Justin Masterson can relate to Eduardo Rodriguez’s first major league call-up.
Rodriguez made his big league debut Thursday in a spot-start as the Boston Red Sox faced the Texas Rangers at Globe Life Park. Masterson, an eight-year veteran, made his major league debut with the Red Sox more than seven years ago, but the 30-year-old remembers being in a similar situation.
“I came up because Daisuke (Matsuzaka) had the flu,” Masterson recently told WEEI.com’s Rob Bradford. “They just needed a guy. But I was ready to stay up here.
“I don’t know if coming up for a start and going down does a whole lot other than make it harder to go down to the minor leagues. It’s a lot less fun when you go back down there. You’re like, ‘OK, now I have to stay motivated and continue to do my stuff.’ ”
Rodriguez’s first stint with Boston could be brief. While the Red Sox have high expectations for the 22-year-old left-hander and obviously feel as though he’s on the cusp of helping the major league club on a full-time basis, the expectation going into Thursday’s start was that it’d be his first taste of the majors before returning to Triple-A Pawtucket for more seasoning. Masterson’s 2008 debut carried a similar expectation, though the right-hander hoped to parlay the opportunity into something permanent.
“Leading up to it, the day before, I remember the night before being excited about it and then getting acclimated to where things were,” Masterson recounted to Bradford. “But when it was time to walk out and get ready, I was just like, ‘All right, let’s go pitch.’ Then it was over and I’m like, ‘Man, I pitched well. Can I stay?’ I assumed I would go back, but I started thinking, ‘Maybe I can stay.’ ”
Masterson allowed one earned run on two hits over six innings in his debut April 24, 2008. He returned to Pawtucket following the outing and rejoined Boston a few weeks later despite a rough patch down on the farm.
“I went down and had four of the worst starts of my life, and then got called up after the fifth one and then got my first win in the big leagues,” Masterson told Bradford. “It wasn’t extra motivation, but it could have been trying to overthink.
“I went down there trying to work on stuff and it kind of got in my head instead of just throwing. Fortunately they still had the faith in me to bring me back up and I pitched well.”
The Red Sox certainly are hopeful Rodriguez won’t experience any hiccups if/when he returns to Triple-A. Perhaps Masterson can relay some pointers to help bridge the gap between Rodriguez’s debut and when the lefty inevitably returns to The Show.
Thumbnail photo via Ed Szczepanski/USA TODAY Sports Images
