As Joe Espada aspired to be a big league manager, he dreamed of one day making a future player’s call-up to the Major Leagues a special moment.

So the skipper pulled out his phone and asked if a certain someone was at Daikin Park, and that someone was Smith’s mom, Stephanie Hocza, who then gave her teary-eyed son a big hug in the clubhouse as he received the news he’d be with the big league club.

With Opening Day for Major League Baseball on Thursday, teams are finalizing their rosters for the start of the regular season and making some boyhood dreams come true in the process.  The call up announcement is always a special moment for young players getting their first crack at the big leagues,