"It's intense!" When Brewers reliever Jonathan Broxton isn't on the mound, he's in the woods, hunting hogs!

PHOENIX (WITI) -- The Milwaukee Brewers baseball season is right around the corner, and there's a big guy in Milwaukee's bullpen who will carry a big load in his first season with the team.

"I mean, it's like a brotherly love over there with the other team because you come through Spring Training, you work so hard every day and...but you also have to look at it like a business move too," Brewers reliever Jonathan Broxton said.

The human side of baseball makes trades challenging, but when reliever Jonathan Broxton was picked up last August 31st by the Brewers, he made the adjustment with a little help from his new teammates -- some of whom he was familiar with.

"That was what made it easy too is that I played with some of these guys before in KC and so I kinda knew some of them and come here open arms ready to work and do whatever it took to win," Broxton said.

Broxton wasn't around for most of the Brewers great start -- including 150 days in first place, but when he came to join the Crew, the 30-year-old entering his tenth full Major League season retired 46 of the first 62 batters he faced. And then he and the team had that record free-fall right out of the post-season picture.

"That last month was very tough and I think we put a little, a lot of pressure on ourselves trying to get back over the hump and do everything that you could -- instead of just going out there and taking it one pitch at a time, taking it one at bat at a time, and slowing the game down. If we came out on the losing end, at least you gave it everything you had," Broxton said.

Broxton's had a lot of success in the Major League over a decade, but he treats every pitch as if it's his first. He's humble. He leads by example. It all started when he was growing up in the south.

"I mean, that's just kinda how you are and you just -- basically, no matter if you do good or bad I mean, my dad's always told me stay even-keeled no matter if you get to the very high or you get to the very low. You have to stay even-keeled because you got to go out there on that mound the next day no matter what, and if you show any kind of emotions out there, I mean, the other team can feed off it," Broxton said.

The Georgia native collected 36 saves for the Dodgers in 2009, but with Francisco Rodriguez back on board, Broxton figures to be the setup man again.

"It doesn't really matter to me. I can pitch the 7th, 8th or 9th. They're all big outs these days. Go out there and have fun. If we come out with a W that'll be absolutely wonderful," Broxton said.

Broxton's as low key as a balmy day in Arizona for a Brewers exhibition game, but one thing about him -- he loves to hunt and he has an unusual way of going after his prey.

"Killed some hogs this off-season. Caught them with our bare hands. It's intense. It's very adrenaline. Not really (scary) -- not too bad. You just gotta kinda know what you're doing. When I was younger, that's all we ate was stuff that we killed, so kinda just grew up in it and I got my boys out there in the woods right now. I've had them out there since they were six months old," Broxton said.

Whether the 6'4" 305-pound Broxton is hunting strikeouts with his right arm, or hunting hogs with his bare hands he cuts an imposing figure.

Broxton and the Brewers are enjoying fun in the sun at Spring Training. Opening Day is set for April 6th at Miller Park.