SAN DIEGO — Cubs right-hander Javier Assad grew up going to games at Petco Park. It was the closest MLB stadium to his hometown of Tijuana, Mexico.
His dad, Javier Sr., was a Padres fan, but the rest of the family had rallied around the Dodgers because of Fernando Valenzuela. The younger Javier followed suit. He remembers his dad making a nonnegotiable stipulation before taking him to a game between the Padres and Dodgers in San Diego as a kid.
“He told me, ‘The only way I’m taking you to the game is if you wear the Padres jersey,’ ” Assad said Tuesday through team interpreter Fredy Quevedo.
Young Assad agreed. He put on the Padres jersey, but he kept rooting for the Dodgers.
“Everyone would be asking, why is he cheering?” Assad said. “And my dad had to explain the situation. But that’s just one of those really beautiful, neat moments that I remember.”
This week, Assad’s family is in town to watch him and the Cubs take on the Padres.
“It’s super exciting, I’m super proud, I’m super happy for his trajectory,” the elder Assad said Tuesday, through Quevedo. “It was a long road in the minor leagues, but I’m really happy to see where he’s at right now.”
Assad’s start Monday marked the fourth time his dad had watched him play in person since he broke into the majors. Assad also had family in town for his major-league debut in 2022, the World Baseball Classic and his first outing in San Diego.
Assad made his first Petco Park start on Monday, limiting the Padres to two runs in five-plus innings. Members of both his immediate and extended family traveled to see him pitch.
“It definitely is a different feeling being a starter out here, knowing that my family knows I’m going to pitch and having them here,” Assad said.
They’ve witnessed his whole journey.
When Assad was about 15, scouts were beginning to take notice of him, and his dad realized a career in baseball was possible. So, the elder Assad sat down the younger and asked him whether he wanted to keep studying or commit to a future in baseball.
“He told me, ‘If you choose to pursue baseball, though, you’ve got to focus and really go all in on it,’ ” Assad said.
He signed with the Cubs a few years later, days before his 18th birthday.
Though Assad is now pitching in a different country, his parents have a large reminder of him close to home. There’s now a mural of him in Tijuana, and it just so happens to be located on his father’s route to work.
Javier Sr. said that when Tijuana Mayor Montserrat Caballero’s office first reached out about having the mural done after the WBC, he thought it was a scam. It’s not every day that the mayor tries to get in touch about honoring your son.
“It’s something really special,” Assad said. “It’s something really neat, especially because it’s located in my hometown. And now the fact that I have so many friends and family sending me messages and videos randomly that they see it, it’s really cool that my family and my friends and my loved ones get to experience that as well.”
