WORCESTER — In the past, the independent leagues around baseball felt like a last stop for some players, or a place for those who couldn’t break into affiliated ball.
That’s not the case anymore. It’s where Cam Booser made his foray back into baseball after being away from the game from years, when the Red Sox plucked him off the Lancaster Barnstormers roster. Kyle Barraclough, who wasn’t effective for the Red Sox in his limited appearances but gave the WooSox 74 solid innings as a starter, was playing for the High Point Rockers when the Red Sox signed him.
WooSox starter Zach Penrod is yet another pitcher who impressed in the independent leagues before getting another shot in professional ball.
Penrod, who will be 27 later this month, was playing for the Missoula PaddleHeads of the Pioneer League before he signed with the Red Sox in August 2023. He’d been in the Pioneer League since May 2021, also playing in Boise, Idaho and Billings, Montana.
He ended up in independent ball after undergoing Tommy John surgery in April 2019. Penrod was a two-way player throughout his college career at Corban University in the NAIA and Division II Northwest Nazarene, and was working on converting to pitching full time after being signed as an undrafted free agent by the Texas Rangers late in the 2018 season.
It was his first spring training start in 2019, and he had spent the offseason throwing and building up his stamina as a pitcher.
“I threw one too many, and felt kind of a pop in my elbow, and went down on a knee,” Penrod said. “The trainer came out and asked if I wanted to throw another pitch, and I was like ‘absolutely not.’”
The left-hander underwent surgery and was released from the Texas Rangers organization a year and two months later, leaving him trying to figure out where to go from there, in a world where COVID-19 combined with the consolidation of some minor-league teams left players on the fringes with even less opportunities.
Penrod, an Idaho native, found a home first with the Boise Hawks, then the Billings Mustangs and the PaddleHeads, traveling all around the northwest. He said the indy leagues is where he learned how to really be a pitcher, getting to focus on his personal development versus what the needs of a professional organization might be.
“It’s not a death sentence anymore,” WooSox manager Chad Tracy said of indy ball. “With the structure of minor league baseball, it’s definitely like if you keep going, you keep riding out and if you’re doing well, somebody’s going to be looking.”
“I always felt like after Tommy John, I came back on the mound, I was throwing 95 and I was like, ‘you know what? I have a lot to offer, and if this is the road I need to take, then that’s just the way it is,’” Penrod said. “Like in the moment, I was thinking ‘this is what I’m supposed to be doing. So when I came to that conclusion, it was kind of more about having fun and enjoying myself and doing what I could. And then it kind of led to this.”
After parts of three seasons in the Pioneer League, the Red Sox signed Penrod and assigned him to Greenville. Heading to South Carolina was the first time the west coast kid visited farther east than Texas.
He impressed in four starts with Greenville to wrap up 2023, and since then, his stock has risen fast. Penrod posted a 1.29 ERA in 14 innings in the Arizona Fall League, earning his a selection to the Fall Stars Game. He posted a 2.80 ERA in seven starts with Portland this season, and racked up 53 strikeouts in 35 1/3 innings.
“It’s been kind of an adventure, honestly,” Penrod said. “Going to all these cities and things like that, it’s been not necessarily a culture shock, but definitely I’m realizing how much of a small town kid I am. It’s been fun getting to explore. I’ve always said that I appreciate that about baseball, it’s taken me to so many different parts of the world that I never probably would’ve gone to otherwise.”
Penrod works with a three-pitch mix with a changeup, a slider, and a fastball that reaches as high as 96 mph. Through his first two starts with the WooSox, he’s allowed three runs in eight innings and struck out eight.
WooSox 7, Red Wings 4
The WooSox had scored all the runs they would need to win before Rochester starting pitcher Thad Ward could even record an out. Niko Kavadas had one of his best nights of the season, bashing two no-doubt home runs, the first going 430 feet and the second going six feet further.
Nathan Hickey also went deep for his eighth of the season. Chase Meidroth and Nick Sogard continued to be very tough outs at the top of the lineup, each reaching three times and drawing four walks between them. Hickey drove in three of the WooSox’ runs while Kavadas brought in the other four.
Josh Winckowski went 5 2/3 and was tagged for three runs, though only two were earned. He gave up four hits and struck out five.
The Red Wings threatened in the middle innings, getting to Winckowski for two in the sixth, and Isaiah Campbell gave up a solo home run in the seventh. But Kavadas’ second home run gave the WooSox some breathing room, and Lucas Luetge escaped a two-on, nobody out jam in the eighth and Sal Romano closed it out with a scoreless ninth.
Notes
– Matthew Lugo, who has four extra-base hits in three games with the WooSox coming into the night, left the game in the top of the second after being hit by a pitch in the bottom of the first. He appeared to get hit in the wrist or forearm and went down in pain. He ran the bases but was then removed for a defensive replacement.
What’s Next
On Saturday, fans can enjoy on-field photo day from 2:00-2:45pm, when they can take photos with WooSox players before the 4:05 p.m. game. On Sunday, the WooSox will play as their fourth different team (playing as Los Wepas de Worcester on Wednesday and the Malmö Oat Milkers on Thursday) as they don old-time uniforms as the Worcester Ruby Legs on Sunday for a 1:05 p.m. start.
