Red Sox pitching prospect ‘had no idea’ he was facing Baltimore’s rising stars
The call up to Triple-A went about as well as you could have asked for Red Sox pitching prospect Grant Gambrell.
Gambrell made his WooSox debut on August 26th against the Rochester Red Wings and didn’t allow a run over 5.2 innings pitched. He had only allowed two hits in that game on top of the shutout innings.
That first start propelled him to make a start the following week against the Norfolk Tide. According the MLB.com, the Tide had their 3rd best prospect (Heston Kjerstad), 4th best prospect (Coby Mayo), 6th best prospect (Joey Ortiz), and their 7th best prospect (Connor Norby) all in the lineup to face Gambrell.
It turns out that the right-hander had no idea he was facing such a stacked lineup.
“I think it’s a little funny because with being out of the game for two years and not being a big social media guy and don’t really follow baseball that much, I don’t really know who the big-name guys are.” Gambrell said. “It kind of goes to my benefit. It is no disrespect to them because they are ballers. It is not taking anything away from them, but it gives me an advantage because I think it’s just another person in the box. I just go out there and trust my catcher on what he is calling and be able to hit my spots. It is almost to my advantage of not really knowing who they are.”
Five surgeries to remove a tumor in his ankle sidelined him for the 2022 season and after already missing the 2020 season due to COVID, one can’t blame him for not wanting to watch much baseball when not playing.
Gambrell would go on to pitch 5 innings and only giving up 2 runs while in a pitching duel with Orioles rehabber John Means. It would end up being his last start of the season in Triple-A.
Feel free to click on YouTube link above to catch the full episode of our interview with Gambrell or listen on wherever you get your podcasts.
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