I know this is the Cavalli show, but I wanted to note that this is the second MLB game for a much more improbable big leaguer - the Reds' catcher tonight.
Chuckie Robinson was a minor league Rule 5 pick a couple years ago, having spent years in the Houston system and not making it above a poor season at AA. The Reds grabbed him and sent him right back to AA, where he remained for a year and a half. By the middle of this year he was 27, still in AA, and the Reds were bringing in scrap-heap AAAA catchers (hello, Austin Romine) ahead of him.
Dude was always positive. It gets hot as hell in Chattanooga in the summer, and this dude is always chilling, talking to fans (me, my kid) in the on-deck circle. Hard-working guy, third-generation minor league catcher with the two ahead of him never even getting close to the majors. No batting gloves, uniform always dirty, brain always switched on. Good defender, power hitter with mediocre contact skills. Once took a ribbing from a fan (me) about having to go hit with a big rip in his pants. Launched about a 440 footer directly over the scoreboard. Next at bat when I asked if that thing had come down yet, he says "Don't care, as long as I didn't have to run." Promptly strikes out on three pitches. Still didn't have to run.
That was about two, maybe three months ago. He got promoted a few days ago and got a hit in his first start. I'm a sour, boring-ass motherfreaker who sees too much minor league baseball, and I'm not sure I've ever been so happy to see a dude get his first MLB base knock. This is a good dude who's certainly earned however many MLB paychecks he manages.
And for what it's worth in trivia value, he's also the first black catcher in MLB since 2018. But I'm lifting a glass to Chuckie tonight. I'm sad I can't watch this one due to local blackouts on Reds games here, but that's Manfred Life.