CINCINNATI -- Rowdy Tellez tried to temper expectations as he and Xander Brown walked into Great American Ball Park’s visitors' dugout before the game Wednesday.
Two years ago, Brown saw Tellez, his favorite player, homer twice for his fifth birthday. He came up short last year, though, having to settle for a double on Brown’s sixth birthday, again with him in attendance.
So on Wednesday, Tellez had a compromise for his biggest fan.
“I’m old now,” Tellez told the family. “Let’s just do one [homer] this year.”
Tellez delivered, lining a Graham Ashcraft cutter over the raised left-field wall for what would prove to be the winning run, as the Pirates took the game and the road series with a 6-1 victory over the Reds. Happy birthday, Xander Brown.
The Browns are from London, Ont., and while the family are Blue Jays fans, Xander’s allegiance is with Tellez’s team. The family reached out two years ago to the Brewers if they could get a ball or jersey signed when they made the trip to watch him play. Instead, Tellez offered to meet with the family.
“Out of the players in baseball, I don't know why it was me,” Tellez said.
There are certainly plenty of possible reasons. He can hit moonshots. He has an 80-grade baseball name. But ever since they first met, a lot of it is Tellez taking the time to spend with Xander, or recognizing him on the road even when there wasn’t even anything set up. The Brown family has plenty of Tellez signed gear -- including jerseys from his three Major League stops, the Blue Jays, Brewers and a new Pirates one for Xander -- but Xander also came this year with a gift for his favorite player, a custom baseball card of himself that he signed. When talking with the media postgame, the card was seen in Tellez’s locker.
“I’ve rooted for him ever since I was two years old and I just [stuck] with him,” Xander explained.
“He just seems very big and overbearing, but when you talk to him, [he’s] just the sweetest guy,” Christina, Xander’s mom, said.
And Tellez delivered on his promise to send one deep again this year, pointing to the family that was sitting by the visitors' dugout as he rounded third base.
“That’s cool stuff,” manager Derek Shelton said. “Those are the feel-good stories you like. Since he and Rowdy had a little talk, I don’t know what Xander told him, but whatever he did, it worked.”
This wasn’t the first time Tellez and Xander have met this season. When the Pirates went north to Toronto recently, the two met up. Many speculated Tellez might not stick on the Pirates’ roster based on the way he was playing at the time, hitting .175 with a .461 OPS and eight RBIs on the season to that point.
Instead, that meeting and series is right when Tellez started to take off. Since the start of that series on May 31, Tellez is hitting .355 with a .935 OPS and a dozen RBIs.
There were some notable lowlights in that stretch, including being booed by the home crowd on more than a handful of occasions. Management and coaching had to answer questions why they stuck with him for those first two months, but in June, he has been the run producer they envisioned.
“Having a middle-of-the-order bat who’s able to drive in runs, I think we see the confidence continue to come back,” Shelton said. “He just has good at-bats. I think the big thing now is he’s starting to use the whole side of the field. I think early on, once he started to get into a little bit of a downturn, it was like he was trying to do too much and he was off the ball. The home run to left, the base hit to left, I think those things are important.”
"It's been good,” Tellez said. “It's been a long season, ups and downs, but it's just the way it goes. For me, it's nice to get that going. We're playing some good ball.”
The Browns may make a trip to Pittsburgh later this year as they make a trip down to Atlanta and Florida to check off three more ballparks, which would make for 14 for Xander. If they do stop by on the North Shore, watch out for Tellez those games.
“I don't know, I'm going to have to bring him everywhere now,” Tellez joked.