Massachusetts Native Reflects On Living Childhood Red Sox Dream

Sean Newcomb is living out his childhood dream, and he’s looking to maintain his spot one start for the Red Sox at a time.

The Middleboro, Mass., native broke out in spring training after he signed with Boston last offseason. The 32-year-old earned a spot on the Opening Day roster and became a reliable pitcher in Alex Cora’s rotation.

“It’s been great. Guys have been settling in all around,” Newcomb told Tom Caron and Jim Rice about the start of the season, as seen on NESN’s postgame coverage. “You’ve seen good flashes from just about everybody at this point, so we’re really just kind of settling in getting ready to get our own.”

Newcomb revealed he cut off the ticket requests to eight and that he and his wife work ahead of time who gets a chance to watch him start. But it’s been a thrilling ride for the left-hander with many people from his hometown and all levels of baseball reaching out to him.

“Just getting to the big leagues along is part of that, finally putting on this uniform kind of hit home. It means a lot more,” Newcomb said.

Newcomb recorded a 3.63 ERA in 17 1/3 innings with 19 strikeouts. He’s scheduled to start at Fenway Park on Wednesday when the Red Sox take on the Seattle Mariners. The veteran will look to build off his last start against the Tampa Bay Rays last week.

“Just coming out of spring, kind of shaking off the last bit of rust and getting rolling. Hitters are starting to get in tune with everything as well, so you’re getting a better ready of where you’re at,” Newcomb said. “Just kind of focusing on what’s gonna take you to your next spot and keep on going.”

Boston beat the White Sox on Monday to close out its series against Chicago. The Red Sox’s series against the Mariners starts Tuesday with Brayan Bello back on the mound. You can check out full coverage of the matchup on NESN starting with pregame at 5:30 p.m. ET.