BOSTON -- The way Brice Matthews remembers it, Cameron Foster was the older, taller guy who would wallop titanic home runs at the Astros Youth Academy. The fact that the two would reunite years later on a Major League field – and face each other in a game – is something neither could have imagined back then.
Matthews became the first player from the Astros Youth Academy to reach the big leagues when he made his Astros debut last year, and Foster joined him last month after his April 16 debut with the Orioles. Foster pitched in three games before being optioned back to Triple-A, but when the Astros’ game against the Orioles was rained out on Wednesday, and a doubleheader was scheduled for Thursday, Foster returned as the 27th player on Baltimore’s roster.
Before the doubleheader, Matthews and Foster posed for a picture with Duane Stelly, who’s the director of the Astros Youth Academy. Matthews then beat out an infield single against Foster in the fifth inning of the second game – a full-circle moment for both players.
“It was awesome,” Foster said. “[Stelly] came out, too, and being able to see him -- I haven't seen him in a couple years -- and seeing Brice, it was like, 'Man, you've worked so hard to get here, seeing all the people around you, it's been so cool.'”
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Matthews, 24, is three years younger than Foster, 27, but remembers being able to practice with the older players at the Urban Youth Academy, including the 6-foot-5 Foster.
“That’s when he used to hit and pitch,” Matthews said. “At the field, he used to be hitting them over the big net. He was always good to me. Those older guys at the Academy were good to all of us and helped us with anything we needed.”
Stelly played high school baseball in New Orleans with Matthews’ father, Steve, and both later attended the University of Oklahoma (Steve later transferred to the University of Kansas, where he played). When the Matthews family relocated from North Carolina to Houston years later, Steve called Stelly to ask about bringing Brice to the Academy.
“That was kind of the initial stages of Brice coming to the Academy,” Stelly said.
Foster was playing baseball at Fort Bend Bush High School in the Houston area when he was referred to the Academy by a teacher who was an instructor there. Foster went on to be drafted in the 14th round in 2022 out of McNeese State.
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“He was [at the Academy] pretty much in the summers and when we did evening instruction and training, and then also just some of our fall league activities because he didn't play another sport,” Stelly said. “Although he’s tall, baseball was his main sport.”
Foster said the experience at the Urban Youth Academy allowed more people to see him play and gave him more opportunities.
“With development, you don't know what you're doing in high school, you just kind of get up there and you're playing the game,” he said. “But those guys kind of put me in the right direction, and it's been cool. I owe a lot to the Urban Youth Academy.”
Matthews said his time there helped him believe in himself.
“For those kids that go there, you can do anything you set your mind to,” he said. “It doesn’t matter what anybody says; it only matters what the voice in your head says and how much you believe in yourself and the work that you want to put in. That’s the biggest thing.”
Stelly credited Astros owner Jim Crane and the Astros Foundation for helping to fund the Academy, which opened in 2010. Seeing two products of the Academy on the same field in the Major Leagues was a “truly special moment for the Astros Youth Academy,” he said.
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It’s a rite of passage for any rookie who visits Fenway Park for the first time, and one that Astros pitcher AJ Blubaugh certainly won’t forget. Blubaugh joined rookie teammates Jayden Murray, Brice Matthews, Shay Whitcomb, Kai-Wei Teng and Braden Shewmake on a trip inside the fabled Green Monster before Friday’s series opener against the Red Sox.
“It was super cool,” Blubaugh said. “I had a lot of family and friends texting me and saying, ‘Are you excited to do it?’ It kind of just fired me up coming to the field today. I could almost see the history just walking out into the stadium and thinking about all the things that stadium has seen. [Fenway opened in] 1912. That’s almost from the beginning of baseball. It’s cool to be a part of it and have my name amongst other players.”
Blubaugh, as is tradition, signed his name on a spot inside the wall, where hundreds of other signatures are.
“I feel like I found a good spot,” he said. “Hopefully I remember it. I’m trying to talk to some older guys to see if they remember where they did theirs. I think it would be cool coming back here in the future and remembering where [his signature] was at when I did it.”
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THIS WEEK IN ASTROS HISTORY |
May 3, 2022
Dusty Baker became the 12th manager and first African American manager in Major League history to reach 2,000 career wins with a 4-0 win over the Mariners in Houston. Of the previous 11 managers to reach 2,000 career wins, 10 are in the National Baseball Hall of Fame. The only member of those first 11 managers to reach 2,000 wins who is not in the Hall of Fame is Bruce Bochy, who is not yet eligible.
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