Closing the circle
Thad Ward, who grew up a Red Sox fan in Fort Myers, is now with the Sox in spring training
FORT MYERS, Fla. — Before they moved 13 miles away to the Fenway South complex in 2012, the Red Sox played their spring training games at City of Palms Park for 19 seasons.
That was perfect for Thad Ward, who attended St. Francis Xavier Catholic School a few blocks away.
His parents, Steve and Karen, would occasionally check him out of class early so they could all catch a day game.
“I absolutely loved it,” Ward said. “My school was right there.”
Ward was even a batboy for a game in 2007 and has fond memories of being around the players and getting tips from the coaching staff. He showed up wearing his Little League uniform pants and cleats.
“I loved the Red Sox,” he said. “They were my team growing up because of those games we went to.”
Now Ward is 24 and living every Little Leaguer’s fantasy of playing for his favorite team. The righthander was drafted by the Sox in 2018 and invited to spring training for the first time this season.
Ward has appeared in two games and retired five of the seven batters he has faced, one reaching on his own error. When his parents attend games now it’s to watch him pitch.
“It’s a dream come true,” Ward said. “I’m extremely fortunate to where I’m able to have that. My brother and sisters all live here, my nephews and niece — they can all come out to the game.”
When Ward threw a scoreless inning on March 1 against Atlanta at JetBlue Park, his parents and fiancée Courtney cheered so loudly for a strikeout that Joe Castiglione took notice of it on the radio.
They could be looking for seats at Fenway Park someday soon. Ward was 8-5 with a 2.14 earned run average and 11.2 strikeouts per nine innings over 25 starts in 2019, the last 12 for High-A Salem.
Ward is a sinker/slider pitcher with 96-mile-per-hour oomph in his sinker. The slider is a strikeout pitch, he also throws a cutter, and is working on a changeup.
Sox manager Alex Cora is a fan of Ward’s tempo on the mound and has been impressed at how he’s paid attention to detail in camp.
“It’s an interesting guy,” Cora said. “Great competitor, he’s not afraid, and his stuff will play at the big-league level.”
Ward wasn’t a prospect at Bishop Verot High in Fort Myers but developed into one at the University of Central Florida.
“I was immature. College really helped me grow up and become an adult who could take care of things on his own,” he said. “As soon as that started happening, baseball started to come around for me.”
Ward started only seven games in college. But Red Sox scout Stephen Hargett saw enough from watching side sessions to recommend Ward, and he was taken in the fifth round.
That was a memorable day. “I got the call from the Sox maybe five minutes before it was on television,” Ward said. “I came back in the room and my parents were bugging me. ‘Who was it? Who was it?’ I wouldn’t tell them, but I finally did.
“My dad actually had a Red Sox
shirt on that morning and I made him change it. If another team had drafted me, I didn’t want a video with him in a Red Sox shirt. Once I was picked, he sprinted back to his room and put on all his Red Sox stuff.”
Ward has been moving steadily since. Baseball America ranked him among the top 10 prospects in the organization coming into this season, and he could open with Double A Portland in May.
Ward didn’t play last season because of the pandemic. And because MLB’s rules allowed only players rehabilitating from injuries to use team facilities, he had no access to Fenway South.
“I worked out at home and used the app they gave us and followed my program the best I could,” Ward said. “I went to a park and threw, that part was easy.
“I couldn’t control what was going on in the world. All I could do was wake up and try to improve that day and get better at my job.”
Ward attended Instructional League in October, and once cleared he worked out regularly at JetBlue. Now he’s on the field with players he hopes will be teammates one day.
“I don’t ask for advice on pitching because everybody has their own individual style. What works for one guy might not work for another,” Ward said.
“But I’ve been asking a lot about the dos and don’ts of the big-league level and how to act because it’s different than the minors. I’m making sure I don’t step on anybody’s toes.”
Those are the actions of a player planning for the future.
“Just do the right things and hope they notice,” Ward said.