Here’s what convinced Conrad Cason to join the Red Sox
“It’s a big family. It really is.”
“Positive thoughts, positive outcomes,” Aaron Cason reminded himself as he ate his blueberry pancakes and hashbrowns. He knew that would be his breakfast order even before he and his teenage son Conrad arrived at the Cracker Barrel in Snellville, Ga. That order was the only thing anyone could predict on July 15. Every other question the Cason family had that day could only be answered by fate.
The most pressing of these questions was one the Cason family would have scoffed at a few years ago: could their son be convinced to forgo a college education to pursue an uncertain professional baseball career? Mississippi State University’s coaches offered the younger Cason a scholarship when he was 14 years old, and they kept in touch with him until he signed a National Letter of Intent to play for them three years later.
“Everything there felt like a family,” Cason told Boston.com. “I don’t think you can ask one person who’s going to tell you different.”
The only way he would reconsider Mississippi State’s offer is if the right team drafted him that night, the second night of the 2024 MLB Draft. Scouts across the country drooled over Cason’s dominance as both a pitcher and a hitter; he could throw a 100 mph fastball and smack a baseball with an exit velocity of 100 mph.
Few baseball players can even do one of those things. Cason could do both at just 18 years old.
“Our room was split camp on which [hitting or pitching] he was better at,” Boston Red Sox director of amateur scouting Devin Pearson said. “You could go either way.”
As soon as the clock struck 2 p.m. that day, the Casons turned on the MLB Draft and huddled around their TV. Selections came and went until midway through the eighth round, when Cason received a text from his buddy Tyler.
“Congrats!”
His eyes shot up toward his delayed TV. On its screen, Cason’s name flashed next to the Boston Red Sox’ logo. And that team wanted badly to make him part of their family. They told Cason the exact plans they had for his development path during the draft process. Their area scout Kirk Fredriksson attended more of Cason’s games than his family could count. Every interaction he had with a Red Sox employee made him feel like they would always go to bat for him.
“The people [in Boston], the coaching staff, the trainers, everybody’s super bought in on the family feeling,” Cason said. “And for me, that’s super important.”
That sense of family has been a hallmark of the Cason household even before he was born. When his older sisters, Desirae and Sky, were young, his father taught them the importance of lifting each other up. Those lessons became habits before they left the house, when their little brother was starting school. As he grew up, his sisters would help him complete his reading and writing homework, and they were always the first to console him whenever he struggled in a game.
“What I tried to teach them was, ‘family first,’” Aaron Cason said. “Always be honest, always be true, but make sure that you take care of your family mentally, spiritually, [and] physically to the best of your ability.”
Cason’s family even gave him his introduction into sports. Desirae ran track like her father, who also played football, while Skye took after her mother and played basketball. They all pushed Cason to begin an athletic journey of his own, where he ran track until eighth grade, played basketball until early in high school, earned his black belt in karate, and was the quarterback for Greater Atlanta Christian School’s junior varsity team during his freshman year.
Baseball was the sport that stuck though. Cason’s family couldn’t anticipate that outcome until their son was seven years old, when he started tee ball under Thad Joiner. Joiner was a coach who possessed the same sense of family that the Casons did, which helped Cason feel comfortable learning the game from him. Tee ball, and later baseball, became Cason’s “coping mechanism” during the seven years Joiner coached Cason.
Most of Cason’s important life moments involved family in some way, and he couldn’t imagine being a part of a team that didn’t share his family values. The Red Sox didn’t seem like one of those organizations. Their commitment to scouting and drafting him showed him that they treat their players like valued family members.
So he decided to join their family.
“‘For this organization to want you and want you now,’ Aaron Cason told his son, ‘It’s just too good of an opportunity to pass.’”
Cason had no trouble adjusting to his new team. He’s met some of the front office members who drafted him, and has already formed tight bonds with the other players they selected. Together, they all make up a Red Sox family that Cason is proud to be a member of.
“Whether it’s Devin [Pearson], or the GM, and other people [part] of the program, they really, really care,” Cason said. “It’s a big family. It really is.”
In return, Cason’s ready to show his new family they were right to welcome him into it.
“They’re giving me a chance,” Cason said. “I just gotta make the most of the opportunity, and that’s what I plan on doing.”
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