East Granby Resident on Team USA Staff at World Baseball Classic

EAST GRANBY, CT — As Team USA prepares for its opening matchup Friday in the World Baseball Classic, it spent Tuesday going through its first official workout, supervised by a staff of dignitaries including Joe Torre, Jim Leyland, Willie Randolph, Alan Trammell, Tino Martinez and Ray Fagnant.

Ray Fagnant?

The East Granby resident and longtime New England regional scouting supervisor for the Boston Red Sox is working the WBC for the fourth time, officially as bullpen catcher for Team USA.

Fagnant, 51, was in Fort Myers, Fla. Tuesday, where the team worked out in preparation for exhibition games Wednesday with the Minnesota Twins and Thursday with the Red Sox. He hit grounders, threw batting practice and, of course, warmed up pitchers.

Team USA, featuring stars such as Andrew McCutchen, Buster Posey, Eric Hosmer and Chris Archer, opens WBC play Friday in Miami against Colombia. They will play three games in pool competition, and the top two teams in each pool advance to the next round.

Fagnant, who was raised in Chicopee, Mass. and moved to East Granby in 2000, has spent nearly 30 years in professional baseball since signing as an undrafted free agent with the Pittsburgh Pirates organization in 1987.

He played minor league ball for four seasons, advancing as high as Double-A with the New Britain Red Sox in 1991, where he served as backup catcher to eventual 14-year major league veteran John Flaherty. He was also a teammate of new Baseball Hall of Fame electee Jeff Bagwell during his playing days.

More known for his defensive work than his bat, Fagnant managed just one home run as a pro, but it was memorable.

"At Winter Haven in the Florida State League in 1989, I hit one out against Jack Morris, who was on a rehabilitation assignment with Lakeland," he recalled. Morris wound up with 254 big league victories, and was the winningest major league pitcher during the 1980s.

After being released prior to the 1992 season, Fagnant briefly worked at CIGNA, where he had been employed in the offseason for several years, before the Red Sox approached him about a scouting position.

"I was probably the only professional baseball catcher who was also an actuary," he quipped during a phone interview Tuesday.

He officially began his scouting duties Jan. 1, 1993, and is now in his 25th season with the Red Sox.

The first player he signed was Lou Merloni, who played nine seasons in the big leagues. He also signed pitchers Manny Delcarmen and Carl Pavano, who was traded to Montreal in 1997 in a deal that brought future Hall of Fame hurler Pedro Martinez to Boston.

His most recent find is 18-year-old lefthanded pitcher Jason Groome, the first-round pick of the Red Sox in 2016 who is ranked among the top 50 prospects in the game, despite his tender years and limited professional experience.

Asked his most memorable experience during his three decades of professional baseball, Fagnant did not even hesitate, citing the 1999 Major League Baseball All-Star Game at Fenway Park in Boston.

"I was the bullpen catcher for the American League and caught the Home Run Derby, with Mark McGwire, Ken Griffey and Sammy Sosa," he remembered.

One of the most memorable moments in All-Star Game history took place just prior to that night's contest, when legendary Red Sox slugger Ted Williams made a rare public appearance , which turned out to be among the last of his life.

"I was leaning on the bullpen fence, as Pedro was about to start warming up, and they drove Ted Williams right by me," Fagnant said. "It was a perfect, beautiful night at Fenway, and the whole thing was just surreal."

Fagnant travels frequently in the course of his duties with the Red Sox, but whenever possible, he attends East Granby High School baseball games; his son Christian is a sophomore on the team.

Photo courtesy of Ray Fagnant