Fall 2024
Baseball

32-year-old rookie Cam Booser 'thanking God' as winding journey leads to Red Sox

By Kevin Mercer Jul 11, 2024
Boston Red Sox pitcher Cam Booser, June 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

“I don’t know that I would have really wanted to have it any other way.”

That’s how pitcher Cam Booser described his baseball journey in a video by the Red Sox after his MLB debut with Boston in April. It may at first blush be a strange statement to make, considering Booser was a 31-year-old rookie at the time, but as the now-32-year-old looks back on his long and winding road to the majors, he’s able to see God’s grace and mercy so clearly on display every step of the way.

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Booser is currently back with Boston’s Triple-A affiliate, Worchester, but is likely to be called back up to Boston at some point this season. The team has a 50-41 record and currently holds a half-game lead in the race for the final AL wild-card spot.

The left-handed Booser has made 27 relief appearances with the Red Sox so far this season, with a 3.00 ERA and 34 strikeouts in 30 innings pitched. But as is often the case, that first appearance is seared into his mind forever (April 19 in Pittsburgh). It’s one he’d envisioned millions of times.

With his family watching on, Booser surrendered a lead-off triple but then recorded three straight outs to secure the win, including a strikeout of star Andrew McCutchen.

“I had to thank God for the blessing of just being able to have that opportunity just to be able to stand on that field with the Boston Red Sox,” Booser said in the Red Sox video. “It’s still crazy to me to even say.”

Following the game, cameras captured an emotional Booser sitting in the dugout and reflecting on a dream turned reality.

“I think that was just understanding the moment and understanding where I was,” Booser told reporters after the game. “And really just thanking God for the opportunity, and just understanding what a blessing it was to step onto that mound tonight.”

For Booser, it was a moment that for years he never considered as a possibility, but it was a moment God was orchestrating all along.

Booser’s college baseball career at Oregon State began with enough promise, as he was a key piece of the Beavers’ pitching rotation. Yet after poor grades led to academic probation, Booser says he was essentially asked to leave the program.

He closed out his career at Central Arizona College and began a pro career he hoped would lead to his dream of playing in the major leagues. It didn’t work out that way, however. Booser had turned to alcohol while at Central Arizona in an attempt to self-medicate, and his substance abuse only became worse. In 2017, he served a 50-game suspension for a positive marijuana test.

Meanwhile, his lengthy injury history — which includes a 2007 knee injury, a fractured vertebrae in high school, a 2011 Tommy John surgery, and a broken lower back bone after being hit by a car in 2015 — continued to pile up. Booser decided to call it quits and retire from baseball later in 2017, at the age of 25, having never made it past Single-A.

Back home in the Seattle area, Booser received the help he needed, and he leaned on the steadfast support of his family. He went to work with his father doing carpentry and construction.

“I found a sense of purpose, and in that sense of purpose I was able to put one foot in front of the other each day,” Booser told CBS in a feature piece two weeks ago, while wearing a “Jesus Won” shirt. “And before I knew it, I started not hating looking in the mirror. I made a promise to God that if He’d help me get sober, I would do anything He wanted me to do.”

Still, in the midst of a life that God was healing, Booser thought about playing the game he loved every single day. He jumped at the opportunity to coach some kids at a nearby baseball camp, and his itch to play returned in full. A friend suggested he start training again in 2021, and he soon had an opportunity with an independent league team, the Chicago Dogs.

“I wanted to come back and play because I felt like I owed the game more than I gave it,” Booser told CBS.

He eventually caught on with a major-league affiliate.

“Through God’s grace and His mercy, I was able to find an affiliated job again with Arizona,” Booser said in the Red Sox video, insisting he would have been perfectly fine with never advancing past Single-A. But as God would have it, he did that and more.

“Through His grace and His mercy, now I’m sitting here at Fenway Park,” Booser said.

Booser’s presence around the team has energized the Red Sox, who have been playing well as of late.

“He’s such a good person,” Red Sox pitching coach Andrew Bailey said about Booser to CBS. “A great competitor. Takes care of himself, and everything we’ve asked him to do, he’s taken on that challenge and executed.”

Booser likely won’t make the Hall of Fame or set any pitching records. He likely won’t ever become a household name. But he’s just fine with that because this was his story, and his story is one of God’s redeeming love bringing His precious child to Himself.

“I just think, through age, I’ve learned just what a blessing it is to be here,” Booser told CBS. “I’ve said it before: My worst day [with the Red Sox] is still going to be better than my best day doing anything else.”

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