Bronze medal could prove golden for Angels

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BEIJING -- Angel prospects Matt Brown and Kevin Jepsen played brilliantly in the Olympics, with Brown driving in a team-best 10 runs in nine games and Jepsen throwing 5 2/3 innings of shutout ball. And for that, they won a bronze medal.

But it hasn’t made much of a difference in their place within the organization, said Angel Manager Mike Scioscia.

‘Playing in games, whether it’s a playoff game or an Olympic game, we value that a lot,’ Scioscia said. ‘In these two specific cases, it will be great for them as character-builders to experience this. But as far as where they are, I don’t know that it will have a huge impact on how we view them.’

Perhaps it should. Both players say they’re coming back much better mentally, if not physically, after their Olympic experience.

‘This gears you up. You know you have to be ready to play every day,’ said Brown, who went 2 for 4 with a home run in the bronze-medal game with Japan to finish the tournament hitting .281. ‘It’s just really, really tough competition. So you know mentally you turn it up a notch. And it definitely it prepared me.’

Jepsen agreed.

‘I wouldn’t trade this for anything,’ said the right-hander, who had 13 saves and a 1.84 ERA for Triple A Salt Lake City before the Olympics. ‘When I was a young kid I never thought I’d be in the Olympics. To be able to come here and experience this has been great. The Angels, they didn’t have to let me come. I’m definitely glad that they allowed me to come and do this.’

-- Kevin Baxter