Cam Booser thought he was done with baseball seven years ago, but baseball was not done with him.
The left-handed pitcher walked away from the game in 2017, discouraged by a string of injuries from Tommy John surgery to a broken back sustained when he was hit by a car while riding his bike, and self-inflicted wounds like a 50-game drug suspension.
He returned home to Seattle and poured himself into carpentry, working on acoustic ceilings. He was good at it, just not as good as the guys he worked alongside, and he knew it.
Photo: AFP
All the while, the game he had dedicated his life to never really left his mind. He would find himself thinking about it daily during a retirement that turned out to merely be a sabbatical.
By 2021, Booser was back on the mound and pain free. That first throwing session turned into another. Then another. His velocity returned. The discomfort Booser long associated with pitching did not.
And on Friday, Booser’s comeback took another unexpected turn, one he never saw coming during his extended break: a spot in the major leagues.
The Boston Red Sox called up the 31-year-old Booser from Triple-A Worcester, a destination Booser admits he never considered until the moment it happened.
“Yeah, the first part of my career was, by my own doing, pretty bad,” Booser said before pitching the ninth inning in an 8-1 win over Pittsburgh. “I made a few mistakes, but I think when I was able to come back and get a better head on my shoulders, things were a lot more clear.”
That clarity led to the most adrenaline-fueled walk of his life when he was summoned from the bullpen with Boston comfortably ahead on Friday.
He took a moment to settle himself and then gave up a triple to pinch-hitter Alika Williams. A strikeout of five-time All-Star Andrew McCutchen on a 95mph (152.9kph) fastball followed, then two routine groundouts to end a day that will be forever etched in his memory.
Booser’s teammates greeted him in the clubhouse afterward with a celebratory shower of whatever was available, ketchup included. He was given two baseballs as keepsakes, although they were hardly necessary.
“It’s by far the best moment of my career,” he said after the game. “Something I’ll always remember.”
Talent has rarely been the issue for Booser, whose fastball regularly clocks above 95mph.
However, control was another matter.
He spent four summers toiling around in the low minors for Minnesota, never rising higher than Class A. The Twins tried briefly to convert him into a position player. That did nt take, either.
Finally, in 2017, Booser walked away. Yet it was not just his mind that could not let go. A friend could not either, pushing Booser to hire a trainer. The trainer began posting video of Booser on social media. The Chicago Dogs, an independent minor-league team, saw enough to offer him a shot in 2021.
The Arizona Diamondbacks took a flier on Booser and put him at Double-A in 2022.
It did not take.
Booser was released in July 2022 and signed with another independent team before landing in the Red Sox organization last year. About midway through last season, something flipped.
The ball went where Booser threw it more often than not and hitters could not seem to hit it more often than not. Booser was lights out in spring training and even better for Worcester, striking out 15 against just one walk in 6-2/3 innings before he walked into Worcester manager Chad Tracy’s office on Thursday.
Tracy asked Booser if he was ready to throw.
Booser said of course and only semi-jokingly volunteered to start.
Tracy had another idea: How about pitching in Pittsburgh?
At first, it did not compute.
“It didn’t resonate with him, right?” said Red Sox manager Alex Cora, who was listening in. “Like: ‘What?’ ‘Yeah, for Alex in Pittsburgh’ and that’s when he let the emotions go.”
Cora thinks Booser has evolved into more than a lefty-on-lefty specialist. While Cora is not sure Booser will be able to maintain his “crazy” strikeout rate in the majors, he is not worried about Booser’s stuff playing.
“We expect him to do big things for us,” Cora said.
Elsewhere on Friday, it was:
‧ Braves 8, Rangers 3
‧ Cardinals 1, Brewers 2 (10i)
‧ Cubs 8, Marlins 3
‧ Dodgers 4, Mets 9
‧ Giants 1, Diamondbacks 17
‧ Guardians 10, Athletics 2
‧ Nationals 3, Astros 5
‧ Padres 1, Blue Jays 5
‧ Phillies 7, White Sox 0
‧ Reds 7, Angels 1
‧ Royals 9, Orioles 4
‧ Twins 4, Tigers 5
‧ Yankees 5, Rays 3
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