PHOENIX -- Fans are still learning how to spell Peter Strzelecki, but the righty reliever is poised to play a big role for the Brewers and has big dreams to honor the memory of his late father.

It started with a mantra in college: ComPETE. Now it’s become a mission.

Strzelecki is already one of the best stories this spring, an undrafted free agent who wasn’t in big league camp last year, had never pitched a single Cactus League inning, yet evolved into one of Milwaukee’s trusted relievers during a playoff chase. He hopes his story becomes bigger than that someday.

“I have huge goals and ideas,” Strzelecki said. “But we've got to get there first, you know?”

To understand the 28-year-old’s thinking, you must understand where he comes from. Strzelecki was born in Queens, N.Y., but raised near Palm Beach, Fla., and grew up working construction with his father, Kevin. In 2017, when Peter, then 22, was pitching for the University of South Florida, Kevin Strzelecki died suddenly on a job site after suffering a heart attack. He was 52.

It was a stunning loss for Peter, who had just spoken to his father on the telephone the day before. The family had already known loss; Peter’s uncle died from cancer, and that uncle’s son died from a heart attack years later. They were both 29 when they passed. Throughout Peter’s childhood, his dad had always expressed a spot in his heart for St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital, in part because of the care they provide to kids suffering with cancer.

“He always said, ‘Man, if you make it, I want you to go back and give back to St. Jude's,’” Strzelecki recalled. “In the most random places -- like, we'd be in the car outside after work, just talking, and he's like, 'When you make it ...'

“He was just speaking into existence. And sure enough, it's crazy, but we're here.”

Strzelecki made it to the Majors on June 2 against the Padres and picked up a win after two innings of work. It marked the first of 30 big league appearances in which Strzelecki compiled a 2.83 ERA and rose to high-leverage work for manager Craig Counsell, who called Strzelecki the team’s biggest pitching surprise last season.

Two of Strzelecki’s boyhood friends, Ben Fagan and Dalton Scragg, had attended the Marlins-Giants game in Miami the night of Strzelecki’s Major League debut and followed along on their phones. They were driving home when he trotted in from the bullpen, so Scragg pulled his car into the parking lot of a fast-food joint to watch and cheer.

“I got to play college baseball, and we know people in pro baseball, but he was the first one I’ve had a genuine relationship with who has made it,” Fagan said. “And talking to him, knowing how genuine a guy he is, it was just so fun to be able to share that moment.”

Fagan and Scragg are part of Strzelecki’s big ideas for the future. They founded Define New Boundaries, a collaboration that began with viral trick-shot videos and has evolved into a clothing brand. Fagan created a logo with Strzelecki’s profile and the word ComPETE, which dates back to college and stuck with Strzelecki into Milwaukee’s Minor League system. One of the Brewers’ longtime athletic trainers, Jeff Paxson, joked that Strzelecki should take that play on words and do something with it. Today, it’s on clothing available from Define New Boundaries' website.

Strzelecki’s vision is that as he establishes himself in MLB, it grows into a fundraiser for St. Jude’s.

“He has this ability to be grateful for the opportunities that come his way, maximize them, and make sure that he brings everything along with him,” Fagan said. “He’s already looking for ways to give back. That’s the coolest thing about him.”

That comes from his dad. Asked how often his father was on his mind last season, Strzelecki said, “Every time I pitched. People don't understand, once you leave [the stadium], I would ride the waves of positivity and how good it was. But then there would be a wave going down, where like, 'My dad ain't here to witness this.' He sacrificed everything for me and my family, and I'm doing it, and he ain't here to celebrate it. After the first win, the first save, just the crazy situations I came in at times, you would be ecstatic, and then you go back when no one's there, and you would just be like, this kind of sucks.”

It was toughest when Strzelecki was staying alone at a hotel in Milwaukee. Eventually, he moved in with fellow reliever Brent Suter. At year’s end, he stayed with Brewers closer Devin Williams. It was good to be around others.

He learned to let people in to help process his feelings of loss, and he still keeps family close when he’s pitching. Strzelecki’s glove is embroidered with the initials of his late father, uncle, cousin and grandmother. The same initials are written inside his hat. Of all the T-shirt designs he’s released, his favorite is the one that has all of those initials on the back.

“I guess you can say it's a clothing brand, but [it's] bigger than that,” Strzelecki said. “I want it to lead to something else. In my free time, instead of doing other things, I'd rather just think about this.”