For Boston Red Sox infielder Jamie Westbrook, the road to the MLB was no sprint; it was an endurance marathon through Minor League Baseball trenches spanning a whopping 11 seasons. But when that long-awaited call finally came, the emotional wave hit hard, shared intimately with his parents.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy dad\u2019s like, \u2018What\u2019s wrong? What\u2019s wrong?\u2019 because I was crying. I\u2019m like, \u2018I\u2019m going to the big leagues,\u2019\u201d Westbrook recounted to MassLive\u2019s Katie Morrison-O\u2019Day. \u201cThey just started running out of the store, it was nuts. I got on a flight that night. You always envision how that call is gonna go and who you\u2019re gonna be with and whatnot. That was a cool moment.\u201d<\/p>\n
At 29, Westbrook seized an opportunity with the Red Sox amid team injuries, making his mark in 11 games with a .222 average and a .749 OPS before returning to Triple-A Worcester. Despite the temporary stint, Westbrook cherished the validation of his lifelong belief.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the biggest takeaway was that the feeling that I had in my gut that I was a major league player was true,\u201d Westbrook reflected. \u201cTo have that validation, have it be solidified, not just believing it, but it actually being fact, has made all of the journey completely worth it\u2026<\/p>\n
\u201cStill in the back of my mind, I had this weight on my shoulders because I wanted it so bad. I think it\u2019s going to be awesome to just enjoy playing and not stress out way too much, and to know [I\u2019m] going to be fine and [I\u2019m] good enough and all of those things that I\u2019ve believed.\u201d<\/p>\n
With the Red Sox battling injuries this season, Westbrook remains on the radar for potential returns to Boston. His readiness and perseverance are testaments to his dedication, ensuring he\u2019s prepared whenever his number is called again.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
For Boston Red Sox infielder Jamie Westbrook, the road to the MLB was no sprint; it was an endurance marathon\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":294,"featured_media":23891,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[3850],"class_list":["post-754","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-other-sports","tag-red-sox"],"reading_time":"2 min read","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/754","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/294"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=754"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/754\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23891"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=754"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=754"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=754"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}