Downs joins brother in minors
Return for Betts ready toprove himself
FORT MYERS — The locker between Red Sox veterans J.D. Martinez and Mitch Moreland is no longer empty.
A new nameplate now reads, “JETER DOWNS.” He’ll wear No. 20.
As the Red Sox officially opened camp on Wednesday morning, Downs reacted to being part of the trade that sent Mookie Betts to the Dodgers.
“It’s cool to be traded for arguably a top-five player in the game,” said the 21-yearold infielder. “But it doesn’t mean anything if I don’t go out and do my job. I still have to go out and perform, play well. Things could be talked about after.”
This is one player who is used to lofty expectations.
Born in Colombia but raised in Miami, Downs was given his first name because his mom loved Derek Jeter and the way he played the game. His dad, though, was a Red Sox fan.
Much of his childhood was spent idolizing Jeter, so Downs naturally became a Yankees fan.
“But now I’m going to do everything in my power to win if the Yankees are on the other side, or whoever it is,” he was quick to point out.
Growing up with the name “Jeter” created a world of pressure. But he had never met Jeter. Not until last week.
His brother, Jerry Downs, is a Red Sox farmhand five years his senior. The two were driving on their way to catch a train in Miami when they rolled up to a red light and saw Derek Jeter driving a Range Rover. Jerry Downs honked and his younger brother waved. The Hall of
Fame shortstop didn’t seem to notice.
“So I’m doing training with Raul Ibanez and I called Raul and said, ‘Tell Jeter that the kid he was waving at was Jeter,” the younger Downs said. “So then he told him. … A couple days later, the Marlins had an event at Top Golf. One of my friends was there. He Facetimed me with Jeter on the phone.
“We talked for like two minutes. He said he’d been watching me and stuff like that. I’ve idolized him my whole life. It was finally good to meet him and talk to him a little bit. It was definitely special.”
A few days later, on his way to Miami International Airport to fly to Arizona to begin spring training with the Dodgers, Downs was told plans had changed. He had been traded with Alex Verdugo and Connor Wong to the Red Sox for Betts and David Price.
“It’s pretty cool to be a part of something this big,” Downs said. “But you’ve still got to go out and play baseball. I try not to think of it as that big of a deal and just try to focus on the things I need to do.”
Downs played most of his games in High-A last year, hitting .269 with 19 homers in 479 at-bats. The Sox like his power potential and think he can keep growing. He’s generously listed at 5 feet, 11 inches and 180 pounds.
Even more special for the newest member of the Red Sox was playing catch with his brother at the Sox’ complex at JetBlue Park. Jerry Downs was a 15th-round draft pick in 2015 and hit .165 between High-A and Double-A last year.
“I was like, ‘Wow, we’re wearing the same uniform,’” the younger Downs said. “It’s pretty surreal that things turned around like this. We always mentioned it, ‘It would be pretty cool to play on the same team with you.’ But we didn’t think of it that far. Now it’s come to fruition.