spot on the Hornets J.V. team.

Brown was born without his Tibia bones and with deformity in his feet, forcing amputation of both legs around the knee at just the age of two.

"I see somebody doing something and I’m like, ‘I wish I could do that.’ But obviously, I can't," Brown said. "And it's like, some days you just want to give up and then some days you just be like, it's whatever."

Brown's condition is one that only one and a million children are born with but it is not always something he sees in a negative light.

"People say having no legs would be bad, but if you think about it, it's great," Brown said. Because the more you do better than the other person, it's so much harder, and then it just makes you more motivated."

The sophomore does not bat for the Hornets J.V. but he does play in the infield where he's made a name for himself at second base.

"He plays harder than anybody," Coach Davis said. "He dives and everything. He does have an advantage with ground balls. He plays low to the ground. He can scoop it out with the best of them."

"I can get lower to other people and easier," Brown said. "And I can pop up and just throw the first or second or third whenever I have to throw it. And like I can get low, get the ball thought at first or get low it in a second and the ball won't have to get past me."

Brown's hard work and dedication has been contagious in the Hornet's dugout but also sparked inspiration in the Cottondale community. Something he hopes spreads to others with disabilities.

"I just take it every day as a challenge to get better and better and do the best I can. I want my situation to inspire others. A lot of people say you can't do it, but anything's possible. If you put your mind to it, you can do anything. Like, that's all I have to tell you. Don't let anybody tell you you can't do it because you can do it. If you put your mind to it, you can do it, anything is possible."