Moments after meeting some of his childhood heroes, Brother Rice’s Brady Cunningham stepped into the batter’s box in front of over 40,000 fans at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia.
Cunningham was about to get his one minute to swing in Monday’s finals of MLB’s High School Home Run Derby and he was doing it with dozens of major leaguers watching him right before MLB’s own Home Run Derby.
Talk about a dream scenario.
“It doesn’t get much better than that,” Cunningham said. “All of those people screaming in the crowd, playing on that field in a sold-out stadium. It was awesome.”
Cunningham, a Texas A&M recruit, found one way to make it even better, though. He won the event, smashing nine homers in a minute to take home the trophy.
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Brother Rice coach Sean McBride knew Cunningham was capable of coming through in the spotlight.
“I think it says just who he is,” McBride said. “He’s super calm. On a smaller scale, he performed on every big stage in every big moment during the high school season. This was obviously a step up and the biggest crowd he’d ever been in front of, but man, I’m not surprised.
“He’s a confident young man and nothing is too big for him.”
Cunningham, a utility player who was named the 2026 Daily Southtown Baseball Player of the Year as a junior this spring, made it through preliminary rounds on July 10, cutting down the derby field from eight players to two.
That gave him the chance to swing under the bright lights on MLB’s derby night. First, he had the opportunity to meet some superstars, including Philadelphia Phillies slugger and former Chicago Cubs star Kyle Schwarber.
Cunningham, interestingly enough, is a Cubs fan.
“Those guys, you grow up watching them on TV and then you get to step onto the field and meet them,” Cunningham said. “It was cool just to talk to Kyle Schwarber about his time in Chicago.
“Him being on the 2016 World Series team, that was a team to remember, for sure.”
Cunningham pointed out that Schwarber gave him some advice before he went to the plate.
“He was saying ‘Just go out there and be yourself. Don’t let the crowd affect you. Keep being you and it will take you a long way,’” Cunningham said.
In the finals, each hitter was given a minute to pile up homers. Mississippi State recruit Sullivan Reed, his opponent, went first and produced six homers.
Cunningham started a bit slowly before going on a tear late, hitting seven homers in his final 35 seconds to finish with nine. Although he had clinched the title with his seventh, Cunningham kept going to put on a show for the fans.
“I just had to do my best to calm the nerves and try to soak everything in,” Cunningham said. “After the first two homers, I got in a little bit of a rhythm and everything settled down a bit and I just let the swing go to work. The balls started flying and the crowd was getting into it.
“I got on a little hot streak and I just kept going to see how many I could hit. It was awesome.”
McBride believes it won’t be Cunningham’s only time being a part of All-Star festivities.
“You don’t want to say it out loud, but I would expect him to be a Major League All-Star,” McBride said. “There’s a long way to go before that. I think that’s his mindset too — just taking everything in stride and enjoying every moment and taking it all one step at a time.”
This was certainly one memorable step.
“Sharing that moment with my family is something I’ll remember forever,” Cunningham said. “Just going up to the stands, holding up the trophy and having everyone around their section screaming, it was definitely a special moment.”