Brian Rose was that prospect. A native of New Bedford, Mass., Rose turned down several scholarship opportunities for the once-in-a-lifetime chance of playing for his dream team — the Boston Red Sox.
“I’m very blessed to have had the opportunity to play for the team that I rooted for,” Rose said recently to NESN’s Cole Wright. “It was a good experience — a really good experience.”
The professional career of Rose never did pan out. After compiling a 37-17 record and 3.85 ERA in his first three seasons in the minors, he went on to go just 15-23 with a 5.86 ERA in parts of five seasons in the majors.
“That’s baseball,” Rose said. “You go out there, you compete … you try your best and you try to go out there and do your job. Normally, it ends up working out but there are some circumstances where it doesn’t.”
The interview can be seen below.