Braymer all smiles after "humbling and awesome" debut

Ben Braymer, like every young ballplayer, had always wondered what his major league debut would look like. He had conjured up some images in his head, perhaps imagining a start at Nationals Park against the Braves or Phillies. Or maybe he'd be on the road in a hostile environment like Philadelphia.

But Fenway Park? In relief? With no fans in attendance? While wearing a nameless No. 42 jersey? None of that ever crossed the left-hander's mind until it all happened to him Friday night during the Nationals' 10-2 victory over the Red Sox.

"No, definitely not," Braymer said in a Zoom session with reporters shortly after. "As many times as I've thought about this day, I never thought it would come in such an interesting time in a lot of ways. What a cool day to get my feet wet and have my first appearance in the big leagues - on Jackie Robinson Day. Just really humbling and awesome. To run out with no fans was definitely a little bit weird, but honestly, I didn't even really think about it."

Promoted from the Nationals' alternate training site in Fredericksburg on Monday after fellow prospect Seth Romero broke his right hand, Braymer spent his first four days as a big leaguer just soaking it all in. A reliever earlier in his minor league career but a full-time starter more recently, he began working on re-establishing a reliever's routine. He watched from the bullpen as the Nats lost three straight games to the Marlins and Phillies, then as they chose not to play Thursday night in an attempt to redirect attention to racial injustice and police brutality.

Throughout it all, Braymer knew he'd get the call to pitch at some point. And when the call came in the eighth inning Friday night, he felt as prepared as he could have been under the circumstances.

"The last few days have been awesome, being in D.C. and then traveling here with the guys," he said. "As far as having a few days to kind of get back into the bullpen and feeling out my routine again, (it) was, I think, a blessing in disguise. Because I was able to feel things out and kind of get back to doing a lot of the things I've done the first few years of my career."

With his team up nine runs at the time, Nationals manager Davey Martinez decided this was the right moment to give the 26-year-old rookie his first shot.

"I love giving kids their first opportunity to come up here and play," Martinez said. "For me, it's an honor. Watching those guys come up and seeing their facial expressions ... it's nerve-wracking, I can tell. But once you get out there, the adrenaline's flowing, you know what you've got to do. It was good to see him go out there and get the first one out of the way."

Braymer, an 18th-round pick in 2016 from Auburn, found himself in a jam right off the bat when José Peraza led off the eighth with a double to left. But he calmly retired the top of the Red Sox lineup (Alex Verdugo, Rafael Devers, J.D. Martinez) after that to get out of the inning unscathed.

"Anytime somebody gets on base, especially a guy getting an extra-base hit to lead off an inning, my first thought was: All right, let's bear down even more," he said.

Braymer got a chance to return for the bottom of the ninth, and though he let one run score and was pulled with his pitch count up to 41, he emerged with smiles and a desire to get another chance at this level soon.

"There were definitely a little nerves involved," he said. "But at the end of the day, I felt like I went out there and attacked hitters. I wasn't really afraid of the miss or the mistakes. There were definitely a couple pitches where I nitpicked instead of challenging those guys. But that's something I'll take with me and continue to work on moving forward. ...

"It's my first one. Hopefully, I'll have many more and learn from it and improve upon it and put my best foot forward."