Projo Sox Blog

When he was pulled out of the shower last night and summoned to the manager's office, Dusty Brown had no idea what was in store.

When he was told that he was going to be called up to the big leagues for the first time, he was stunned.

"I hadn't heard anything. Nobody had gotten hurt, or not that I knew of. Just another day. Then all of a sudden I get pulled out of the shower, and get told I'm going to the big leagues. So it was real exciting, and definitely unexpected," Brown said.

Brown, a 27-year-old catcher, is known as an excellent defender and a reasonable bat. He is hitting .239 with two home runs and 12 RBI at 47 games

With Daisuke Matsuzaka going to the disabled list, the team had an open roster spot. John Smoltz will not be activated until Thursday, and Jason Varitek was slated to get a day off today as George Kottaras catches Tim Wakefield. Brown is expected to stay on the roster for several days to provide depth and ensure that Varitek doesn't have to come in as an emergency catcher.

"That third catcher, maybe it saves us from using Tek, which is nice," manager Terry Francona said. "We always try to stay away from Tek on a day game, Dusty's already on the [40-man]roster, we said let's get him here."

Brown certainly didn't mind being called up for emergency depth. He was clearly thrilled just to be here.

"Absolutely, I'm looking forward to doing whatever I can while I'm here, really. I'm just excited to be here. It's my first callup, and we'll see what happens," he said.

Brown competed for the backup catcher's job in spring training, but lost out to George Kottaras. Now Kottaras and Brown have lockers side-by-side in the Boston clubhouse. For Brown, it has been a long time coming. The last time he was even in the Boston clubhouse, he had just signed his first contract, and the room was barely half the size.

"Last time was in here was, I think, the year that I signed, in 2001. And it was much smaller, so I was expecting less, I guess. I'm pretty impressed," Brown said.

 Tags  Daisuke Matsuzaka Dan Barbarisi Dusty Brown George kottaras

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