Like Brian Rose, Steve Lomasney was a Massachusetts kid who had the good fortune of being drafted by his hometown team.
He was picked in the fifth round of the 1995 draft, and quickly established himself as the Red Sox's catcher of the future. Since the departure of Carlton Fisk in 1980, Red Sox fans had been eager to get another star catcher on their favorite team. The fact that Lomasney, like Fisk, was a New England native, added to the anticipation.
In 1998, he popped 22 home runs with Single-A Sarasota, and followed that up with 20 more in a 1999 season split between Sarasota and Double-A Trenton.
He got an opportunity to play in Boston during the final game of the 1999 season. He spelled Jason Varitek in that contest, and struck out in the only two at-bats he had that day. Unfortunately, that pair would be the only major league at-bats he would ever see.
A frustrating 2000 season in the minor leagues was followed up by an injury plagued 2001. Lomasney was hit in the eye with a batted ball late in the 2001 season with the Pawtucket Red Sox. That incident damaged his eyesight, as well as his chances of making it big in baseball.
After he left the Red Sox in 2002 as a free agent, he bounced around several teams' farm systems, until a 2006 release from the Minnesota Twins ended his baseball career for good.
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