Brennan Bernardino's long, strange journey to the Major Leagues

Brennan Bernardino didn't have a contract with a Major League club, but that didn't faze him. The left-hander had just come off a season in the independent ball wilderness, pitching for the Winnipeg Goldeyes in the American Association after having been released by the Reds in 2018. The money was poor, just a few hundred dollars per paycheck, but the time spent in Canada had rejuvenated the pitcher and reminded him why he loved this game, inspiring him to pitch for wins and his teammates, not his numbers in the box score.

So, during Spring Training before the 2019 season, Bernardino bet on himself. Living in Phoenix at the time, he went from ballclub to ballclub, offering his services as a ballplayer to whichever team would take him.

"I'm gonna walk in during big league camp and I'm gonna tell them I'm a player," Bernardino remembered thinking during his visit to the MLB Studios recently. "I'm gonna walk in and I'm going to meet with the farm director. I went to a bunch of different places and everyone was like, 'Who are you?'"

His luck changed when he made it to Cleveland's camp. The woman at the front desk didn't know how to work the phone system, so she took Bernardino up to see the team's farm director at the time, James Harris.

"Hey, one of your players is here," the woman said. Harris gave a quizzical look at Bernardino, certainly not recognizing him as one of Cleveland's Minor League arms.

"Yeah, I'm a player," Bernardino told him, "just not with you. My name is Brennan Bernardino. I pitch."

Harris must have liked Bernardino's chutzpah -- hey, it worked for Steven Spielberg -- because he motioned for the pitcher to sit down. Harris told Bernardino that he'd look at the pitcher's numbers and if he liked what he saw, he'd give his agent a call.

Harris did. Bernardino came by the next day, threw a bullpen session, and got his contract.

If you thought that was the end of Bernardino's journey, that the gates to the Major Leagues simply swung open for him that day, well, I'm sorry to disappoint. The southpaw was sold to the Toros de Tijuana in the Mexican baseball league two months later.

His big league debut was still a few teams and years away.

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Bernardino has become a crucial piece of the Red Sox bullpen this year, serving as a reliable lefty presence. Claimed off of waivers from the Mariners in April, the 31-year-old is striking out nearly a batter per inning, while limiting the free passes and hard contact. His 2.79 ERA is third best on the Red Sox staff, behind breakout swingman Josh Winkowski and setup man Chris Martin, who signed a two-year, $17.5 million contract with Boston this offseason.

That Bernardino is even in the Major Leagues is the result of years of patience, hard work and belief in himself. He was drafted by the Reds in the 26th round -- a round that doesn't exist any longer -- in 2014. He watched 784 players get picked ahead of him. The odds are already long for any player drafted outside the top few rounds, and for a player like Bernardino to make it after spending years in independent baseball and Mexico, those odds just get worse.

"It's been a grind for me and my family," Bernardino said. "It's [also] been amazing. I've been all over the world: Asia, Mexico, Venezuela, Dominican, Canada. I've played in a lot of places and overall, the one thing to me is it's baseball. 60 feet, 6 inches. All my teammates are all the same -- different languages -- but we're all just normal dudes. It's a beautiful game we play. It has opened me up a lot towards life, and it's made me a better person."

Though he can appreciate what the sport has given him, it's not like these were easy years. Bernardino had to leave his wife, LaCandance Dandridge and their young son, Jaylen, for months at a time while he pursued his dreams all over the globe. When money was tight, like when Bernardino was pitching in Winnipeg, they weren't able to fly up for a visit, either.

"Being a father, and having my son see me play in the big leagues, it's pretty cool," Bernardino said. "Because me and my wife, we had him young, when we were in college. He's seen everything along the way. He's been through the grind. He's been to Mexico. He's been to different countries to watch and it's huge to get to this point."

While heading to Mexico -- playing for the Toros de Tijuana in the summer, the Charros de Jalisco in the winter, and representing the country at the most recent Premier12 tournament -- was a detour on his route to the big leagues, the experience may have been just what Bernardino needed.

For one, the level of competition is a lot higher than people in the States sometimes give it credit for.

"The players are good. There's a couple of guys in that league that could come over here and have like some really good success," Bernardino said. "[Joey] Meneses was over there and you see him in the big leagues now with the Nationals."

For another, the stadium atmosphere is remarkably different. Often having to rely on personal scouting reports he kept in his head, Bernardino would need to make his pitches in some electric, ear-drum-splitting venues.

"I've pitched against Team Japan in Tokyo," Bernardino said about his time with the Mexican national team. "When you go against them in their country, and they've got the flags and the chants and everything, when you come to pitch in the big leagues, it's not such a foreign feeling. And just like playing in Caracas, they're yelling at you, and they throw bottle caps on the field. It gets you ready to play in these situations where they can't throw stuff at you."

Finally, he picked up his unique sidearm delivery from his Charros teammate, Orlando Lara, in the winter of 2021.

"It worked, thank God. I wish I would have done it earlier, but it worked," Bernardino joked. "[Lara said], 'Just think the same thing you think [when throwing] over the top, just change your focus.' So thank you, Orlando Lara."

Even then, the lefty couldn't get a Major League team interested in him. Though he didn't go door-to-door like he had in the past, he tried everything else. He reached out to Pitching Ninja on Twitter, hoping that the internet pitching guru could generate the attention he needed with a viral tweet. He emailed all 30 big league teams and received nothing in return.

"Nobody cared," Bernardino said.

For the man who had always believed in himself, he just needed one other person to buy into the dream, too -- preferably with the connections to make it all worthwhile.

Enter: Oscar Suarez. The longtime baseball agent had helped many players reach the Major Leagues and was well known in Mexico, having represented Elmer Dessens, Joakim Soria and Dennys Reyes among others. Suarez saw Bernardino pitching in the Caribbean Series and introduced himself.

"Hey, I've been watching you," Suarez said, "and I see a big leaguer."

After Bernardino signed with Suarez, the agent made a promise: "If you do what I see you doing and you continue what you're doing, I will have you in the big leagues next year."

One start after pitching in the Mexican League's All-Star Game, Suarez came through. The Mariners signed Bernardino and sent him to Triple-A. One month later, he made his big league debut.

"I felt like God put [Oscar Suarez] in my life like, 'You're mentally ready. You're physically ready. It's your time,'" Bernardino said.

"When I'm running in from the bullpen," Bernardino said, "I feel like the calm before the storm. I'm quiet, I'm focused, I'm locked in. My mind's just ready to do one thing: Just go out there and get outs."

But ask what his son Jaylen was thinking when Bernardino made his big league debut on July 31, 2022, and his answer is a little different: "My dad's gonna be in my video game and I'm going to get to see him on TV," he said with a big grin.

And when he plays his friends in MLB the Show? "I beat my friends with him," Jaylen said.

He may be a 31-year-old rookie, but Bernardino is simply taking things one pitch, one day, one game at a time. He missed out on a chance to pitch for Mexico in the World Baseball Classic, thinking it was more important to be in big league camp this spring, but he hopes to be a part of the team in 2026.

He doesn't keep track of every batter he faces, nor does he keep mementos from every strikeout -- though a few stand out in his memory.

"There are some special ones that I remember. With all due respect, I got Bryce Harper," Bernardino said. "That was a fun one for me because that's one of [Jaylen's] favorite players."

For all the years he's spent traveling the globe, pursuing this dream, it hasn't changed him. He knows what's most important to him.

"I'm playing a game and I want to win. I want to help my team. But that doesn't define me," Bernardino said. "How I am as a husband, as a father, as a son -- that's what defines me."

No one knows what the future holds, but Bernardino isn't scared. He's seen the low points of a baseball career and is now getting to experience the highs, pitching for Boston and playing in the game's oldest stadium.

"I've never had an easy road with anything," Bernardino said. "I've struggled in life at certain times, I've been through a lot of things. And I was like, 'You know what, this is what I want to do.' This is what I feel I'm destined to do. I'm gonna keep doing it, and it's gonna work out."