This story was excerpted from Ian Browne’s Red Sox Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
CINCINNATI -- As a veteran of 157 Minor League appearances, including 103 at Triple-A, righty Ryan Watson always felt that magical phone call -- the one that would send him to the big leagues -- was close enough.
Close enough to reach, but not grab.
Back in December, things finally broke his way when the Athletics selected him from theGiants in the Rule 5 Draft and swiftly turned around and traded him to the Red Sox.
By rule, a player taken in the Rule 5 Draft must spend the entire season on the Major League roster or be offered back to the team that left him unprotected.
Yet with his Rule 5 status came pressure. At 28 years old, Watson felt he needed to seize his opportunity with the Red Sox because there might be no telling when the next one would come along.
“For sure. I knew [the chance to pitch in the Majors] would come around at some point. But for me, I felt like it needed to feel quicker,” said Watson. “I’ve got to start producing quickly.”
You can imagine the angst Watson felt when he gave up runs in three of his first four Grapefruit League appearances. But perhaps the best thing that happened to him was his rock bottom rough outing in Dunedin, Fla., against the Blue Jays on March 2. While retiring just two batters, Watson gave up two walks, hit a batter, gave up a hit and surrendered four earned runs.
“That was definitely my worst outing of the spring,” said Watson. “That one was just really frustrating because I wasn't playing my game. I was beating myself. Nothing was hit hard, just a lot of free passes, and that isn’t usually my M.O.”
Then, there was the epiphany.
“We took a step back and kind of looked at everything. I was like, ‘Man, just attack the zone’ and that’s what I started doing,” Watson said. “And my thinking was, ‘If I'm gonna get beat, I want to get beat because the hitter beat me -- not because I beat myself.”’
Around that time, one of his two Rule 5 big brothers in the Boston bullpen, righty Justin Slaten, gave him some perspective. Two years ago, Slaten was in the same spot, and had Garrett Whitlock (Rule 5 Draft, 2021) to lean on. With Whitlock busy most of this spring pitching for Team USA in the World Baseball Classic, Slaten paid it forward to Watson with helpful advice throughout the spring.
“I just didn't want him to think that one bad outing was gonna determine whether or not he was going to make the team,” said Slaten.
At that point, Watson flipped the narrative, allowing one run and one walk in his final four outings.
All that was left was the longest, short walk of his life on March 23.
“[Manager Alex Cora] wants to see you,” Watson was told.
“I was like, ‘OK, it’s going to go one of two ways’. That was the longest 20-second walk of my life,” said Watson. “In my head, I was prepared that it might not be good news walking in this room. But as soon as I walked in, I saw them standing there.”
By them, Watson was referring to Whitlock and Slaten, both of whom had walked into the manager’s office with similar trepidation in their Rule 5 springs. Cora gave Watson the news, tears flowed, and he was soon onto Cincinnati with the Red Sox.
It has been a long journey for a man who was drafted in the 39th round of the 2016 Draft by the Dodgers but then played college baseball at Auburn (his hometown) for four years. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there were only five rounds in the ‘20 Draft. The Orioles signed Watson as a Minor League free agent following the Draft. Four years later, they traded him to the Giants for cash.
”Last year, I thought there were a couple opportunities to get called up, and it didn't work out,” Watson said. “I’m very thankful to the Red Sox organization for taking a chance.”
In the second game of the season on Saturday, Cora took another chance, putting Watson on the mound in a pressurized situation in his MLB debut, the Red Sox trailing by a run. He got eight outs, putting Wilyer Abreu in position to belt a game-tying homer with two outs in the ninth. Though the Red Sox lost in 11 innings, the magnitude of the day was not lost on Watson.
Pitching in a three-deck stadium for the first time at Great American Ball Park, Watson’s mom, dad, brother, girlfriend and a few cousins were on hand to watch him.
Two days before he experienced the pressure of performing, Watson soaked in Opening Day.
“It’s something I'll never forget,” said Watson. “Lining up, hearing the crowd, the flyover the whole theatrics of Opening Day, being on the field in a uniform, it was something you'll never forget, especially turning around and seeing my family up there. Chills, all kinds of emotions so it was amazing.”