Watch: Astros Bullpen Catcher Gives Young Blue Jays Fan a Throwing Lesson
One young Blue Jays fan got a personal baseball lesson from a member of the Astros staff before a game in Toronto this week.
Mike Conley (not the basketball player, or the Olympic medalist) posted a video of his son playing catch with Astros bullpen catcher Javier Bracamonte. We’ve seen MLB players do this sort of thing beforebut Bracamonte went the extra mile and gave Conley’s son a few pointers on how to improve his game.
This won’t come as a surprise to anyone who knows Bracamonte or follows the Astros closely. He’s been doing things like this since he was hired by the Astros in 2001.
In 2015, after the Royals eliminated the Astros in the ALDS, Bracamonte started emptying his gear bag and giving everything to the Royals fans seated behind the bullpen in a moment that went certifiably viral.
Bracamonte grew up in Venezuela, where he says it’s common for players to play catch with fans. He knows how big an impact a simple gesture like that can have on a kid, and so he always takes the time to make someone’s day.
“The big leagues. to me, it’s for the kids,” Bracamonte told MLB.com in March 2016. “For generations [of families] to bring the kids, the grandkids. You see in the movies, a guy comes for the first time to Yankee Stadium. He sees Mickey Mantle, Joe DiMaggio. And he brings his kids, and they bring their kids. It’s the fun of baseball.”
