9-News: 42.108 – Foster: “I Want to Play”

[RonCo]

Off Topic

YS9 Submits Playoff Roster

October 2, 2042: Yellow Springs – It would appear that youthful outfielder Rex Foster (22) has had enough of sitting out. “It’s been a whole month,” he said yesterday after receiving therapy for a strained hamstring injury he suffered in early September. “This is the post season. I want to play.”

The team’s medical staff aren’t so easily convinced, though, noting that he still has limited range of motion to his movement. Official word is that Foster’s return could be a week away but is likely longer. With the club facing Chicago in a five game series the YS9 executive office submitted a post-season roster without his name on it, meaning he’ll be unavailable until at least the Doubleday Round—assuming the club manages to make it that far.

It is, after all, October.

<Insert old-tymey organ riff here>

Foster—who is known as a guy who plays at only one pace—all-out—has been a critical piece of the team’s offense as long as he’s been able to stay on the field, but has been nagged by a series of small injuries all season, including reoccurring back spasms, knee inflammation, a bruised thigh and a bruised cheekbone (after a vicious beaning that the league has still not addressed), before the hamstring strain.

While able to play, Foster has hit 29 homers, and driven in 71 runs while posting a .312/.391/.635 slash. His defense has sometimes suspect, but is generally entertaining to watch. “No one runs after a ball any harder than Rex,” said one teammate who preferred not to be identified as he laughed through the sentence. “His arms fly all over the place and his eyes get real wide when the ball’s coming in.” He once dove for a foul ball that landed fifteen feet away. There is apparently some truth to the rumor floating about that the team is considering off-season renovation that would add an extra layer of padding to the outfield fences just to keep him from bruising anything else. The team hasn't taken to calling him "the Wall Buster" for nothing, after all.

“That’s Rex,” said manager Sam Brewington when asked to comment on Foster’s statement. “He’s a true New Yorker. Runs a mile a minute. Never wants to stop. Not afraid of anything.”