Jeter Downs had a night he’ll never forget when he made his Major League Baseball debut with the Red Sox.
The prospect played third base for Boston in its 6-2 win over the Detroit Tigers on Wednesday, and even though Downs went 0-for-4 at Fenway Park there still were plenty of positive highlights.
One in particular happened before the series finale when Derek Jeter — who Downs is named after — wished him luck (unless he was playing the New York Yankees, naturally) on Twitter. Downs didn’t see the tweet until after the game, and he was quite excited that his idol took the time to do that.
“Somebody just showed it to me,” Downs told reporters after the game. “That’s pretty cool. I met him a few years ago and to have him tweet that out, he was my idol growing up, named after him of course. Literally, I watched every single game I could when he was playing, the way he went about his business. That was super cool. I thank him for that.”
It’s unclear how long Downs will be in Boston with the Red Sox. He’s essentially filling in for the injured Kiké Hernández and Christian Arroyo, with the latter taking part in a rehab stint in Triple-A Worcester this week.
Hernández, meanwhile, is progressing slower than the Red Sox hoped and are unsure if he will make the trip to Toronto next week to take on the Blue Jays.
But regardless of how long Downs stays with the big club, it’s clear he won’t take any moment — expecially a tweet from his idol — for granted.
