The WooSox' Newest Reliever Has Overcome Adversity All His Life 

WORCESTER, MA – With the 2023 season now over, it's time to recap some of the best stories of the year. Seventy nine players wore the Worcester Red Sox jersey throughout the season, so some of these players stood out not only for their elite skills, but also for their personalities, community work, or life stories. Ceddanne Rafaela, Wilyer Abreu, Ryan Fitzgerald, and Narciso Crook stood out, but in September, Dominican native Luis Guerrero was promoted from Double-A Portland to attend to the bullpen’s needs.

The reliever quickly captured the eyes of fans and WooSox President Dr. Charles Steinberg. "Guerrero is incredible," he said. "After a busy game I had the opportunity to watch his outing, and I couldn't believe it. You have a guy who throws a 100-mph fastball and immediately throws a slider at 89. It was a big surprise."

Guerrero was born in Bani, Dominican Republic, capital of the Peravia Province in the south of the country that has just over 160,000 inhabitants and is also known as "The Home of Poets." When the WooSox reliever was a 2-year-old, he suffered a throat infection that was not treated properly, and the infection spread to the muscles of his right knee. Guerrero underwent surgery and spent the next nine months in a clinic in the Dominican Republic. Unfortunately, he was unable to receive age-appropriate therapy, which caused his knee muscles to not fully develop, and to this day, his knee has very little flexion range.

However, Luis has very fond memories of his childhood in Bani. "I remember throwing stones at the mangos, going to the rivers with the boys, stealing some chickens to eat, the life of us Dominicans," Guerrero said. "I arrived in the United States in 2017, and I have not been able to return to the Dominican Republic, but God willing this year I will return."

Guerrero's disability does not mean any kind of weakness for the pitcher, since he was practically born this way, but it serves as motivation to work extra hard on a day-to-day basis. "It's natural, I do the same as anyone, I'm a person who has difficulty in the knee, and that's why I feel obliged to try to stand out from my teammates," said Guerrero. "Eighty percent of Dominican managers and teams when I was little didn't give me any chance because of my knee. Many professional teams rejected me, but that was like adding fuel to the fire."

Being a professional baseball player represents a great responsibility—being an example for all those people who are struggling to achieve their dreams—but Guerrero in particular is a reference for a whole extract of people who have disabilities.

On September 7, WooSox Foundation and Community Relations Coordinator Emerson White received an email from Leah Phinney, mother of a 9-year-old girl and 10-year-old boy from North Haven, Connecticut, who happened to be Red Sox fans planning their first visit to Polar Park. Both children have hearing impairments and cochlear implants. Leah's son, David, dreams of becoming a professional baseball player and is currently a pitcher on his Little League team. Because of his implants, other kids always ask him about them, and David always asks his mom if she thinks he might be able to fulfill his dream of playing in Major League Baseball because of his disability.

Leah and her family have always sought out stories of professional players with disabilities to show young David that anything is possible, and their research led them to follow the career of Curtis Pride, a former major league pitcher who was born with a hearing impairment, as well as the career of the new Red Sox prospect, Luis Guerrero.

With the combined work of the WooSox community relations team, led by Joe Bradlee and Emerson White, David and his family were able to meet Guerrero at Polar Park and ask him about his life story. For the pitcher, it's important to be an example of perseverance and to show people that with hard work you can achieve goals regardless of the obstacles you are facing.

"Not only can I be an example of overcoming [adversity] for people with disabilities, but for everyone," said Guerrero. "Everything is possible, God has the last word, and if you have God in your heart and work hard, he will bless you with what you need."

Guerrero's path brought him to the United States, specifically to Chipola College in Florida, where he had the experience of playing college ball, and then was chosen in the 17th round of the 2021 MLB Draft by the Boston Red Sox. "The experience at the [college] helped me understand how to work in the United States. I acquired a lot of discipline, and I learned to be a better teammate, and to appreciate baseball. There are many things that outsiders do not know about the sport, and about the hard work that is required."

And about his status with the organization, Guerrero does not hide his happiness. "If I told you I'm comfortable here, I'd be lying to you. I'm more than comfortable because my whole family is in Boston, and thank God I'm already in Worcester in Triple-A, 30 minutes [away] from my family and one step away from the majors," he said. He also mentioned that the Red Sox have always been his favorite team.

Guerrero's goals are clear, and when asked about what they were, he only answered with three words: "Hall of Fame."