THURSDAY, AUGUST 8, 2019 The Boston Globe Sports C3
Red Sox minor leaguer at home in RV
bun.“It’s like a culture shock.
It’s very quiet. You look up and
you see all the stars. It’s really
cool.”
Whether it’s at spring train-
ing in Florida or shuttling be-
tween Portland and Pawtuck-
et, Lau has an advantage over
most minorleaguers.He never
has to pack up and move.
Last December, Lau got
tired of rentingfurnished
apartments and bunkingwith
teammates. So he and his wife
plunked down$25,000 to buy
a 2009BighornFifth Wheel.
“Wherever we park, it is
homeand we get to chill,” he
says.
In the spirit of Bill Lee, the
6-foot-2-inchrighthander
from Alabamamightjust be
the new Spaceman.
Lau’s father is an engineer
and supervisorat the Marshall
Space Centerin Huntsville,
Ala., who workson the vehicle
that will take NASA backto the
moonand on to Mars.
While Michael Lau works
on propulsionissues,his son
dreamsof beinga big league
star. Adam’s tweets are all
about baseball,science, and
space.
SeaDogspitcher Matt
Gorst says teammates like to
tell Lau the moon landingwas
a fake just to messwith him.
“He’s definitelya very cere-
bral person,” says Gorst. “He’s
smart. He’s really smart.”
Gorst, who has played for
five minor league clubs,says
the RV strategy makes sense.
“I thinkit’s awesome,” he
says. “I wishI’d done it. Trying
to find a place to live is not
fun.”
Bigleaguedreams
Lau, a 37th-rounddraft
pickof the Red Sox in 2015,
wants to follow in his father’s
footsteps after his baseball ca-
reer. But first he wants to pitch
for the Red Sox and help them
win another championship.
He has never beeninside
Fenway Park. But he was on
the moundwhenthe Gulf
Coast Red Sox wona league
championship in 2015.Since
then,there have beenstops in
Salem, Va., Greenville, S.C.,
Portland,and Pawtucket, R.I.
He hasn’t had a cup of cof-
fee in The Showyet, but he did
get an espresso jolt pitching
for Boston against the Yankees
in springtrainingthis year.
The first hitter he faced was
the dangerous Aaron Judge.
Lau got two quick strikes on
him,thentriedto throw him a
high cutter.
“Buthe’s, like, 7 feet tall,”
says Lau, “so it wasn’t a high
cutter to him. It was, like, right
down the middle.”
Judge crushedit overthe
center-fieldfence.
“But then I struckout [Gi-
uLAU
ContinuedfromPageC1
ancarlo] Stanton on a low cur-
veball, so I recovered,” says
Lau.
Life in the minorsis hardif
you’re not Rusney Castillo,
who is making $11 millionthis
year with the PawSox. In 2017,
the average monthly salary
was $10,000 for Triple A ball,
$3,000for Double A (Port-
land’s level), and $1,600 for
High SingleA players,accord-
ing to Major League Baseball.
And players don’t get paidfor
springtraining; they receive
only mealmoney.
Lau knew what to expect
whenhe signed up.
“We’re getting an opportu-
nity to make tons of money,” he
says. “So it’s kind of a sacrifice.
The guysin the majorleagues
bring in millions of fans, and
they’re selling merchand stuff.
There’s not that many people
buying Adam Lau jerseys yet.”
Sea DogsrightfielderTate
Matheny is the son of Mike
Matheny, who was the St. Lou-
is Cardinals catcherwhen the
RedSox beat themin the
World Seriesin 2004and their
manager whenthe Sox won
againin 2013.
“What Adamis doingright
now is just a great way of life,”
says Matheny, whoadds that
his father wouldagree. “If hecould have gone back,he
would’ve livedin a trailerjust
becauseof the cost-efficiency
and how mucheasierit makes
things.”
When Lau boughtthe RV, it
neededa lot of work. He got
his father to help him renovate
it.
“He’s got every tool known
to man,” says Lau.
The Lau family loves to
camp.They’ve gone to Yosem-
ite, Yellowstone,and Glacier
National Park and hiked the
Great Smoky Mountains.Ad-
am and Kelly hiked the Grand
Canyon in 2016.
Lau met his wife in a chem-
istry class at the University of
Alabamaat Birmingham,
where he was an engineering
studentanda left fielder/
pitcher on the baseballteam.
“He cameand fixed stuff in
my apartment,” says Kelly. “He
fixed my car. He was my fix-it
man.”
Their first date was climb-
ing Oak Mountain in Birming-
ham. Adam proposed to her al-
most a year later on another
hike there.They married in
2017.
She lovesthe RV. It’s bigger
than the studiothey rented in
the offseason.They purchased
a new Silverado truckto tow it,
and they were good to go.
Lau drove it nonstop from
Alabama to Red Sox spring
training in Fort Myers, Fla.,
with Credence Clearwater Re-
vival blaringon the radio. The
trip north to snowy Portland
took three days.
“You can just pull over and
sleep in a hotel parkinglot,”
says Lau. “Nobody bothers
you.”Up, down, all around
On April 25, Lau pitched
the ninth inning of a combined
no-hitter withKyle Hart and
Daniel McGrath, a 2-0 victory
against Binghamton.The Sea
Dogs took a seven-hour over-
nightbus ride to get to Bing-
hamton, N.Y.
“I actuallydidn’t know it
was a no-hitter untilI got the
last out,” says Lau. “I knew it
was a save situation and I was
too locked in. I didn’t look at
the scoreboard. The bullpen
didn’t say anythingbecause
you don’t talk about it.”
The final out was a popup
to rightfield.
“Everybodywas like extra
excited, so I was like, ‘What’s
going on?’ ” says Lau. “The
first guy I saw was [left fielder]
Luke Tendler, and he hugged
me and I was,like, well,we
just won the game but it’s just
a save. But no, then I realized
it was a no-hitter.”
On May 24, he was called
up to Triple A Pawtucket. He
and Kelly, now a travel nurse,
movedto an RV camp in
Mansfield,Mass. Adam
learnedthe back roads toRhode Island whileKelly com-
mutedpart-timeto Cam-
bridge.
Lau felt at hometherein
the woods.
“I dig that stuff,” says Lau,
whosemiddlenameis Forest.
He helped out the PawSox
with a rare spotstart and
picked up a win in relief, but
he was sentbackto Portland
June 11. He currentlyhas sev-
en saves and a 3.35 ERA forthe Sea Dogs.
He likes being anonymous
in Red Sox Nation.
“I don’t always tell every-
bodywhat I do,” he says. “You
know, I’m just a minor leaguer,
but it still sparks such a huge
conversation.”
It takes him hours to un-
wind from a game.
“Its nice to just be ourselves
here,” he says, huggingKelly
by the campfire.A longday is winding
down, and Lau says he is excit-
ed about the future. Giddy-up-
and-go is his callingcard,both
on and off the field. Owning a
recreational vehicle makes it
morefun.
“We can bring it with us
wherever baseballtakes us,” he
says. “It’s an adventure.”StanGrossfeldcanbereached
[email protected].STANGROSSFELD/GLOBESTAFF
AdamLau searchesthesky forMars andtheBigandLittleDippersafterdockinghisRV. “Whereverwepark,it is homeandweget to chill,” hesaid.STANGROSSFELD/GLOBESTAFFRed Sox minorleaguepitcherAdamLau andhiswifeKelly,
nowa travelingnurse,livein their38-foot-long
recreationalvehicleat theCanoeRiverCampgroundin
Mansfield,butthey always take theirshowontheroad.
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