San Francisco Giants' Slugger Returns to Place of Special Family Moment
There was a special moment for one of the San Francisco Giants' sluggers five years ago as he was looking to stick on a Major League roster, and he's returning to that stadium for the first time.
Five years ago, the San Francisco Giants traded one of their minor league pitchers to acquire a 28-year-old outfielder who had never stepped foot on a Major League field as a player.
After being taken in the 14th round of the 2013 MLB draft by the Baltimore Orioles, Mike Yastrzemski spent a long time in their farm system until they ultimately decided to move off of him.
With a fresh opportunity in a new organization, he performed well enough at Triple-A until the Giants called him up to see what he could do in the bigs.
He debuted as a rookie at 28 years old on May 25, 2019 and got his first career hit a day later.
By the time Yastrzemski and San Francisco traveled out to play the Boston Red Sox, he was a staple in their lineup and producing at a high level.
He was able to share a special moment with his grandfather and Red Sox legend, Carl, when the Giants' outfielder caught the first pitch thrown by his grandfather.
Now, Yastrzemski is returning back to Fenway Park for the first time since that series in 2019 where he and his family shared that moment and he hit his 20th home run of the season to prove that he belonged at the Major League level.
"I just can't believe it played out how it did. Because there were so many times when I was ready to be done and I thought it was over and I thought there was no chance it was going to happen. Then things start to unfold and that, right there, was the full-circle moment," he said according to Andrew Baggarly of The Athletic.
The 33-year-old is hoping he can have some more magic happen to him while he's in Boston.
He's struggled to start the season with a slash line of .236/.311/.345, just two home runs, and 10 RBI across his 21 games.
San Francisco needs him to get rolling so that their offense can start helping out their starting pitching staff who have been incredible for them to begin the year.
Fenway could be the catalyst for that.
"It's where I fell in love with the game ... It's just so cool that I get to go there and do it again," Yastrzemski said.
He'll get that opportunity starting Tuesday.
