Category: Baseball

Red Sox sign sixth-round pick Daniel McElveny for $200,000, per report

The Red Sox have signed sixth-round draft pick Daniel McElveny, according to MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo.

Per Cotillo, McElveny — who is listed as a utility player — has signed with the Sox for approximately $200,000. He is currently on his way to the club’s spring training complex in Fort Myers.

McElveny, 18, was selected by Boston out of Bonita Vista High School (Calif.) with the 166th overall pick in the 2021 MLB first-year player draft last week.

The recommended slot value for the 166th overall selection in this year’s draft was $306,800, which means the Sox will save approximately $106,800 in signing McElveny to an under-slot deal.

Listed at 6-foot and 190 pounds, the right-handed hitter and thrower was committed to play college baseball at San Diego State University, but instead opted to go pro out of high school.

In his senior season with Bonita Vista, which is just down the road from where Red Sox first-round pick Marcelo Mayer played his high school ball, McElveny posted a .435/.580/.764 slash line to go along with nine doubles, two triples, five home runs, 22 RBI, 37 runs scored, 23 stolen bases, 20 walks, and 15 strikeouts over 29 game played (119 plate appearances) this past spring.

As noted by MLB.com’s Ian Browne, the Southern California native was the only one of 612 prospects taken in this summer’s draft who was designated by their respective team as a utility player.

That being the case because the Red Sox worked out McElveny, who primarily played shortstop in high school, at a plethora of different positions at Fenway Park in the weeks leading up to the draft, as the club’s director of amateur scouting Paul Toboni explained to reporters (including Browne) last Tuesday.

“We worked him out at Fenway and he hopped in at right field, he hopped in at second base, third base, shortstop, he was catching,” Toboni said of McElveny. “I don’t know how that’s going to play out in the long term, but for now, he’s going to have a lot of ways to keep his bat in the lineup and hopefully string together some really quality at-bats.”

While McElveny was not regarded as one of the top draft-eligible prospects by industry publications such as Baseball America, he was listed by Perfect Game USA as the No. 52 prep prospect in the state of California going in to the draft.

That being said, the Red Sox got one of their first looks at McElveny during a Perfect Game showcase event last summer, and they got additional eyes — including those of area scout J.J. Altobelli — on him when he and Mayer’s schools played one another on a couple of occasions this spring.

“Daniel McElveny is a cool story. I think he probably first got on our radar in June of last year at an event called PG National,” Toboni said. “We liked his feel to hit. He was kind of a grinder that we thought played the game the right way. We just followed him along the way.

“He played in a couple more events,” added Toboni. “We saw him in the spring, scouting him and only him, and we also saw him match up with Marcelo, which allowed us to see him a little bit more. We were just drawn to the competitor, the feel to hit, the feel for the stone, and the versatility he had on defense.”

Per his Perfect Game scouting report, which was written sometime in 2020, McElveny “hits from a straight stance with good balance and direction through contact” and “has loose fast hands through the ball and plenty of extension for future power,” which is something the Red Sox were clearly drawn to.

“We just saw him play so much. He’s got a really simple swing. He has really good barrel feel,” said Toboni. “Everything in both batting practice and games seems to find the barrel.”

The Red Sox managed to ink McElveny, who does not turn 19 until next April, to an under-slot deal with a little less than two weeks to go until the August 1 signing deadline.

Thus far, Boston has signed four of its 20 draft picks (Tyler McDonough, Matt Litwicki, Jacob Webb, and McElveny) to contracts, while they also signed Clemson University outfielder Kier Meredith as an undrafted free agent, according to SoxProspects.com.

In total, the Sox have approximately $11,359,600 to work with in regards to signing as many draft picks as they please, though they could bump that amount up by 5% (to $11,927,580) if they were willing to incur some tax-related penalties.

On that note, Toboni did say last week that he would expect 13-15 of the Red Sox’ draft selections to sign with the club, so there should be more announcements being made in the coming days.

(Picture of Daniel McElveny: Daniel McElveny’s Instagram)

Red Sox’ Christian Arroyo forced to exit Sunday’s game against Yankees due to left hamstring strain: ‘It’s most likely an injured list thing,’ Alex Cora says

Christian Arroyo’s professional debut at first base was a short-lived one that, quite simply, did not go as planned.

Making his first-ever major-league start at first base for the Red Sox in Sunday’s contest against the Yankees at Yankee Stadium, Arroyo grounded out to first base in his first at-bat of the night in the top half of the third inning before suffering a painful looking left hamstring injury in the bottom half.

With one out and runners at the corners, Sox starter Martin Perez induced a sharply-hit groundball off the bat of Giancarlo Stanton that was fielded by shortstop Xander Bogaerts.

After receiving the relay from Bogaerts, second baseman Kiké Hernández made a quick throw towards first base in an attempt to complete the potential inning-ending 6-4-3 double play.

Arroyo, who was presumably trying to record the second out of the twin killing at first before the runner at third — Greg Allen — crossed home plate, wound up stretching out with his left leg to the point where he landed on the ground while doing a split.

Stanton ended up beating the throw, but Arroyo was in clear discomfort as he gripped at his left hamstring while seated near the first base bag.

Upon getting back on his feet, a hobbled Arroyo was replaced at first base by Bobby Dalbec and was later diagnosed with a left hamstring strain.

The 26-year-old is likely headed for the injured list for a third time this season, Red Sox manager Alex Cora said following Sunday night’s 9-1 loss to the Yankees.

“It’s most likely an IL thing,” said Cora. “He just felt it when he stretched. It’s a hard one, right? He was ready, of course, to play first, but he stretches and that happens. It’s a tough one for us, but we’ll be bounce back.”

Danny Santana, who has been out of action since July 6 on the injured list with a left quad strain since July 9, is expected to join the Red Sox in Buffalo on Monday ahead of their series against the Blue Jays after completing a rehab assignment with Triple-A Worcester.

The switch-hitting Santana, who went 0-for-4 with two walks and a run scored in his most recent stint with the WooSox, has appeared in 12 games at first base for Boston so far this season, so the veteran utility man could be an option to fill in there while Arroyo is sidelined.

For Arroyo, this latest setback is just the latest reminder in how snake-bitten the infielder has been in his first full season with the Red Sox.

Finally able to establish himself as a legitimate everyday player, Arroyo is on the verge of hitting the IL for a third time in 2021 after previously missing time with a left hand and right knee contusion.

Since most-recently being activated off the injured list on July 5, the former first-round pick posted a .310/.355/.621 slash line with two home runs, four runs scored, and six RBI over his last eight games coming into play on Sunday.

That stretch of success was happening concurrently with the Red Sox calling up top outfield prospect Jarren Duran from Worcester, which resulted in Hernández shifting from center field to second base — the position Arroyo had played so well at.

In search to get Arroyo consistent playing time after promoting Duran, the Sox opted to try the right-handed hitter out at first base, with Cora even saying that “he deserves to play” with the way he has been swinging the bat as of late.

So, how frustrating is it when a player such as Arroyo, who has proven to be a key contributor when healthy, suffers an injury when he is seemingly on the verge of going on a tear?

“It’s frustrating, right?” said Cora. “Because, it seems like he’s in a groove, he’s swinging the bat well, and then this happens. We don’t like our guys to get hurt. This is one of the things, too, that — and [head athletic trainer Brad Pearson] always talks about it — it’s not only in his case. When you don’t play that much and all the sudden you start playing a lot, and you start getting on base at a high rate, and you’re running the bases more than usual, stuff like this happens.

“And we try to avoid it,” Cora added. “We put them in running programs when they’re not playing everyday just to avoid stuff like this. But, it’s too bad that it happens. And we’ll keep working, we’ll keep trying to improve, because that’s something that actually makes a lot of sense. You go from not playing to all the sudden playing 10 days in a row or eight out of 10, and your body’s not used to it.

“I’m not saying this is the case for Christian, but, overall, that’s one of the things that we’ve been studying and talking about. And we’ll try to get it right, I guess, that’s what I’m trying to say. So, we’ll keep working like I said and keep getting better.”

If Arroyo were to be placed on the 10-day injured list on Monday, the soonest he could be activated would be next Thursday, July 29.

(Picture of Christian Arroyo: Rich Schultz/Getty Images)

Red Sox manage just 5 hits in 9-1 defeat to Yankees, marking third straight series loss

For the third straight time dating back to before the All-Star break, the Red Sox won the first game of a series and followed by dropping the next two contests, as they fell to the Yankees by a final score of 9-1 at Yankee Stadium on Sunday night.

After starting the season with seven wins in seven tries against their division rivals, the Sox have lost their last two to the Bronx Bombers and a scored a total of two runs in those defeats.

Martin Perez made his 19th start of the season for Boston on Sunday, and he ran into some early trouble shortly after tossing a 1-2-3 first inning.

That being the case because Gleyber Torres greeted the veteran left-hander by crushing a leadoff home run off him to begin things in the bottom of the second before back-to-back one-out singles in the third resulted in another New York run crossing the plate on an RBI groundout off the bat of Giancarlo Stanton.

The Yankees added on to their lead in the fifth, which turned out be an inning in which Perez failed to record an out in, as he yielded two straight singles to Rougned Odor and Ryan LaMarre that put runners at second and third with no outs on account of a throwing error from right fielder Hunter Renfroe.

At that point, Red Sox manager Alex Cora pulled Perez in favor of right-hander Garrett Whitlock, who allowed an inherited runner to score on a Greg Allen sacrifice fly before getting out of the inning.

Finishing with a final pitch count of 62 (41 strikes), the 30-year-old hurler ended up surrendering three runs — all of which were earned — on five hits, one walk, and five strikeouts over just four-plus innings of work. His next start should come against this same Yankees team back at Fenway Park on Saturday.

The Red Sox lineup, which had struggled mightily throughout the night against Yankees starter Jameson Taillon, had a golden opportunity to get on the board in their half of the sixth, with one out and runners in scoring position following a hard-hit double from Xander Bogaerts.

That double knocked Taillon out of this contest, and the Yankees brought in Chad Green to face off against Rafael Devers in a prime run-scoring spot, but the slugging third baseman struck out on a controversial check-swing call, while Hunter Renfroe grounded out to third to extinguish the threat.

Whitlock, after recording the final out of the fifth, came back out for the sixth and proceeded to sit down the final three hitters he faced in order to keep his side within the three runs they trailed by.

From there, however, the Red Sox bullpen let this one get away from them, as Darwinzon Hernanez entered in the seventh and gave up a leadoff single to Brett Gardner before serving up a two-run blast to Rougned Odor to put Boston in a 5-0 hole.

The left-hander then walked LaMarre and Allen back-to-back, prompting Brandon Workman to take over for him to only issue three consecutive free passes — two of which came with the bases loaded — with two outs in the bottom of the seventh, allowing New York to jump out to a 7-0 advantage.

In the bottom of the eighth, after plating their only run of the evening on a Renfroe RBI single in the top half of the frame, the Red Sox fell victim to more walk issues, as Yacksel Rios walked the first batter who came to the plate against him in Odor before giving up a two-run homer to LaMarre, who spent part of the 2016 season in the Boston outfield.

That put the Yankees up by a commanding eight runs at 9-1, which would go on to be Sunday’s final score.

All in all, the Red Sox went 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position on Sunday. They left nine men on base as a team.

With the loss, the Sox fall to 56-38 on the season as they have now dropped six of their last eight games despite clinging on to a half-game lead over the Rays for first place in the American League East.

Arroyo suffers hamstring injury

Christian Arroyo was originally starting Sunday’s contest at first base for the first time in his professional career, but his debut at the position did not go according to plan.

The 26-year-old suffered a left hamstring strain after attempting to stretch out for a ball in order to complete a 6-4-3 double play in the bottom of the third inning.

After doing a split and rising to his feet, Arroyo was in visible discomfort and had to exit immediately. He was replaced by Bobby Dalbec at first base and seems likely to land on the injured list.

Next up: Blue Jays in Buffalo

The Red Sox will make the trek from the Bronx to Buffalo to take on a surging Blue Jays club in the first of a three-game series at Sahlen Field on Monday night.

Right-hander Nick Pivetta is slated to get the ball for Boston in the opener, while fellow righty Ross Stripling is lined up to do the same for Toronto.

First pitch Monday is scheduled for 7:07 p.m. eastern time on NESN.

(Picture of Rafael Devers: Rich Schultz/Getty Images)

Red Sox’ Christian Arroyo set to make first career start at first base in series finale against Yankees

Christian Arroyo will be checking off another box on his “first time in his career” list when the Red Sox take on the Yankees at Yankee Stadium on Sunday night.

After pitching and being used as a pinch-runner for the first time in his five-year big-league career at different points earlier this season, Arroyo will be making his first-ever start at first base in Sunday’s series finale in the Bronx.

The 26-year-old infielder has never played first base before at the minor- or major-league level, but will be doing so in the rubber match of this three-game series with Jarren Duran getting the start in center field and Kiké Hernández sliding over to second base as a result.

Arroyo was seen taking grounders at first base on Thursday with quality control coach Ramon Vazquez giving him some pointers, and he will now have the opportunity to take what he learned and apply it to an actual game.

So far this season, Red Sox first baseman have arguably been one of the least productive position groups in all of baseball, as they came into play Sunday sporting a collective .204/.249/.366 slash line to go along with an MLB-worst .266 weighted on-base average and 62 wRC+.

It’s unclear at the moment if Arroyo, who has been one of the better defensive second basemen in the American League to this point in the year, represents a permanent change for Boston at first base or if this is just a temporary move.

“We’re comfortable with it,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said of starting Arroyo at first base. “He’s earned his playing time, let’s put it that way. He’s putting [together] good at-bats, he’s hitting good pitching, and he deserves to start. He’s comfortable with it, I’m comfortable with it, so we’ll go from there.”

With Arroyo — a right-handed hitter — getting the start at first base on Sunday, that puts Bobby Dalbec — also a right-handed hitter — in a bit of a tough spot in which he will be limited to facing just left-handed pitching for the time being.

“The way he swung the bat the first two days here, he deserves to play,” said Cora in regards to Arroyo. “With Bobby, obviously, he’ll play against lefties –we’ll use him against lefties. There’s going to be a few righties that we’ll use, but as of today, it’s Christian against their righty. And we’ll go from there the rest of the week.”

All that being said, Arroyo is starting at first base and batting ninth for Boston on Sunday night. Hernandez will lead off, while Duran — in his second major-league start — will bat out of the seven-hole.

Xander Bogaerts is also back and starting at shortstop after missing Saturday’s contest on account of some wrist soreness he sustained on Friday. The 28-year-old All-Star is batting cleanup in between J.D. Martinez and Rafael Devers, per usual.

Here is how the rest of the Red Sox (56-37) will lineup behind left-hander Martin Perez and against Yankees (47-44) right-hander Jameson Taillon.

First pitch Sunday is scheduled for 7:08 p.m. eastern time on ESPN.

(Picture of Christian Arroyo: Michael Owens/Getty Images)

Red Sox’ rain-shortened 3-1 loss to Yankees overshadowed by fan throwing baseball at Alex Verdugo

Well, after two days of waiting, Jarren Duran’s highly-anticipated major-league debut was certainly an eventful one.

The Red Sox ultimately fell to the Yankees by a final score of 3-1 in a rain-shortened, six-inning contest at Yankee Stadium on Saturday night, but not before two rain delays, two ejections, one player getting hit in the back by a baseball thrown by a fan, and a period of time where baseball was being played in an absolute downpour.

Still, Boston saw their unbeaten run against their division rivals come to a close on Saturday, as they are now 7-1 this year when facing off against New York.

Nathan Eovaldi made his 19th start of the season for the Sox, and he was once again solid while going up against his former team.

Over five strong innings of work, the veteran right-hander yielded just one earned run on two hits, one walk, and one hit batsman to go along with seven strikeouts on the night.

While Eovaldi was rolling early on, the Red Sox lineup backed him up in their half of the second inning.

There, with one out and the bases empty, Duran stepped up to the plate for the very first time in his big-league career with Yankees ace Gerrit Cole on the mound waiting for him.

On the very first pitch he saw from Cole, a 95 mph fastball on the lower half of the plate, Duran ripped a line-drive single to center field for his first career hit.

The speedy outfield prospect would not be on first base for long though, as he advanced to second on a groundout before coming in to score on an RBI single off the bat of Christian Arroyo that gave the Red Sox their first lead of the night at 1-0.

From there, Eovaldi continued to sit down Yankees hitters left and right — and even took a no-hitter into the fifth inning before yielding a two-out double to Greg Allen to break up the no-hit bid.

Allen, known for his speed, was driven in on a game-tying RBI base knock from D.J. LeMahieu moments later, which resulted in Eovaldi’s outing coming to a close as soon as he recorded the final out of the fifth.

Finishing with a final pitch count of 94 (66 strikes), the 31-year-old hurler did not factor into Saturday’s decision, though he did lower his ERA on the season down to 3.57. His next start should come against this same Yankees team back at Fenway Park next Friday.

Venable, Plawecki ejected for arguing strikes

In the top half of the sixth, the Red Sox failed to score off Cole, though they certainly had a golden opportunity to do so.

A two-out walk drawn by Rafael Devers followed by a Hunter Renfroe single and Duran free pass filled the bases for Christian Vazquez, who fell behind in the count at 0-2 before offering a half-hearted swing on a slider that was well outside.

While the argument can be made that Vazquez did not break the plane in his swing attempt, the veteran backstop was called out on strikes anyway, prompting a bit of an eruption from the Red Sox dugout in protest of the call.

Because of said reaction, bench coach Will Venable and backup catcher Kevin Plawecki were ejected from the contest, which — in theory — left the Red Sox with only one catcher.

Chaos in the bottom of the sixth

As Hirokazu Sawamura prepared to take over Eovaldi out of the Red Sox bullpen, rain continued to pour in the Bronx-area.

Before a pitch could even be thrown in the sixth inning, pandemonium ensued when a Yankees fan in the left field bleachers threw a baseball at Alex Verdugo that struck the outfielder on the back.

That sequence, which came as a result of Verdugo attempting to throw the ball he was playing catch with to a Red Sox fan in the stands, led Verdugo to become visibly upset, as he began to charge towards the left field wall in search of the fan who hit him.

Duran and some Red Sox coaches were able to hold Verdugo back, but manager Alex Cora opted to pull his team off the field until things cooled down a bit.

By the time Boston had retaken the field and Sawamura was ready to go, Gary Sanchez greeted the right-handed reliever by crushing a solo home run that just snuck over the right field fence to give New York a 2-1 edge.

Gleyber Torres followed suit by clubbing another solo shot to right field, and the Yankees went up 3-1 over the Red Sox because of it.

Left-hander Josh Taylor was deployed after Sawamura gave up his second homer of the night, and he was able to escape the sixth without giving anything else up.

At that point, though, the volume at which the rain was falling from the sky truly began to pick up, and that led to the tarp coming on the field and another rain delay.

Approximately 52 minutes into said rain delay, the game was called, resulting in a 3-1 win for the Yankees in six innings.

With the loss, the Red Sox drop to 56-37 on the season, though they remain 1 1/2 games up on the Rays for first place in the American League East.

Duran’s debut

In his major-league debut, Duran — starting in center field and batting out of the six-hole — went 1-for-2 with a single, a walk, a strikeout, and one run scored.

Next up: Perez vs. Taillon

The Red Sox will go for the series win over the Yankees in the rubber match of this three-game set on Sunday night.

Left-hander Martin Perez will get the ball for Boston in the finale, while right-hander Jameson Taillon will do the same for New York.

First pitch Sunday is scheduled for 7:08 p.m. eastern time on ESPN.

(Picture of Alex Verdugo: Adam Hunger/Getty Images)

Red Sox outright Austin Brice to Triple-A Worcester after reliever clears waivers, again

After being designated for assignment by the Red Sox on Friday, right-hander Austin Brice has cleared waivers and was subsequently outrighted to Triple-A Worcester, the team announced earlier Saturday afternoon.

Brice, who turned 29 last month, was designated for assignment for a second time this season so that the Sox could make room on both their 26-man and 40-man rosters for outfield prospect Jarren Duran.

The 6-foot-4, 238 pound righty opened the year in Boston’s bullpen for a second straight year, but got off to a rough start in which he posted a 6.94 ERA and .867 OPS over 12 appearances (11 2/3 innings pitched) before getting designated for a first time on May 21.

After clearing waivers, however, Brice was outrighted to Worcester on May 25, and he found success there by pitching to the tune of a 1.20 ERA and .140 batting average against in 12 games (one start) and 15 innings of work.

With that recent run of success in his back pocket, Brice earned a promotion back up to the Red Sox on July 10 and appeared in a game that same day, though he surrendered one run over two innings in an 11-2 loss to the Phillies at Fenway Park.

Coming out of the All-Star break, the Sox decided it was an appropriate time to call up Duran ahead of their series against the Yankees in the Bronx, and that decision ultimately led to Brice losing his spot on the 40-man.

Now that he is back in Worcester, Brice re-joins a WooSox bullpen that includes the likes of Brandon Brennan, Matt Hall, Kevin McCarthy, Phillips Valdez, and Marcus Walden, among others.

If the Red Sox were to call up Brice, who is out of minor-league options, again at some point later this season, they would need to open up a spot on their 40-man roster in order to accommodate him.

(Picture of Austin Brice: Stuart Cahill/MediaNews Group/Boston Herald)

Red Sox sign Clemson University outfielder Kier Meredith

The Red Sox have signed Clemson University outfielder Kier Meredith as an undrafted free agent, Clemson Baseball announced on Thursday.

Meredith, 21, is a redshirt sophomore who spent four years at Clemson after not signing with the Chicago Cubs despite being selected by them in the 28th round of the 2017 amateur draft out of Robert B. Glenn High School (N.C.).

This past spring with the Tigers, the North Carolina native slashed .283/.387/.422 with eight doubles, four triples, three home runs, 25 RBI, 33 runs scored, six stolen bases, 12 walks, and 28 strikeouts over 47 games spanning 218 trips to the plate.

Listed at 5-foot-10 and 200 pounds, Meredith — a left-handed hitter — has experience in both left and center field, though he missed a majority of the 2018 and 2019 campaigns due to a plethora of injuries.

Per his SoxProspects.com scouting report, Meredith “has the speed and defensive profile you look for, but future potential will be determined by how much he hits. Has a knack for getting on base and solid feel at the plate. Strong makeup and work ethic. Strong leadership skills, leaves it all on the field night after night. Type of person every organization strives to have.”

While 15 total stolen bases over 86 career games with Clemson may not seem like much, Meredith is certainly well-known for his speed, as he explained to The Clemson Insider on Thursday.

“First of all speed has always been my best tool so in order for me to have success at the next level I need to utilize that as much as I can,” said Meredith. “I need to continue to develop as a better defender and continue to develop as a better hitter. If I do those three things it will help me have as much success as I’m going to have.”

A three-time ACC Academic Honor Roll member, Meredith graduated from Clemson with a degree in psychology this past May. He will report to the Red Sox’ spring training complex in Fort Myers next week.

At the moment, Meredith is the only confirmed undrafted free-agent the Red Sox have signed thus far, according to Baseball America. Undrafted free-agents can sign with clubs for up to $20,000.

Last year, Boston was one of the more active teams in the UDFA market at the conclusion of the shortened 2020 draft, as they signed a grand total of 16 prospects.

When speaking with reporters earlier this week, Red Sox director of amateur scouting Paul Toboni hinted that the club would once again be right in the thick of things when it came to potentially scooping up those prospects who were passed on during the draft.

“We are going to try to be active to the extent that we can and to the extent that we can accommodate whatever number of players there are,” Toboni said on Tuesday. “We think it’s a really good opportunity to find undervalued players on a market where maybe the value — for whatever reason — might be suppressed a little bit.”

(Picture of Kier Meredith: Dawson Powers/TigerIllustrated.com)

Red Sox acquire pitching prospect Victor Santos from Phillies to complete C.J. Chatham trade

The Red Sox have acquired right-handed pitching prospect Victor Santos from the Phillies to complete the trade that sent infielder C.J. Chatham to Philadelphia.

Boston dealt Chatham to Philadelphia in exchange for a player to be named later back on January 18 in order to clear a spot on their 40-man roster that would later allow them to acquire reliever Adam Ottavino from the Yankees.

As the six-month deadline for both sides to agree on which player the Red Sox would be acquiring was approaching, that PTBNL turns out to be a pitching prospect in the form of Santos.

Santos, who turned 21 on July 12, was originally signed by the Phillies out of the Dominican Republic for $150,000 back in November 2016.

Since that time, the 6-foot-2, 220 pound hurler has risen through the ranks and opened the 2021 minor-league season with High-A Jersey Shore, where he posted a 1.33 ERA and 1.08 WHIP over nine appearances (one start) spanning 20 1/3 innings pitched before earning a promotion to Double-A Reading on June 24.

In four starts with the Fightin Phils, Santos put up a 3.05 ERA, a 3.90 FIP and a strikeout-to-walk ratio of 15:4 over 20 2/3 total innings of work.

Santos’ last outing as a member of the Phillies organization actually came against Double-A Portland this past Wednesday, as the young righty yielded four runs on six hits, one walk, and three strikeouts in five innings against the Sea Dogs in Reading, Pa. on July 14.

Back in early March, FanGraphs’ Eric Longengagen wrote that Santos has “a good changeup” and “slings in average stuff, some of which plays up because of his funky, long arm action. His realistic ceiling is that of a fifth or sixth starter.”

As noted by MassLive.com’s Christopher Smith, Santos has displayed exceptional control over the course of his professional career considering the fact that “he has averaged 8.2 strikeouts and 1.3 walks per nine innings in 254 ⅔ innings in the minors.”

According to his transactions page on MLB.com, Santos has been assigned to Portland, so it’s likely he will join the Sea Dogs’ starting rotation and could, in theory, make his organizational debut at some point next week. We will have to wait and see on that.

(Picture of C.J. Chatham: Miles Kennedy/MLB Photos via Getty Images)

Red Sox top prospect Jarren Duran set to make major-league debut against Gerrit Cole, Yankees on Saturday night

At long last, the day of Jarren Duran’s major-league debut has arrived.

After Thursday’s game was postponed due to COVID-19 issues and a left-handed starter kept him on the bench on Friday, Duran will be starting in center field and batting sixth for the Red Sox in their contest against the Yankees at Yankee Stadium on Saturday night.

Duran, 24, is regarded by Baseball America as the No. 5 prospect in Boston’s farm system, ranking tops among outfielders in the organization.

The California native joined the Sox in the Bronx ahead of what was then their-four-game series against the Yankees earlier this week and was slated to bat seventh in the opener on Thursday, but multiple positive COVID-19 tests from within New York’s clubhouse resulted in the game getting postponed.

That postponement led to Yankees manager Aaron Boone switching things up with his starting rotation, as left-hander Jordan Montgomery was named Friday’s starter as opposed to the right-handed Domingo German.

The move to swap German for Montgomery, which is something Red Sox manager Alex Cora saw coming, led to Duran being left out of Friday’s starting lineup as Boston went with a more right-handed heavy lineup.

With a right-hander slated to start for New York on Friday, though, Duran is finally set to make his highly anticipated big-league debut. The only problem — if you want to call it a problem — is that that right-hander is none other than bona fide ace Gerrit Cole.

Prior to officially getting called up on Friday, Duran appeared in a total of 46 games for Triple-A Worcester this season. In those 48 games, the 6-foot-2, 202 pound left-handed hitter slashed .248/.351/.564 with 12 home runs and 23 RBI in 154 total plate appearances against right-handed pitchers.

While Duran, who turns 25 in September, will be making his first career major-league start, Kiké Hernández will slide over to shortstop in place of Xander Bogaerts, who is out of Saturday’s lineup because he is “dealing with a little bit of wrist soreness.”

Christian Arroyo, meanwhile, gets the start at second base, leaving Bobby Dalbec to round things out at first base.

Nathan Eovaldi will be making his 19th start of the season as the Red Sox (56-36) go for their third straight series victory over the Yankees (46-44) to improve to 8-0 on the year against their division rivals.

First pitch Saturday night is scheduled for 7:15 p.m. eastern time on FOX.

(Picture of Jarren Duran: Julio Aguilar/Getty Images)

Eduardo Rodriguez punches out 8 over 5 2/3 scoreless innings as Red Sox blank Yankees, 4-0; Christian Arroyo, J.D. Martinez both homer in win

A clean-shaven Eduardo Rodriguez led the Red Sox to a 4-0 shutout victory over the Yankees at Yankee Stadium on Friday night.

Rodriguez, making his 18th start of the year for Boston, kicked off the second half of his season with a bang by keeping New York off the scoreboard while scattering just two hits and two walks to go along with eight strikeouts over 5 2/3 solid innings of work.

The left-hander gave up a leadoff single to the very first hitter he faced in D.J. LeMahieu, but nullified it immediately by getting Giancarlo Stanton to ground into a 5-4-3 double play.

After ending the first inning and issuing a leadoff walk to Gary Sanchez to begin things in the second, Rodriguez proceeded to retire the next 11 Yankees who came to the plate against him in consecutive order before walking Chris Gittens on five pitches.

A fielding error committed by Bobby Dalbec allowed Gittens to advance to third, but Rodriguez rebounded by punching out Tim Locastro to retire the side. He then got the first two outs of the seventh rather simply before a two-out double off the bat of Odor marked the end of his evening.

Finishing with a final pitch count of 97 (57 strikes), the 28-year-old hurler was able to improve to 7-5 on the season while lowering his ERA to 5.19, which is the lowest it has been since May 23 (5.06). His next start should come against the Yankees once again again back at Fenway Park on July 22.

In relief of Rodriguez, Hirokazu Sawamura got the first call out of the Red Sox bullpen, and he got out of the sixth by getting Sanchez to ground out to first base.

Houck earns first career save in return

From there, Tanner Houck — fresh off getting recalled from Triple-A Worcester — came on for his first big-league outing in nearly three months.

The 25-year-old right-hander maneuvered his way around a two-out walk and single in an otherwise clean bottom half of the seventh, tossed a scoreless eighth inning, and shut the door on the Yankees in the ninth to preserve the 4-0 win for his side and pick up the first save of his career.

Houck is now lined up to start against the Blue Jays in Buffalo next Wednesday, July 21.

Arroyo and Martinez power Red Sox offense

On the other side of things, the Jarren Duran-less Red Sox were matched up against Yankees left-hander Jordan Montgomery to begin things on Friday.

After going down in order in the first, a leadoff walk drawn by Xander Bogaerts set the tone for the Sox in the second.

That being the case because Rafael Devers followed by ripping a double off Montgomery to put runners in scoring position, which allowed Hunter Renfroe to bring in a run on an RBI groundout to shortstop to give Boston an early 1-0 lead.

A flyout from Christian Vazquez brought Montgomery within one out of escaping the inning, but Christian Arroyo would not let the southpaw off that easily, as he took a 2-1, 82 mph changeup on the outer half of the plate and crushed it 409 feet to the opposite field for his sixth home run of the season.

Arroyo’s two-run blast put the Red Sox up 3-0, but Montgomery held his own from there, and it was not until their half of the eighth when the Boston bats got going again.

There, facing off against Yankees reliever Justin Wilson with two outs in the inning, J.D. Martinez deposited an 0-2, 94 mph fastball 391 feet to right-center field for his 19th big fly of the year.

In addition to picking up his 19th homer, Martinez also extended his on-base streak to 29 consecutive games dating back to June 10.

On Martinez’s solo shot, the Red Sox jumped out to a commanding 4-0 lead over the Yankees, which would go on to be Friday’s final score.

7-0 vs. NYY

With the victory, the Sox put an end to a mini two-game skid to improve to 56-36 on the season while also maintaining a 1 1/2 game lead over the Rays for first place in the American League East.

They are now a perfect 7-0 against the Yankees this year.

Next up: Eovaldi vs. Cole

Saturday’s pitching matchup between the Red Sox and Yankees will feature a pair of All-Stars going at it, with right-hander Nathan Eovaldi getting the ball for Boston and fellow righty Gerrit Cole doing the same for New York.

In sending Eovaldi to the mound, the Red Sox will look to secure their third straight series victory over the Yankees.

First pitch Saturday is scheduled for 7:15 p.m. eastern time on FOX.

(Picture of Eduardo Rodriguez: Adam Hunger/Getty Images)