José de León and an opening of redemption in Boston
After a race full of injuries and a bad year in Triple A, José de León had a dream day in Fenway Park.
The probabalities that José de León open the last game of the regular season of the Boston Red Sox Sunday were surely less than one percent. After all, on Saturday he was at home, enjoying the lovely climate of his native Puerto Rico.
The chances of winning it were even minors, considering that it had a season not very relevant in the organization’s triple A team.
But the 33 -year -old right pitcher was not only in the roster for the Sunday closing game, but was the starter and winner of the game with a solid performance.
“This is the craziest that has happened to me in my career, De León said in the television interview after the game (NESN). “I was in my house yesterday and they told me that they needed a starter. I did everything in triple A, whatever they needed, I was ready to do it. So I told them I was ready.”
De León worked 6.2 tickets, allowed eight hits and three races, gave three tickets and struck out eight batters. He made 101 launches of which 69 were in the Strike area. It was another launch than the manager asked, Alex Cora, and 19 less than he promised.
But it came out in the seventh entrance, in the middle of an ovation of the 35,503 fans gathered in Fenway Park.
“When (Alex) called me yesterday, he asked me if I would have 100 pitching to give him,” De León recalled, “I said (I had) 120. When I came to get me out, I looked at the board and saw that I said 101. For what I told him they had 19”.
That was the first victory for De León in the season-it is not a mistake, the first-after a 0-9 campaign with 6.75 of effectiveness with the Worcester, the triple A subsidiary of the Red Sox. To add to the dream history, it is the first victory of the Puerto Rican pitcher since 2019, in a race that has been a soap opera of injuries, frustrations, miraculous returns, return to surreal injuries and opportunities.
“I’ve gone through many things, so this means a lot to me,” he said. “Being in Fenway and giving fans a good performance, for my family in Puerto Rico.”
Nothing of León does when he is healthy surprises the manager of the Red Sox, Alex Corawho has followed the launcher’s career both in the baseball of the United States and in Puerto Rico.
“He threw for me in winter baseball, when I was a general manager there,” Cora said at the press conference. “During his career he was Top Prospect of the Dodgers, he was injured and has always followed. He has suffered injuries and continues. He has launched well in this scenario previously.”
“He is a big boy,” added Cora. “Yesterday we called him and was at home to Puerto Rico, he traveled to New York last night and arrived here today. He told me that he had made lying in the week, and nothing to do. I follow him on Instagram … and he was on the beach having a good time. They already know, the mental state of the game … Hey, is an opportunity to throw in the largest.”
De León was operated for the first time in 2018 and in 2023 he had 12 appearances with Minnesota when he went to the operating room for the second time. In general, the rehabilitation process of these surgeries Tommy John is 12 to 18 months.
“I feel that I was attacking the Strike area very well today, my Strike percentage was very good. I think it has been one of my best games in the season. In fact, it is my first victory of the season, I had 0-9 in triple A, so it’s great that my first (victory) would be here.”
After a collegial career in which he broke several records of strikeouts, he debuted in the largest with the Dodgers, a team that selected him in the 24th Round of the 2013 Draft, from Southern University and A & M College. He won his first two openings and struck out 15 in 17 tickets as rookie called in September 2016.
The following year, he was changed to Tampa Bay and there began his lesion. He lost most of the 2017 season and the totality of 2018 due to an operation Tommy John and spent the next three in a rise and down to the major with Rays and Cincinnati Reds. In 2023, he launched 5.2 entries from 8 perfect entries from Puerto Rico against Israel in the World Baseball Classic, but everything was interrupted again by a new operation. Prior to his cameo in Sunday’s game, he appeared in 12 games with the Minnesota Twins in 2023 and remained active with the Caguas Creoles in the Baseball of Puerto Rico. He has always been ready to get a chance of adversity. Sunday was no exception.
“It was fun to see him,” said Cora. “The fans also enjoyed him … that ovation when leaving the game was tremendous, something he will remember for the rest of his life.”
