The Triple-A Worcester Red Sox were in the midst of getting “snowed out” in St. Paul, Minnesota Thursday afternoon when manager Chad Tracy pulled right-hander Tyler Uberstine aside and made his baseball dreams come true.
Uberstine was going to the show.
“It’s awesome,” Uberstine said as he stood in the big-league clubhouse just after 9 a.m. ET Friday, hours after taking a red-eye from Minnesota. “Super, super unbelievable experience.”
Unbelievable is a fitting adjective for the underdog Uberstine. In the last eight years the 6-foot-1 righty went from receiving zero college baseball offers, to being drafted by the Red Sox in the 19th round in 2021, to missing over a year thanks to Tommy John surgery, to returning and pitching his way into the organization’s top prospect rankings (No. 15 this year) and getting called up to the majors.
For the home opener, no less.
“I didn’t really realize that until I kind of checked the schedule out,” Uberstine said with a chuckle. “Pretty surreal. Pretty, pretty amazing.”
Despite being used in multiple roles throughout spring training, Uberstine said he felt “locked in from Day 1.” His versatility made him a natural replacement when the Red Sox suddenly needed to place Johan Oviedo on the 15-day injured list with an elbow strain on Friday.
Hours after Uberstine’s flight landed in Boston he left his hotel and walked over to his first day of work at America’s oldest ballpark. With the chaos of the home opener, he knew he wouldn’t have time to explore the crown jewel of Boston’s Emerald Necklace.
“I’m just really trying to soak it all in,” he said. “You hear all the great things about Fenway and all that, and just trying to really absorb, soak it in, kind of pinch myself a little bit.
“And once the game starts, lock in and do what we do best.”
Uberstine didn’t end up pitching in Friday’s 5-2 win, but he was able to soak in the experience and watch the Fenway Faithful do what they do best: make Boston’s ballpark the ultimate home field advantage.