Zach Bryant received quite the surprise Saturday.
Bryant, a 22-year-old pitching prospect, was dealt to the Boston Red Sox to complete an August trade in which Josh Osich was sent to the Chicago Cubs.
For a few reasons, it was hard for Bryant to contain his excitement.
“Well, given the recent circumstances for minor leaguers, I about messed my pants when I got a call saying, ‘We know you definitely aren’t expecting this.’ But when they said I was going to the Sox, I was ecstatic of course,” Bryant told NESN.com after learning of the transaction.
“The first people I told were my parents and my grandma and they were almost in tears.”
And while he obviously was excited for another opportunity to pursue his dream of playing Major League Baseball, that wasn’t the only part that had Bryant overjoyed.
Despite being born in Daytona Beach, Fla. and playing college baseball at Jacksonville University, Bryant has been a die-hard Red Sox fan since childhood.
“It all started watching Manny (Ramirez) and Big Papi (David Ortiz) when I first started watching baseball,” Bryant said.
“I fell in love with the energy Boston’s always had and, of course, fell in love with Fenway. Then of course I was very young so whenever I’d play Xbox I’d play as the Sox, and started learning about all of the history with the Sox, and the rest is history. Year in and year out I was all about the Sox.”
Boston is down in Ft. Myers Fla. for spring training, and begin their exhibition schedule on Sunday against the Minnesota Twins.
