Veteran catcher Jett Bandy will be joining the Red Sox as a non-roster taxi squad player in New York for the first leg of the club’s upcoming seven-game road trip, manager Ron Roenicke announced following Tuesday night’s 8-3 loss to the Mets.
Per Roenicke, Bandy will be the lone member of the Sox’ taxi squad while the team plays the Mets and Yankees if all goes according to plan. From there, two more players would join the club’s taxi squad for next week’s two-game series against the Rays in St. Petersburg.
Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, major-league teams this season are allowed to bring a three-man taxi squad with them for all road trips. One of these three players must be a catcher, while the other two can be pitchers or position players. That way, an infected or injured player could be replaced rather easily.
As noted by MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand, “these three players will be permitted to work out with the team on the road, while the catcher will also be allowed to serve as a bullpen catcher. At the end of the road trip, Taxi Squad players will return to the team’s Alternate Training Site, though the catcher will be permitted to stay with the team as a bullpen catcher for home games.”
In Bandy’s case, the 30-year-old backstop inked a minor-league deal with Boston back in December and was added to the club’s initial 60-man Summer Camp player pool last month.
Across four big-league seasons played with the Angels and Brewers, the California native owns a career .218/.282/.365 slash line to go along with 16 home runs and 45 RBI over 156 total games played from September 14, 2015 until May 23, 2018.
Roenicke was Bandy’s third base coach for a little while there when the two were in Los Angeles.
A former 31st-round pick of the Angels in the 2011 amateur draft out of the University of Arizona, Bandy will not accrue any service time while a member of the Red Sox’ taxi squad, but he will get $108.50 per day, the major-league allowance, on top of his minor-league salary as long as he is “up” with the big-league club.
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