An Edmonton-born pitcher made his Major League Baseball debut on Wednesday night, and his mom couldn’t be more proud.
Erik Sabrowski, 26, stepped onto the mound with the Cleveland Guardians in a game against the Kansas City Royals. He came into the game in the seventh inning and ended the inning with his first major league strikeout.
“It’s just amazing; unreal experience,” Sabrowski’s mom, Krista Wennerstrom, said on Thursday morning.
“I’m just so proud of him.”
Wennerstrom said her son got the call-up last week, and she flew to Cleveland to watch him play, but he didn’t end up getting into the game. Thursday night was a surprise.
“Last night the game was on, and I had just gotten in the door and my husband, Erik’s stepdad, called down to say, ‘He’s in, he’s in!’
“We crowded around the laptop and watched the game, and it was just amazing.”
Wennerstrom spoke briefly with Sabrowski after the game and said he was “euphoric.”
“He’s got a nickname on the team called ‘Sour’ because he doesn’t smile. He has a beautiful smile and when we were in Cleveland I said, ‘Erik, when you get on the mound, smile. Enjoy the moment. Let me know you’re enjoying the moment.’ And he smiled.”
The proud mom said the big moment is still settling in, and she finds it hard to find the words to describe the feeling she felt when she saw her son step onto the mound.
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“I was so grateful that he got his opportunity. He’s waited so many years and worked so hard to get it. Definitely feelings of gratefulness, excitement, a little bit of fear – like, what happens if he doesn’t do well?
“He has a beautiful saying, though. He says, ‘Mom, be where your feet are.’ You don’t look ahead, you don’t look back, you just stay in the moment and that has served him so well.”
Sabrowki is one of just five Edmonton-born baseball players to play in MLB, according to 630 CHED sports reporter Morley Scott: Vince Barton (1931), Dave Shipanoff (1985), Mike Johnson (1997) and Rob Zastyzny (2016) came before him.
Wennerstrom said her son’s love of the game started at a very young age.
“When he was three, I was playing T-ball in the backyard with him the day I brought his baby sister home from the hospital. He just had a passion for it.”
Sabrowski went to St. Francis Xavier Catholic High School, where he graduated in 2015. The program director for the school’s baseball academy said while he didn’t coach Sabrowski directly, he watched him grow as a player from when he was 15 years old.
“He’s really pushed himself through two injuries and everything else. He’s worked his butt off to get where he is now. He’s earned every bit of it,” Brad Wolansky said. “It’s not easy.”
Watching a kid from Edmonton achieve his dream of reaching the majors serves as a huge inspiration for the athletes at the school.
“These kids need people to look up to and there’s not many baseball players that make it that far from this area. Almost none. They see that happen and it’s a huge inspiration,” Wolansky said.
“It doesn’t happen often, so when it does happen for a kid from Edmonton to be pitching in Cleveland on a big league mound, it should be inspirational, it should be motivating … so that kids want to be the next Erik Sabrowski.”
The Royals went on to defeat the Guardians 4-1 on Wednesday night.
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