FORT MYERS, Fla. - Marcelo Mayer had his first moment. It came when the fourth overall pick from last year's draft launched a home run against Red Sox starter Nathan Eovaldi Monday morning.
Tanner Houck can relate.
"Unforgettable, plain and simple," said the Red Sox pitcher regarding Mayer's home run. "It will be something that for him I hope he remembers because it’s the start of the journey. It’s fun. It’s just entertaining. And that was the start of his journey. I hope he remembers that for a long time because I still remember mine."
Houck's moment came on March 6, 2018.
It was Houck's first professional spring training, having been drafted in the first round just about nine months before. What was supposed to be an innocuous back-field throwing session became the kind of event that still sticks with the current Red Sox starter.
First came J.D. Martinez. Strikeout. Then there was Mookie Betts. Another punchout.
"When you first get drafted you definitely feel like, ‘OK, I made it.’ There is no denying it. I felt like I made it a little bit. Looking back I was a little silly back then because I hadn’t done anything because I had just got drafted and started the journey," Houck said. "But to have those moments of facing J.D. and Mookie and Xander (Bogaerts), that’s the top echelon. You dream about facing those guys. So getting to do it the first year was like, ‘Holy cow!’ Also during that time I didn’t know who I was facing. They stuck them in the box. I didn’t know until I stepped in and then I was like, ‘Oh …’
"I always look back and I looked so young. I was just a baby. I saw my first headshot from that year and I just looked so young and that was only five years ago. I thought I had things figured out and I didn’t have anything figured out. I still don’t have it figured out. But we’re all working to the end goal, which is trying to get things in line and ultimately reach the end goal. It’s all part of the journey."