Red Sox roster shake-up includes one of season's best feel-good stories

NEW YORK - In 2023, Zach Penrod was thinking about quitting baseball.

In 2024 - on the morning of Sept. 14, to be exact - he walked onto the Yankee Stadium field a major league baseball player.

"As soon as we pulled in the parking lot and got in the golf cart and started driving down the concourse, I couldn't stop smiling," said Penrod prior to the Red Sox' game against the Yankees Saturday. "And then I went out to the field and looked around for a second. It was a really special moment for me."

The 27-year-old Idaho native got the news that he was being promoted to the big leagues for the first time at about 10:30 p.m. Friday, ultimately joining fellow Triple-A teammate Bailey Horn in leaving Worcester at 5:30 a.m. for Logan Airport, where the two pitchers caught a flight to New York.

But however uneasy the journey was to the Bronx Saturday morning, it paled in comparison go what Penrod has had to endure in order to get the opportunity.

- He started as a two-way player at NAIA college Corban University before transferring to Div. 2 Northwest Nazarene University.

- Penrod signed as undrafted free agent in Aug. 2018 by the Texas Rangers, undergoing Tommy John surgery in 2019 before being released in 2020.

- Spent 2021-23 in the Independent Pioneer League before joining Single-A Greenville as a starter for four games in 2023.

- After a stint in the Arizona Fall League last offseason, Penrod morphed into a reliever, first with Double-A Portland and then with the WooSox.

And, most recently, was another life-changing moment for Penrod: Eight days before being promoted to the majors his wife, Kyla, gave birth to the couple's daughter, Noa Mae.

"She was crying," said an emotional Penrod. "We were both tearing up. She just hugged me and was incredibly proud of me. She has been there for every moment. It was awesome."

Now the righty turns his attention to helping a beleaguered Boston bullpen down the stretch, with the Red Sox choosing to send down both Zack Kelly and Cam Booser in favor of Penrod and Horn.

"It feels incredible, obviously," he said. "This is something I have been working toward for a long time and didn't know if I would ever accomplish.

"I keep using the term 'roller-coaster' because that's the only way I can really describe it. Ups and downs the whole way. I was thinking about being done at the start of the year last year and to find myself at Yankee Stadium is something I don't think I will ever forget."