Playing the Field: Red Sox prospect shoots himself (accidentally)
Red Sox general manager Ben Cherington was at the team’s camp yesterday to get a head start on spring training, talk to the early assembled media and casually mention that “oh yeah, one of our prospects shot himself a couple weeks ago.”
That’s not a direct quote, but it’s what I imagine happened in my head. The fact remains, Bryce Brentz, who the Sox drafted in the first round in 2010 and is one of their better prospects, shot himself in the leg while cleaning his handgun two weeks ago.
The safety is there for a reason, Bryce. I’ve never cleaned a gun before, but I’m guessing you probably should do it with the gun loaded either.
“He was at home cleaning a gun, and it accidentally went off,” Cherington told reporters. “Fortunately for him, it’s something he’s going to recover from and be fine, and it won’t affect his baseball career.
“I guess you could say he got lucky relative to what happened. I think he understands he got lucky. It’s a serious thing, and he has to be careful.”
Yes, please Bryce, next time, be more careful. First step, don’t shoot yourself! If only he’d learned the lesson of Plaxico Burress.
Recruiting gone wild
If you haven’t been following the odd recruiting story of Reuben Foster, you’ve really been missing out.
Foster was given a five-star rating and named the top inside linebacker in the 2013 class by rivals.com. He’s also from Auburn, Ala. (though he grew up in Georgia as well) and is the proud bearer of an Auburn tattoo. So of course he committed to … Alabama and Nick Saban on signing day. OK, then.
In fact, he even got a shout out from Barack Obama last week thanks to that tattoo.
But anyway, that’s not even the story today.
Foster was shot by his father, Danny, when he was an infant, while being held by his mother. (She was the target, but survived.) Foster made bail and while awaiting trial, his wallet and ID were found by a burned car with a body inside. Police at first thought it was him, but turns out it was not. He was found, put on trial and convicted and sentenced to 30 years in jail.
Take a breath. That’s not even the crazy part.
Danny Foster sawed through a bar and escaped from jail in 1996! He made one more failed attempt to murder his child’s mother and then went on the run for 16 years.
It just so happens Reuben’s father was finally tracked down and arrested in Miami this weekend. Craziness people, craziness.
Follow Metro New York Sports Editor Mark Osborne on Twitter @MetroNYSports. He promises not to shoot anyone, including himself.
