by Matt Gingras
Matt Gedman (’11), grew up with baseball. His dad, Rich Gedman, was a player for the Boston Red Sox for 11 seasons and in the majors for 13. For Matt, going to the ballpark with dad everyday was something he looked forward to.
But now, Matt doesn’t need his dad to go to the field every day. Gedman was drafted by the Red Sox in 2011, one of 60 total players from the University of Massachusetts to be drafted since the program started. Gedman, however, still remembers his UMass days fondly.
“Just the guys and the atmosphere, I really enjoyed it,” Gedman said in a recent interview?. “Probably the best memory is the A-10 tournament because we played some really good games and won a couple. That was a good memory.”
Gedman says his time at UMass was defined by the camaraderie he shared with his teammates, especially during weekend games, where the team really came together.
“Everyone’s playing for each other because those are the games that really matter,” Gedman said. “Once the weekend comes, it’s do-or-die in those three games.”
Gedman was drafted in 2011 when the Red Sox took him with the 21st pick in the 45th round. He had spoken with the Giants and the Mariners over the course of the season after leading the Atlantic 10 conference in hitting, batting .402 for the Minutemen.
“I was down on the Cape hanging out with some buddies and went to the beach trying to get away from everything,” Gedman said. “I came back and saw all the missed texts and calls and then I realized something happened.”
Longtime UMass coach Mike Stone was not surprised by Gedman’s draft, remembering his former player as a tough out.
“He was a good offensive player,” Stone said. “I’m sure that’s why he’s had a chance to play so long after graduating from here. He just has the innate ability to hit the ball and to hit the ball where it’s pitched.”
Stone said that Gedman had an advantage having a dad who played in the big leagues for so long. “They always watch the kids of Major League players,” Stone said. “He was drafted by the Red Sox, so I’m sure that was in his corner, the fact that his dad was with the Red Sox.”
While Rich Gedman played and coached baseball for almost all of Matt’s young life, Matt said he never felt pressured to be a baseball player.
“He doesn’t like, force stuff on us,” Matt said. “If I told him I wanted to play soccer he would have been cool with that and learned about soccer.”
Gedman was selected on June 8, 2011. His debut was a mere 12 days later, playing in the Gulf Coast League. It was there that he had his first taste of professional baseball. Gedman said that playing at UMass helped him adjust to the schedule of pro ball.
“There was a good job of playing a 3 o’clock game and getting there at 11,” Gedman said. “Just the routine of taking BP, taking ground balls, just doing all the stuff behind the scenes that takes you into a game that night.
“People just show up to the game and watch us play for three hours, they don’t realize that we’ve been there since noon,” Gedman added.
Colleges in the Northeast have a disadvantage due to cold weather, sometimes having snow well into the season. Schools in the south, like Texas and in the west, like Arizona State, are teams that excel year-after-year due to recruiting. Gedman says that doesn’t really matter once you reach pro baseball.
“When we were at school and we talked about Florida and Texas, Arizona State and places like that, it was almost like they were Gods to us,” Gedman said. “The more I realized going through pro ball, those guys can play.”
The now-first baseman gave one piece of advice to players playing in the Northeast: don’t put the “TV schools” on a pedestal. “Don’t think that,” Gedman said. “Keep playing.”
Matt Gingras can be reached at [email protected].
