Portland Sea Dogs pitcher Christopher Troye ‘creating a sense of community’ with fans on social media
Red Sox minor league pitcher Christopher Troye is pitching his first full season with the Portland Sea Dogs. The hard-throwing righty is also known for his strong presence on social media, particularly X, formerly known as Twitter.
Troye has chronicled his journey in baseball on his personal social media pages. Offering insight on topics outside of baseball as well, including wealth, real estate, and personal growth.
“The fans might not like this, but I didn't do it to connect with the fans,” Troye said of his posting on social media while on the Down in the Dugout Podcast, presented by Beyond the Monster. “The reason why I'm doing that is to document my mission, to document the journey that I'm going on in every facet of my life. Because, to be truthful, I've created my life.
“I've created, I've manufactured the opportunity to be here today with consistent hard work and dedication. And so I think that for me it's just about showing that everyone can do it. And there's really no limit to what you can do with consistent dedication, consistent hard work, and dedication.
“So that's the real purpose behind why I'm doing those things—why I'm active on social media, why I'm sharing what I'm doing in real estate, why I'm sharing what I'm doing in online business. And then just documenting my baseball journey. It's not to interact with fans per se, though that's a positive by-product. It's more so just to document the life that I'm living and to create the lifestyle that I've designed and bring that to reality.”
The right-handed hurler has had an up-and-down season with the Sea Dogs, posting a 2-1 record with a 5.01 ERA accompanied by two saves and 55 strikeouts to 29 walks in 41 1/3 innings (26 games). Troye has turned his season around over the last two months, he’s posted a 2.84 ERA in six games in July and a 2.76 ERA in August.
Boston drafted Troye in the 12th round (346th overall) out of UC Santa Barbara during the 2021 MLB draft. Troye jumped on the map for Red Sox fans in 2023, posting a career-low 3.10 ERA over two levels. The Calif. native held opponents to a .169 batting average over 49 1/3 innings of work. He pitched well enough to earn an invite to the Arizona Fall League, where he appeared in eight games and struck out 11 while posting a 6.23 ERA. His numbers aside, Troye was grateful for the experience and journaled his time with his teammates while playing in Glendale.
“It was awesome, man,” Troye said of his time in the AFL while on the To the Show We Go Podcast last December. “I don't know if you guys saw the thread that I wrote about the Fall Stars, but it was really that one outing that kept me out of the game. If you look at it, if you look at it, I threw eight and two-thirds innings out there, and I obviously didn't record now with those five earned, but I gave up six earned all of fall.
"So I really feel like I did well from a performance, from a results perspective, in the fall league. Strikeouts were a little bit low. Velo was a little bit low, but it is what it is. In terms of what I'm reflecting on in the fall league, the big takeaway for me is that I still do not give too much credit to hitters. Hitting is hard, and I was facing some of the best minor league prospects in the game in the league, and it was. I really feel like I dominated for the other; I don't know how many appearances I had.”
The 25-year-old knows that it’s important to build a connection with fans, especially a fanbase rabid passionate about the Red Sox and their players up and down the organization.
“I think there's tons of fans out there that know your name and that it's happened throughout the entire organization this year,” added Troye. “I think that there's a lot of fans of teams that might not know, you know, they're Double-A players. And that's just because the baseball season is so long, you might be so focused on the Major League team or whatever that is.”
Troye likes the idea of fans following his journey, which is driven in part by how accessible he is on social media.
“I mean, it's awesome, you know,” said Troye. “Every Boston fan base is a tough fan base, you know, because they expect perfection. And as a competitor, I expect perfection, too.
“So whenever you fall short, you know, there's going to be that backlash. But at the end of the day, I think just creating a sense of community and building that online is what it's about.”
