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Eduardo Rivera, a 6-foot-7 left-handed pitcher, arrived at Fenway Park early for his call-up, joking that he 'opened' the ballpark. He reported at 9:30 AM, hours before the scheduled time.
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BOSTON â Left-handed pitcher Eduardo Rivera arrived at Fenway Park on Wednesday hours before the time that the Red Sox told him to report.
âI was super early here,â Rivera said through translator Carlos Villoria BenĂtez. âThey told me to be here around noon and I got here around 9:30.â
The staff joked with him about his punctuality.
âLike they say, I opened the ballpark,â Rivera said.
Rivera, a 22-year-old native of Puerto Rico, is a candidate to start Thursdayâs game against the Yankees, manager Alex Cora said. The Red Sox promoted him from Triple-A Worcester and optioned Jack Anderson.
The southpaw stands at 6-foot-7, 275 pounds. His fastball has reached 98 mph this season.
âHard thrower. Heâs been under the radar the last few years,â Cora said. âHeâs a kid from back home that he loves the game.â
He began the year at Double-A Portland where he allowed just one run, six hits and three walks while striking out 16 in 10 innings over two starts. Boston promoted him to Worcester on Sunday. Less than 48 hours later, around 10:30 p.m. Tuesday, he learned he was headed to the majors.
âI was there only to throw like a bullpen and then I was here,â Rivera said.
Rivera has held opponents to a .175 batting average in 28 outings (21 starts) at Low-A, High-A and Double-A since Boston signed him in June 2024 after the Athletics surprisingly released him.
âObviously it was a very emotional journey for me,â Rivera said. âAt the end of the day, it was very unexpected for me to be here and thatâs why Iâm so happy, so appreciative of this moment for me and for my family as well.â
And thatâs why he arrived here so early this morning.
âThe emotions,â Rivera said. âThatâs a dream come true and something that I was dreaming of since I was a little kid. So thank God Iâm here, and I couldnât wait to be here in this clubhouse.â
Eduardo Rivera is a left-handed pitcher recently called up by the Boston Red Sox.
Eduardo Rivera arrived at Fenway Park at 9:30 AM, which was hours earlier than the scheduled report time.
Eduardo Rivera jokingly referred to his early arrival at Fenway Park as 'opening' the ballpark.
The Red Sox staff joked with Eduardo Rivera about his punctuality when he arrived early at Fenway Park.
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He said his dad, Eduardo, was the first person he called when he was promoted to Worcester and again when he was promoted to Boston. His dad â who had a big impact on his baseball career and took him to his games as a kid â is flying in from Puerto Rico for Wednesday nightâs game.
âI canât wait to see him in a couple hours,â Rivera said. âHeâs going to be here. So Iâm very excited to share this moment with him.â
His wife and brother will also be in attendance. Rivera also has some unexpected guests coming to support him.
âThere is also a family that I met in Puerto Rico because of a dog so theyâre also coming here,â Rivera said.
Rivera elaborated.
âHeâs a bat dog back (with) the team where I play in Winter League in Puerto Rico,â Rivera said. âWe got close to the hosting family and every time Iâm very stressed or whatnot, the dog ... will calm me down. So for them to be here is very nice.â
Rivera relies heavily on his four-seam fastball.
âIâm always attacking the hitter. I also let the catcher dictate what weâre gonna throw,â he said. âIf we see that the batter is behind, we just go ahead and attack him with a fastball. If we see that heâs swinging a lot, we just try to attack him with the splitter or any other breaking pitch.â
He watched Red Sox-Yankees games growing up. Now he might have a chance to start against them Thursday.
âItâs very exciting,â he said. âSince I was a little kid, I used to watch their games, the Red Sox and the Yankees. My favorite position player is David Ortiz and then the other side you have players like Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez. So for me to be here is very exciting.â
Rivera is available as a long reliever out of the bullpen Wednesday.
âWhere we have right now, pitching wise, he can give his innings in the bullpen or we can use him as a situational lefty so weâll see how it plays out,â Cora said.
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