The Red Sox have promoted pitching prospect Grant Gambrell from Double-A Portland to Triple-A Worcester, per the club’s minor-league transactions log.
Gambrell, 25, initially made the jump to Portland in late May after posting a 4.88 ERA in six starts (31 1/3 innings) with High-A Greenville to begin the 2023 season. In 15 starts for the Sea Dogs, the right-hander forged a 3.42 ERA and 3.99 FIP with 84 strikeouts to 32 walks over 84 1/3 innings of work in which he held opposing hitters to a .227 batting average against.
Among 32 Eastern League pitchers who have accrued 80 or more innings to this point in the season, Gambrell came into play Thursday ranking 14th in strikeouts per nine innings (8.96), 11th in walks per nine innings (3.42), 12th in strikeout rate (23.8 percent), 15th in walk rate (9.1 percent), sixth in batting average against, sixth in WHIP (1.22), ninth in groundball rate (44.3 percent), fourth in ERA, eighth in FIP, and 11th in xFIP (3.91), per FanGraphs.
A California native, Gambrell was originally selected by the Royals in the third round of the 2019 amateur draft out of Oregon State. He was then dealt to the Red Sox in June 2021 alongside fellow righty Luis De La Rosa as part of the seven-player trade that sent outfielder Andrew Benintendi to Kansas City four months earlier.
Gambrell’s first season as a member of the Red Sox organization did not go well. He struggled to a 7.16 ERA in eight starts (32 2/3 innings) for Greenville before being shut down with an ankle injury that August. He then missed the entirety of the 2022 campaign as a result of undergoing five surgeries to remove a benign tumor from his calcaneus, or the heel bone.
“I’m just grateful to even be out here because a couple years ago, it was a pretty dark time,” Gambrell told MassLive.com’s Christopher Smith back in June. “I didn’t know if I was going to be able to do it again. So it’s just taking advantage of every opportunity that I get.”
Now fully healthy, Gambrell finds himself just one call away from the major-leagues. The 6-foot-4, 225-pound hurler is currently regarded by SoxProspects.com as the No. 43 prospect in Boston’s farm system, which ranks 17th among pitchers in the organization.
As he explained to Smith, Gambrell eliminated a four-seam fastball from his arsenal and now uses a 92-95 mph two-seam fastball. He added a cutter in spring training and also mixes in a slider and changeup.
“Not that I took baseball for granted when I was playing but definitely being away from the sport for a year and a half, two years, you look at it in a different way, a different perspective,” said Gambrell. “I’m honestly glad I did get to go through that because it allowed me to be more appreciative for the sport, more appreciative for everybody around me.”
Gambrell, who turns 26 in November, can become eligible for the Rule 5 Draft this winter if he is not added to Boston’s 40-man roster by the protection deadline later this fall. Depending on how he performs with Worcester down the stretch, he has a chance to put himself in consideration for one of those spots.
(Picture of Grant Gambrell: Ben McCanna/Portland Press Herald via Getty Images)
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