Nationals' bat-retrieving dog Bruce laps up pregame attention, makes MLB debut
This photo provided by the Rochester Red Wings, the Triple-A affiliate of the Washington Nationals, shows Bruce the Bat Dog, a 21-month-old Golden Retriever, during a minor league baseball game between the Red Wings and Lehigh Valley IronPigs, April 5, 2025, in Rochester, N.Y. (Rochester Red Wings via AP)
WASHINGTON (AP) — The dog days of summer arrived Saturday at Nationals Park.
Bruce, a 21-month-old Golden Retriever, fetched a bat during a ceremony before the Washington Nationals' game against the Miami Marlins as part of a Pups in the Park promotion. He retrieved bats the last two seasons with the Rochester Red Wings, Washington's Triple-A affiliate.
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Bruce, wearing a bandana with an 'MLB debut' patch he received when he arrived at the stadium, was presented a commemorative bat. He then took a circuitous route from the dugout toward first base after Nationals reliever Zach Brzykcy dropped the bat in foul territory before the bat dog collected his quarry to the delight of a crowd wowed by his work and enthusiasm.
'Look at this dog and try not to smile,' said Josh Snyder, Bruce's owner. 'He's great. He's goofy. I think he's the perfect candidate for Rochester, the Red Wings and now the Nationals.'
Snyder, who wore a No. 25 Nationals jersey with 'Bruce' on the nameplate, said he drove through the night with Bruce and arrived in Washington around 3 a.m. Saturday. But it was anything but a rough morning and early afternoon for Bruce, who casually lapped up attention as he walked through the tunnel in the stadium.
Bruce spent about 50 minutes on the field before the ceremony, where he was hounded by well-wishers. He also did a couple practice bat retrievals with Snyder's assistance before Nationals catcher Riley Adams stopped to pet him on his way out for pregame work.
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He won't work during the actual game, however, and will return to Triple-A duties afterward.
Bruce is Snyder's second dog work to with the Red Wings, following the late Milo, and both participated in campaigns to raise money for Rochester's Veterans Outreach Center and Honor Flight of Rochester.
This week — which included an announcement from the Nationals on Tuesday that Bruce had worked his tail off to earn a promotion — generated plenty of buzz even before Saturday's debut.
'Social media, everything like that seems like it's seriously blown up, and we love it,' Snyder said. 'Really good publicity with our goal and our mission of bringing people together. It shows it's just doing that.'
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Yahoo
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Red Sox's trade of Rafael Devers marks the conclusion of an untenable situation that never should've gotten to this point
The Red Sox shocked the baseball world on Sunday by trading designated hitter and third baseman Rafael Devers to the San Francisco Giants. The trade ends a months-long saga between the Red Sox and Devers. The timeline of Devers' tenure with the Red Sox organization goes back more than a decade to when Boston signed him as an international free agent at the age of 16. He then made his debut in 2017 at age 20, and it wasn't long before his impact was being felt in Boston. Advertisement After the trade of superstar Mookie Betts in 2020 and the departure of Xander Boegaerts in free agency in 2022, the organization looked to Devers to be the new face of the franchise. The Red Sox, led by former top executive Chaim Bloom, inked Devers to a 10-year, $313.5 million extension in December 2022, committing to him for the long-term. 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When Boston told Devers in the spring that he'd only DH and would no longer play the field, the team pigeonholed itself with little room to maneuver. Had they split Devers' time between first base and DH back then, even with a healthy Casas, at the very least they would've had a better path to handle this situation. Instead, Devers felt that the team was never upfront about its intentions for him, not only this year but also going into the offseason. Looking back now, despite all the comments from the Red Sox about moving on after the spring training debacle, it's clear that neither side fully let all this go. The situation smoldered in the background, and now Devers' trade to San Francisco is the ugly ending. Advertisement The Giants' new designated hitter ultimately changed positions and, after an adjustment, has looked like the three-time All-Star he has been his entire career. But let's be clear: Devers never wanted to change positions, and he never stopped feeling that the Red Sox — specifically chief baseball officer Craig Breslow — took his position from him. Therefore, he was unwilling to listen to another request to move to first base. For Breslow and the Red Sox, it seems that they never forgot that Devers wasn't willing to change positions after the addition of Bregman, despite their conviction that it would make the team better. And they also didn't forget that Devers was unwilling to play first after Casas' season-ending knee surgery. Sources tell Yahoo Sports that Devers never made a formal request to the Red Sox to be traded. While this doesn't mean that he wasn't unhappy or frustrated, he wouldn't have been the first disgruntled superstar to play professional baseball. Instead, Boston's decision to trade Devers with the team in great position in the AL wild-card race indicates that they decided they'd be better off without him. What happens now? The timing of the trade is a head-scratcher. We're a month-and-a-half away from the trade deadline, and the Red Sox are not a team clearly looking to sell. Although they've struggled to play consistent baseball in 2025, Boston is coming off a sweep of the AL-East-leading New York Yankees. They're finally back over .500 and just a half-game back of the third AL wild card. Advertisement Trading the team's best hitter in the midst of that hardly makes sense. Devers is currently hitting .272 with 15 homers and a team-leading .905 OPS in 72 games this season. Since April 26, he has an OPS close to 1.000 with 13 home runs. Despite that, it's not hard to believe that Breslow had seen enough. He's not the executive who gave Devers the $313.5 million deal, and therefore, he had no reason to feel beholden to him or whatever promises were made to the 2018 World Series champion three years ago. There are other ramifications of this trade for the Red Sox. First, it puts significant pressure on the team's young core to perform. Boston's prospect trio of second baseman Kristian Campbell, infielder Marcelo Meyer and No. 1 prospect Roman Anthony are highly touted in the game. But none of those players has produced at the level of Devers, and while the hope for each of them is to become an All-Star-caliber player, Devers already is one. This move also gives Bregman and his agent, Scott Boras, tons of leverage this offseason. Bregman, currently on the injured list due to a right quad strain, is making $40 million in average annual value in 2025 and has an opt-out at the end of the season. If he chooses to exercise that opt out and go elsewhere, it would put the Red Sox in an extremely precarious position, without a superstar bat in their lineup. Did both the Red Sox and Devers make mistakes over the past five months? Absolutely. For Devers, he failed to realize the bad optics for him, especially after the Casas injury, despite his being considered a good teammate over the years. He also failed to realize that just because the Bloom regime promised him he'd stay at third, that didn't mean that Breslow and Co. wouldn't have different feelings. Advertisement But did this situation have to get to this point? No. Ultimately, the Red Sox's ostracizing and alienating their best player created a rift in the relationship that could never be repaired. This move will not be easily digestible for a fan base that has already seen a superstar in Betts traded to the Dodgers, and five years later, no player included in that deal is still with the organization. The patience in Boston was already thin, and trading Devers surely will only exacerbate the issue. As the Red Sox attempt to move forward, Breslow's legacy in Boston will be judged based on what he does following this megadeal. All eyes will be on him to see if he and the Red Sox can prove that this move was the right one for the franchise's future.
