This story was excerpted from Jessica Camerato's Nationals Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
In the two years since reliever Ryan Loutos made his Major League debut, he has played for three organizations and traveled from coast to coast pursuing his dream.
To keep track, Loutos checks in with a nine-person family chat, which consists of his six immediate relatives and three significant others. The chat has become a conduit for Loutos to share his news -- with a comedic twist.
“The whirlwind of the last year for me of getting called up for the first time with the Cardinals, then getting DFA’d, then saying that I got traded to the Dodgers, then going up with the Dodgers, it’s kind of funny,” Loutos, 26, said. “Sometimes it’s phone calls, sometimes it’s honestly just creative text messages that we send in our group chat now. My fiance [Sarah] likes to think of something creative and funny to say.”
Loutos recalled four “gotcha” moments that have marked different chapters in his big league journey.
“They’re awesome. They celebrate all my wins and they are there for me anytime I’m sent down,” Loutos said, adding with a smile, “We don’t take anything seriously. I’m the least funny person in my family.”
Major League debut (Cardinals)
“The first time I got called up was cool because I was emotional, and I’m sitting in the dugout in Triple-A Memphis about to call my dad telling him that I'm going to St. Louis. I'm just sitting there waiting, like, ‘What am I going to say?’ I’m sitting there about to click to call, I’m sitting there, sitting there, sitting there. Then right as my thumb's going down, I'm getting a call from my dad.
“So then I answer, I’m like, ‘Hello, hello’ -- and he butt dialed me! He didn't even mean to call me. He butt dialed right in that moment, which never happened. I don’t think I’ve ever got a butt dial from my dad. So then I hang up, call him back and I was like, ‘Hey, you called me. What's going on?’ He's like, ‘Oh, I must have butt dialed you.’ And then I told him that I was going to St. Louis.
Major League callup (Dodgers)
“I was in Vegas with the Dodgers Triple-A [team] and we were about to fly back to OKC. While we were at the airport, I got told that I was going to L.A. instead. It was so last-minute that we got on the flight before we could even tell anyone what was happening.
“So then we were on the flight, and we took a selfie basically saying, ‘Oh shoot, we got on the wrong flight! This one's going to L.A. instead.’ I sent that and then they usually have a moment of like, ‘They’re just joking’ to like, ‘Oh wait, why would they joke about that?!’ Then they all kind of make sense of it. That was pretty funny.”
Major League callup (Dodgers)
“Another time with L.A., I got told at like midnight and I didn't want to wake everyone up because everyone was asleep and going to work the next day. So I sent out scheduled text messages to go out at whenever they were supposed to get up the next day, which was funny. Then by the time I woke up, they were all on the way to the airport, flying out to L.A. to meet me, which was pretty cool.”
Major League callup (Nationals)
“[Sarah] said, ‘ETA D.C.: one in the morning’ or something like that. All my family was together at my cousin's house, and they all kind of looked at each other at the same time, like, ‘What's going on?’ Is he going up? What’s going on?’ And then they called and obviously I told them. So it’s fun.”