Fatherhood brings new perspective to Bryce Brentz

Bryce Brentz enters his 10th pro season with 34 MLB games under his belt. (Billie Weiss/Red Sox, Louriann Mardo-Zayatt/Pawtucket Red Sox)

After a roller-coaster year away from the organization that drafted him, 30-year-old outfielder Bryce Brentz returned to the Red Sox system in January and was assigned once again to Triple-A Pawtucket, a team that he has played more games for than all other teams combined.

In 2018, he was traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates shortly after arriving in Fort Myers for spring training. He was waived a month later, then picked up by the New York Mets and started the season for their Triple A team in Las Vegas before losing three months of his season to a fracture in his foot.

However, prior to the maelstrom of all of that, Brentz and wife, Anne Marie, welcomed their first child, Everlee Marie, into the world in February, changing his perspective on life and the game, providing him a renewed joy in all things on and off the field.

“It’s been life-changing for sure,” Brentz said. “You start seeing things differently, how you approach stuff, gaining much more patience. She’s definitely made me a better person because she’s always in good moods. I can be tired or whatever, and she walks through the door and it’s unbelievable. She’s a spark of life.”