Red Sox acquire two-time Gold Glove winner Tyler O’Neill from Cardinals

The Red Sox have acquired two-time Gold Glove Award-winning outfielder Tyler O’Neill from the Cardinals in exchange for right-handers Nick Robertson and Victor Santos, the club announced earlier Friday evening.

O’Neill, 28, was limited to just 72 games with the Cardinals this past season after spending time on the 60-day injured list with a lower back strain and the 10-day injured list with a right foot sprain. When healthy, the right-handed hitter batted .231/.312/.403 with 14 doubles, nine home runs, 21 RBIs, 27 runs scored, five stolen bases, 28 walks, and 67 strikeouts over 266 plate appearances.

As a two-time Gold Glove Award winner, O’Neill carries with him an impressive defensive pedigree. While he has experience at all three outfield spots, the 5-foot-11, 200-pounder saw the majority of his playing time this year come in left, where he recorded five assists and one defensive runs saved over 441 2/3 innings. He also logged 93 innings in center but did grade as well there.

A native Canadian who represented his country in this spring’s World Baseball Classic, O’Neill was originally selected by the Mariners in the third round of the 2013 amateur draft out of Garibaldi Secondary School in Maple Ridge, British Columbia. The one-time Oregon State commit established himself as one of the top prospects in Seattle’s farm system before being traded to St. Louis for left-hander Marco Gonzales in July 2017. He then broke in with the Cardinals the following April.

Since debuting for St. Louis at the onset of the 2018 season, O’Neill has shown flashes of his potential but has simultaneously struggled to stay on the field. After being limited to 61 games in 2018 and 60 games in 2019, O’Neill appeared in 50 of 60 games during the COVID-shortened 2020 campaign and took home his first of two straight Gold Gloves. In 2021, he broke out to the tune of a .286/.352/.560 slash line with a career-high 34 home runs and 80 RBIs over a career-high 138 games played, which netted him an eighth-place finish in National League MVP Award voting.

Unfortunately, O’Neill has not been able to build off the success he enjoyed in 2021. Last year, he posted a .700 OPS in 96 games while missing time with a right shoulder impingement and a left hamstring strain. To go along with additional injury trouble this year, he was called out by Cardinals manager Oli Marmol in early April for a perceived lack of hustle on the base paths. O’Neill pushed back on that notion, but it appears as though that marked the beginning of the end as far as his time in St. Louis was concerned.

All told, O’Neill is a lifetime .248/.318/.458 hitter with 67 doubles, three triples, 78 home runs, 217 RBIs, 239 runs scored, 40 stolen bases, 136 walks, and 491 strikeouts in 477 career games (1,636 plate appearances) at the major-league level. He has accrued 24 defensive runs saved over 2,856 2/3 career innings in left field, negative-two defensive runs saved over 303 2/3 career innings in center, and two defensive runs saved over 151 2/3 career innings in right.

O’Neill, who turns 29 in June, can become eligible for free agency after the 2024 season and is projected by MLB Trade Rumors to earn $5.5 million in his final year of arbitration eligibility. The Red Sox believe O’Neill is capable of playing all over the outfield, according to MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo. More importantly, he hits from the right side of the plate, which is a quality chief baseball officer Craig Breslow and Co. have been in search of this winter given the club’s abundance of left-handed hitting outfielders (Wilyer Abreu, Jarren Duran, and Masataka Yoshida) even after trading away Alex Verdugo earlier this week.

Whether O’Neill emerges as a regular in Alex Cora’s lineup or is used as more of a platoon option will likely depend on how the rest of the offseason plays out for Boston. Regardless, O’Neill — who possesses plus arm strength and speed — joins an outfield mix that currently includes the aforementioned Abreu, Duran, and Yoshida as well the right-handed hitting Ceddanne Rafaela and Rob Refsnyder.

As for who the Red Sox parted ways with in this deal, Robertson was one of two pitchers Boston had acquired from the Dodgers for Enrique Hernandez back in late July. After debuting for Los Angeles the month prior, the 25-year-old righty appeared in nine games for the Sox and flashed intriguing stuff in spite of allowing nine runs (eight earned) in 12 innings of work. He has two minor-league options remaining.

Santos, meanwhile, did not pitch for a minor-league affiliate in 2023 due to an elbow injury but has since returned to action in the Dominican Summer League. Entering play on Friday, the 23-year-old righty has pitched to a 2.96 ERA and 1.28 WHIP with 23 strikeouts to six walks in seven outings (five starts) spanning 27 1/3 innings for the Leones del Escogido. He can become eligible for minor-league free agency at the end of the 2024 season.

Following Friday’s trade, the Red Sox now have 38 players on their 40-man roster.

(Picture of Tyler O’Neill: Rich Schultz/Getty Images)

Red Sox lose versatile prospect with intriguing profile to Cardinals in minor-league phase of Rule 5 Draft

Of the three position players the Red Sox lost in the minor-league phase of Wednesday’s Rule 5 Draft, Johnfrank Salazar — who was scooped up by the Cardinals — may have the highest ceiling.

Salazar originally signed with the Red Sox for $400,000 as an international free agent coming out of Venezuela in August 2019. The Barcelona native came into the 2023 season ranked by SoxProspects.com as the No. 37 prospect in Boston’s farm system.

Despite making his way to Low-A Salem last year, Salazar began his season in the rookie-level Florida Complex League. That likely had something to do with the fact that the Red Sox were working on converting the 20-year-old infielder into a catcher.

Having already faced FCL competition in 2022, Salazar unsurprisingly batted a stout .374/.408/.593 with 11 doubles, three home runs, 20 RBIs, 22 runs scored, two stolen bases, five walks, and 12 strikeouts in 25 games (103 plate appearances) for Boston’s Fort Myers-based affiliate. The right-handed hitter then earned another promotion to Salem in late July and slashed .228/.307/.374 with three doubles, five homers, 17 runs driven in, 13 runs scored, 14 walks, and 22 strikeouts in 34 games (137 plate appearances) for the Red Sox.

While a .681 OPS is certainly far from eye-opening, Salazar was at least able to end the 2023 campaign on a strong note by batting .304/.385/.464 with two doubles, three homers, 10 RBIs, seven runs scored, nine walks, and 12 strikeouts in his final 18 games (78 plate appearances) of the year.

Among the 171 hitters in the Carolina League who made at least 130 trips to the plate this past season, Salazar most notably ranked 14th in strikeout rate (16.1 percent), 47th in isolated power (.146), and 61st in line-drive rate (22.2 percent), per FanGraphs. He also produced a 49.5 percent pull rate, indicating that he makes plenty of contact.

As noted in his SoxProspects.com scouting report, though, Salazar rarely misses pitches in the strike zone but still “needs to improve his pitch recognition and quality of contact.” That being the case because he “gets caught out in front too easily by secondary pitches” and “has the tendency to get himself out” as a result.

On the other side of the ball, Salazar made his professional debut as a shortstop in the Dominican Summer League two years ago but has since diversified his defensive profile. In 2022, for instance, the 6-foot-1, 159-pounder started games at all four infield positions. This past season, he started four games at catcher in the FCL and threw out two of seven would-be base stealers while allowing two passed balls. According to SoxProspects.com’s director of scouting Ian Cundall, Salazar mainly played first base, second base, and third base upon moving up to Salem because of his struggles behind the plate. At the Red Sox’ fall performance program in September, he was treated as a super-utility player.

To that end, it remains to be seen how the Cardinals will utilize Salazar moving forward. Salazar, who does not turn 21 until next August, had been projected by SoxProspects.com to return to Salem in 2024, so he could be headed for St. Louis’ Low-A affiliate in Palm Beach, Fla. when the minor-league season begins in April.

Salazar is the older brother of Kleyver Salazar, a 17-year-old catcher who signed with the Red Sox for $175,000 back in January. A right-handed hitter like his big brother, Kleyver batted .240/.378/.347 with one home run and 18 RBIs in 36 games (151 plate appearances) for Boston’s DSL Blue affiliate. He put up those numbers while gunning down 20 of 55 potential base stealers.

(Picture of Johnfrank Salazar: Kelly O’Connor/sittingstill.smugmug.com)

Red Sox add catcher with local connections from Yankees system in minor-league phase of Rule 5 Draft

The Red Sox added catcher/first baseman Mickey Gasper from the Yankees in the minor-league phase of Wednesday’s Rule 5 Draft. He has been assigned to Triple-A Worcester.

Gasper, 28, spent the last five seasons in the Yankees organization after originally being selected by New York in the 27th round of the 2018 amateur draft out of Bryant University in Smithfield, R.I. As a senior, the Merrimack, N.H. native signed with the club for just $5,000 and made his professional debut in the rookie-level Appalachian League that June.

Never touted as a top prospect in New York’s farm system, Gasper split the 2023 campaign between Double-A Somerset (where he caught Richard Fitts) and Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. In 52 games with the Patriots, the switch-hitter batted .269/.388/.423 with six doubles, six home runs, 24 RBIs, 30 runs scored, eight stolen bases, 26 walks, and 27 strikeouts over 188 plate appearances. With the RailRiders, he slashed .191/.295/.265 with two doubles, one homer, four runs driven in, seven runs scored, two stolen bases, eight walks, and 16 strikeouts across 22 games spanning 78 trips to the plate.

On the other side of the ball, Gasper has varying levels of experience at four different defensive positions. As a catcher this past season, the 5-foot-9, 205-pound backstop threw out three of 30 potential base stealers while logging 91 total innings behind the plate. He also appeared in 26 games as a first baseman, 16 as a second baseman, and one as a third baseman.

Gasper, who does not turn 29 until next October, becomes the latest ex-Yankees farmhand to join the Red Sox via the minor-league phase of the Rule 5 Draft. He will look to join right-handers Kaleb Ort and Raynel Espinal as those in that group who made their respective big-league debuts with Boston.

While the Red Sox welcomed Gasper to the organization, they also bid adieu to several of their own players in the minor-league phase of the Rule 5 Draft on Wednesday. Ryan Fitzgerald, a fan favorite in Worcester, was most notably plucked by the Royals while Jose Ramirez (White Sox), Johnfrank Salazar (Cardinals), Alexis Hernandez (Blue Jays), Railin Perez (Astros), Ryan Miller (Angels), and Brock Bell (Reds) were all scooped up by other clubs as well.

(Picture of Mickey Gasper: Erica Denhoff/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Newest Red Sox pitching prospect Richard Fitts was named 2023 Eastern League Pitcher of the Year

Richard Fitts, one of the newest members of the Red Sox organization, is coming off a very impressive 2023 season.

One of three pitchers acquired from the Yankees in Tuesday night’s Alex Verdugo trade, Fitts earned Pitcher of the Year honors in the Eastern League after putting up solid numbers for New York’s Double-A affiliate in Somerset, N.J. In a team-leading 27 starts for the Patriots, the 23-year-old right-hander went 13-5 with a 3.48 ERA and 163 strikeouts to 43 walks over 152 2/3 innings of work.

Among 14 qualified pitchers in the Eastern League this year, Fitts ranked sixth in strikeouts per nine innings (9.61) and strikeout rate (25.9 percent), second in walks per nine innings (2.53), walk rate (6.8 percent), and batting average against (.227), first in WHIP (1.14), fifth in swinging-strike rate (13.1 percent) and FIP (3.92), third in ERA, and fourth in xFIP (3.55), per FanGraphs.

Fitts, who turns 24 later this month, was originally selected by the Yankees in the sixth round of the 2021 amateur draft out of Auburn, where he was teammates with Red Sox draftees Hayden Mullins and Tyler Miller. The Alabama native had briefly pitched for the Wareham Gatemen of the Cape Cod Baseball League prior to being drafted and later signed with New York for $346,800. He took the rest of the year off and then made his professional debut at the Low-A level last April.

Between Low-A Tampa and High-A Hudson Valley last year, Fitts forged a 3.70 ERA and 3.52 FIP with 131 strikeouts to 20 walks across 22 starts (112 innings). He was recognized by MiLB.com as an organizational All-Star and came into the 2023 campaign ranked by Baseball America as the No. 19 prospect in the Yankees’ farm system. At that time, his scouting report read, in part:

“The improvement [from Low-A to High-A in 2022] was due in large part to a delivery alteration that allowed him to keep his front side firm so he could better drive the ball down in the zone. The change also helped his velocity increase and made his slider sharper. His four-seamer sat around 93 mph, touched 96 and posted an excellent average spin rate of 2,439 rpms. Fitts backed the four-seamer with his typical nasty slider, which sat in the low 80s and peaked at 88 while flashing plus potential. He rounds out his arsenal with a high-80s changeup that could get to average with increased usage.”

Following Tuesday’s four-player trade between the Red Sox and Yankees, Fitts is now regarded by another prominent publication in MLB Pipeline as the No. 10 prospect in Boston’s farm system. That ranks second among pitchers in the organization behind only fellow righty Wikelman Gonzalez.

Per his MLB Pipeline scouting report, the 6-foot-3, 230-pound hurler “shows the potential for two plus pitches that have intriguing metrics. His 91-97 mph four-seam fastball features natural cutting and riding action, as well as quality induced vertical break that gives it tremendous carry up in the zone, while his 83-86 slider features the big sweep that the Yankees covet. He also can turn his slider into a harder cutter and occasionally will use an upper-80s two-seamer to give hitters a different look.

“Fitts doesn’t completely trust his fading mid-80s changeup, which shows promise but also needs more work,” it continues. “He has a sound arm action and a delivery that he repeats well, allowing him to pound the strike zone and average just 2.1 walks per nine innings in his first two years as a pro. The next step toward becoming a possible mid-rotation starter will be refining his command because he’s hittable when he doesn’t locate his pitches well.”

Fitts has been assigned to Double-A Portland for the time being but should be a candidate to start the 2024 season out with Triple-A Worcester depending on how things shake out the rest of the winter and into the spring. He can become eligible for next year’s Rule 5 Draft if he is not added to Boston’s 40-man roster by the protection deadline in November.

In addition to Fitts, the Red Sox also acquired righties Greg Weissert and Nicholas Judice from the Yankees on Tuesday night. While Weissert has major-league experience as a reliever, Judice has yet to throw a professional pitch after being drafted by New York in the eighth round out of Louisiana-Monroe this past June.

(Picture of Richard Fitts courtesy of the Somerset Patriots)

Red Sox pitching prospect Hunter Dobbins knows how to control the zone

Which pitching prospect within the Red Sox organization possesses the best control? According to one prominent publication, it’s Hunter Dobbins.

The Boston Globe’s Alex Speier, who compiles the Red Sox’ organizational rankings for Baseball America, recently identified Dobbins as having the best control of any Boston pitching prospect heading into 2024.

Dobbins ended the 2023 season ranked by Baseball America as the No. 30 prospect (ninth among pitchers) in Boston’s farm system after going 9-6 with a 3.67 ERA and 122 strikeouts to 31 walks in 20 appearances (19 starts) spanning 112 2/3 innings between High-A Greenville and Double-A Portland.

Though his season debut was delayed until early May, Dobbins fared quite well with Greenville. The 24-year-old right-hander forged a respectable 2.63 ERA (2.49 FIP) with 44 strikeouts to just five walks in seven starts (41 innings) for the Drive. He held opposing hitters to a .222 batting average against during that stretch and was then rewarded with a promotion to Portland in late June.

Facing more advanced competition in the Eastern League, Dobbins initially got off a to a rough start, struggling to a 5.70 ERA in his first seven outings (36 1/3 innings) for the Sea Dogs before settling in some as the calendar flipped from August to September. Altogether, the righty produced a 4.27 ERA (3.76 FIP) with 78 strikeouts to 26 walks in 13 appearances (12 starts, 71 2/3 innings) for Portland to close out the 2023 campaign.

One of eight Red Sox minor-leaguers to eclipse the century mark in total innings pitched this year, Dobbins led that group in walks per nine innings (2.48), walk rate (6.6 percent), and FIP (3.30). He also ranked second in xFIP (3.69) and WHIP (1.19), third in ERA, ground-ball rate (44.1 percent) and swinging-strike rate (14.9 percent), fourth in line-drive rate (19.1 percent), and fifth in strikeouts per nine innings (9.75), strikeout rate (26.1 percent), and batting average against (.240), per FanGraphs.

Dobbins was originally selected by Boston in the eighth round of the 2021 amateur draft out of Texas Tech. At the time he signed with the club for $197,500, though, the former Red Raider was recovering from Tommy John surgery that came as a result of a UCL injury suffered during a preseason scrimmage earlier that spring. As such, he did not make his professional debut until last June with Low-A Salem, where he pitched to a 5.22 ERA over 17 starts and 69 innings of work.

Now standing at 6-foot-2 and 185 pounds, Dobbins throws from a high-three-quarters arm slot and — according to his SoxProspects.com scouting report — operates with a four-pitch mix that consists of a 92-95 mph fastball that tops out at 97 mph, an 84-90 mph slider that “improved considerably” in 2023, an 81-85 mph splitter that evolved from a previously-used changeup, and a 76-82 mph curveball that features long, 12-to-6 break.

Dobbins, who does not turn 24 until next August, is projected to return to Portland’s rotation for the start of the 2024 season. Assuming he remains in the organization through the winter, the Lone Star State native could be a beneficiary of the Red Sox implementing new strategies when it comes to developing pitching under chief baseball officer Craig Breslow.

(Picture of Hunter Dobbins: Kelly O’Connor/sittingstill.smugmug.com)

Red Sox infield prospect Franklin Arias has the makings of a ‘true shortstop’

The Red Sox had a number of young, international prospects make their respective professional debuts in the Dominican Summer League this past season, including infielder Franklin Arias.

Arias, who just turned 18 last month, signed with Boston for $525,000 coming out of Venezuela back in January. In May, Ben Badler of Baseball America noted that the Caracas native was a “high baseball IQ player with good rhythm at the plate” and “easy arm strength” on the field.

Nearly four months after putting pen to paper, Arias debuted for DSL Red Sox Red on June 18. The right-handed hitter immediately made his impact felt by going 4-for-5 out of the leadoff spot with two RBIs, one run scored, and one walk in an 11-9 victory over DSL Tigers 1.

Arias recorded two more four-hit games in June (the first of which he notched his first pro home run) before cooling off to the tune of a .191/.261/.262 slash line in 12 July contests. He then ended the year on a strong note by going 14-for-34 (.412) with five extra-base hits in August.

All told, Arias batted a stout .350/.440/.453 with nine doubles, one triple, one home run, 15 runs driven in, a team-high 32 runs scored, three stolen bases, 19 walks, and 14 strikeouts in 37 games (159 plate appearances) for Boston’s DSL Red affiliate. Going even deeper, Arias posted a 1.036 OPS against lefties and an .854 OPS against righties.

Among the 276 hitters in the Dominican Summer League who registered at least 150 plate appearances this season, Arias ranked fifth in strikeout rate (8.8 percent), fourth in batting average, 24th in on-base percentage, 57th in slugging percentage, 37th in OPS (.893), 57th in line-drive rate (23.3 percent), 12th in swinging-strike rate (14.8 percent), and 33rd in wRC+ (144), per FanGraphs.

On the other side of the ball, Arias saw all of his playing time on the field this summer come at shortstop. The 5-foot-11, 170-pounder logged a team-leading 260 1/3 innings at the position, committing nine errors in 121 chances (.926 fielding percentage) while also turning 16 double plays.

Arias, who was not ranked by SoxProspects.com at the start of the minor-league season in April, is now regarded by the site as the No. 30 prospect in Boston’s farm system. Similarly enough, MLB Pipeline currently has Arias ranked 28th on its Red Sox-centered top prospects list.

The Boston Globe’s Alex Speier, who compiles the Red Sox’ organizational rankings for Baseball America, unsurprisingly excluded Arias from his preseason top-10 list heading into 2024. He did, however, have encouraging things to say about Arias in a virtual chat with BA subscribers on Friday.

“Yeah, he’ll start to get attention next year,” Speier wrote of Arias. “There’s a strong consensus that he’s a true shortstop, with enough bat-to-ball that he should have some offensive value. His physical development will determine how much, but he has an unusually clear path to being a big-leaguer for someone who has yet to play in the United States.”

To that end, Arias is projected by SoxProspects.com to make the jump to the States and play in the rookie-level Florida Complex League next season. As things stand now, he would seemingly be in a competition for playing time at shortstop with top prospect and fellow 2023 international signee Yoeilin Cespedes.

Of course, the Red Sox will more than likely find a way to accommodate both infielders so they each get plenty of at-bats in Fort Myers. Still, this can be viewed as a good problem to have if it means one or both of Arias and Cespedes get exposure at a new position next year.

(Picture of JetBlue Park: Billie Weiss/Boston Red Sox/Getty Images)

Red Sox bring back Wyatt Mills on two-year minor-league deal

The Red Sox brought back injured reliever Wyatt Mills on a minor-league contract last week, per the club’s transactions log. It is a two-year deal that will cover the 2024 and 2025 seasons, according to MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo.

Mills, who turns 29 in January, was non-tendered by Boston earlier this month after not pitching at all this past season. The right-hander was originally acquired from the Royals for relief prospect Jacob Wallace last December and was expected to compete for a spot in the Sox’ Opening Day bullpen out of spring training.

After allowing just one earned run and striking out 10 over six innings his first four appearances of the spring, Mills was shelled for four runs on four hits, one walk, and two hit batsman in the sixth inning of a 16-3 Grapefruit League loss to the Blue Jays in Dunedin on March 13. He was then shut down to to an elbow issue and opened the season on the injured list.

Despite trying to rehab the injury, Mills ultimately underwent Tommy John surgery in early July. As a result, he will miss most — if not all — of the 2024 season, but the structure of his new contract allows the Red Sox to oversee his rehab and the potential benefits that come with it once he is presumably healthy in 2025.

Mills, a former third-round draft pick of the Mariners out of Gonzaga in 2017, first broke in with Seattle in May 2021 and was then traded to Kansas City last June. Between the two stops, the Washington state native owns a 6.21 ERA (but much more encouraging 3.84 FIP) with 37 strikeouts to 20 walks in 38 relief appearances (42 innings) at the big-league level.

As MassLive.com’s Christopher Smith noted earlier this summer, the Red Sox were intrigued by Mills because of how his profile mirrors that of fellow side-winder John Schreiber. Like Schreiber, Mills throws from a lower arm angle and operates with a three-pitch mix that consists of a four-seam fastball, a slider, and a sinker. He had also been planning on adding a changeup to his arsenal before going under the knife.

While proceeding with his rehab moving forward, Mills will remain in the Red Sox organization without occupying a spot on the club’s 40-man roster.

(Picture of Wyatt Mills: Doug Murray/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Red Sox sign former Mariners pitching prospect Jorge Benitez to minor-league deal

The Red Sox have signed free agent left-hander Jorge Benitez to a minor-league contract, per MiLB Central on X/Twitter. The deal comes with an invitation to major-league spring training.

Benitez, 24, was originally selected by the Mariners in the ninth round of the 2017 amateur draft out of Leadership Christian Academy in Puerto Rico. The San Juan native signed with Seattle for $150,000 and made his professional debut in the rookie-level Arizona League that June.

After splitting the 2022 campaign between Low-A Modesto and High-A Everett, Benitez earned All-Star honors in the Arizona Fall League while forging a 2.08 ERA in nine appearances (13 innings) for the Peoria Javelinas. The lefty then broke camp with Everett this past spring before receiving a promotion to Double-A Arkansas in late April.

With the Travelers, Benitez posted a 2.14 ERA and 4.24 FIP with 74 strikeouts to 39 walks across 40 outings (59 innings) out of the bullpen. He also converted his lone save opportunity on the year while holding opposing hitters to a miniscule .190 batting average against.

Among the 92 Texas League pitchers who accrued 50 or more innings this season, Benitez ranked 17th in strikeouts per nine innings (11.29), 21st in strikeout rate (28.6 percent), fifth in opponents’ batting average, first in line-drive rate (14.4 percent), 16th in groundball rate (47 percent), 20th in swinging-strike rate (14.4 percent), third in ERA, and 29th in FIP, per FanGraphs.

While the punchout numbers and the like are certainly encouraging, Benitez also ranked 86th in walks per nine innings (5.95), 86th in walk rate (15.1 percent), and 59th in xFIP (4.92) when using those same parameters. That in itself suggests that the southpaw has had some issues when it comes to his command of the strike zone.

As Baseball America’s Kyle Glaser noted back in March, Benitez “annihilates left-handed batters with a 90-93 mph fastball from a low arm slot and a high-spin curveball in the mid 70s.” The 6-foot-2 hurler’s “tough angle also plays against righties and gives him a chance to be a low-leverage reliever.”

Benitez, who does not turn 25 until next June, is the second notable young lefty to sign a minors pact with the Red Sox this month, joining ex-Rockies prospect Helcris Olivarez. Like Olivarez, Benitez figures to provide Boston with high-upside pitching depth from the left side at Triple-A Worcester in 2024.

In the meantime, Benitez has been pitching for the Criollos de Caguas of the Puerto Rican Winter League this winter. Coming into play on Friday, he had yet to allow a run through his first six appearances (7 2/3 innings) of the season for the club.

(Picture of Jorge Benitez: John E. Moore III/Getty Images)

Former Red Sox infielder Deven Marrero shares spicy anecdote from 2017 about ghost peppers, sushi

Six years ago this past May, several members of the 2017 Red Sox went out for dinner in downtown Chicago after suffering a series-opening loss to the White Sox in a Memorial Day matinee at Guaranteed Rate Field.

The restaurant they went to, which based off a quick Google search is more than likely Sunda New Asian on West Illinois Street, serves a unique sushi dish called “The Gambler.” According to the establishment’s menu, this offering features spicy tuna, kani, cucumber, scallion, kampyo, avocado, and ghost pepper sambal, which is extremely spicy.

What makes this dish so risky? Well, as former Red Sox infielder Deven Marrero explained in a recent Instagram post, only two of the 12 pieces served actually contained the ghost pepper sambal. Since it was done randomly, though, each member of Boston’s contingent was at slight risk of consuming the peppery morsel.

“It was me, Mookie [Betts], [Jackie Bradley Jr.], [Chris Young], [Brock Holt], [David Price], [Joe Kelly], [Andrew Benintendi], and a couple other guys,” Marrero recalled. “The sushi restaurant that we were at had a Russian roulette-style game that you could play. They give you 12 pieces of sushi, but two of them both have ghost pepper in it.

“Ghost pepper is the third-spiciest pepper in the world,” he continued. “We played one round. Everybody was nervously chewing until Brock Star and C.Y. got up out of their chairs and started going crazy because they got it. We thought it was over and dodged a bullet, until Joe Kelly steps up and says, ‘Hey man, we’re a team. We all got to take one.’ We did. We had big plans, but that ended our night pretty much on the spot. Everyone spent the rest of the night chugging milk.”

The following afternoon, Marrero and Co. arrived at the ballpark and were expectedly feeling uneasy as a result of the previous night’s endeavors.

“The trainer was running low on [Pepto Bismol], because that’s all we all asked for,” said Marrero. “We were all kind of worried about how the game was going to go.”

As it turns out, though, the Red Sox lineup overshadowed Chris Sale’s return to the South Side that fateful Tuesday night by homering six times as part of 13-7 win over the White Sox. Marrero went 2-for-5 with a pair of early home runs and five RBIs, marking the first and only multi-homer game of his big-league career. Betts and Bradley Jr. also went deep, as did Xander Bogaerts and Mitch Moreland

“Sure enough, everyone who ate the ghost pepper homered that day,” Marrero said. “To this day, this group identifies itself as the Ghost Pepper Boys.”

Marrero, now 33, appeared in a career-high 71 games for the Red Sox in 2017 and batted .211/.259/.333 with nine doubles, four homers, 27 RBIs, 32 runs scored, five stolen bases, 12 walks, and 61 strikeouts. The former 24th overall pick out of Arizona State was then traded to the Diamondbacks for a player to be named later the following March.

That player turned out to be lefty reliever Josh Taylor, who debuted for Boston in May 2019. Marrero, meanwhile, spent the 2018 campaign with Arizona and then signed a minor-league deal with his hometown Marlins that December. The Miami-area native appeared in five games in 2019 and — after not playing at all in 2020 — got into 10 more games for the Fish in 2021 despite being designated for assignment on five separate occasions.

Last April, Marrero signed with the Long Island Ducks of the independent Atlantic League. He spent two months with the club before joining the Mets organization on a minors pact in late June. The right-handed hitter was called up by New York twice, but he received just six plate appearances before again being designated and outrighted off the 40-man roster in September. He elected free agency shortly thereafter but did not sign with a team at any point during the 2023 season.

(Picture of Deven Marrero: Quinn Harris/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Red Sox sign former Rockies pitching prospect Helcris Olivarez to minor-league deal

The Red Sox have signed former Rockies pitching prospect Helcris Olivarez to a minor-league contract, per the club’s transactions log. The deal comes with an invitation to major-league spring training, according to Ari Alexander of Houston’s KPRC 2.

Olivarez, 23, spent the first seven-plus years of his professional career in the Rockies organization after originally signing with the club for $77,000 as an international free agent coming out of the Dominican Republic in August 2016. The left-hander debuted in the Dominican Summer League the following June and spent parts of three seasons in rookie ball through the end of 2019.

While the 2020 minor-league season was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Olivarez impressed at Colorado’s alternate training site and fall instructional league. The Rockies then added the lefty to their 40-man roster that November in order to protect him from the Rule 5 Draft.

Olivarez came into the 2021 campaign ranked by Baseball America as the No. 11 prospect in Colorado’s farm system. But he struggled in his first taste of full-season ball, posting a 6.05 ERA (5.71 FIP) with 112 strikeouts to 68 walks in 22 appearances (21 starts) spanning 99 2/3 innings of work for High-A Spokane. As such, he fell four spots to No. 15 in the system entering 2022.

At that time, Baseball America described Olivarez’s raw stuff as “electric,” noting that the 6-foot-2, 192-pounder “has easy fastball velocity up to 100 mph and usually sits in the high 90s. But his command is questionable and his off-speed pitches need honing, with an average changeup and a curveball that can be flat. Cleaning up and simplifying his delivery will help him achieve the release-point consistency needed to become a bona fide starter. He already creates uncomfortable at-bats from either side, but to complement his plus heat, Olivarez needs to keep a better lid on his emotions on the mound.”

Unfortunately, Olivarez ran into injury troubles last year. He opened the season on Double-A Albuquerque’s injured list and was then transferred to the Rockies’ 60-day injured list with a left shoulder strain in late May. After making one two-inning rehab start for Colorado’s Arizona Complex League affiliate in mid-July, Olivarez was ultimately shut down and later underwent major shoulder capsule surgery.

The Rockies waived and outrighted Olivarez off their 40-man roster right around this time a year ago. He remained in the organization but did not pitch in any organized games this past season. As noted by MLB.com’s Thomas Harding, though, Olivarez returned to action this fall by pitching in a couple of instructional league games and impressed while flashing 93-96 mph with his fastball.

Olivarez, who does not turn 24 until next August, provides the pitching-needy Red Sox with an intriguing left-handed arm who was once viewed as a standout prospect. It remains to be seen if the club views Olivarez as a starter or reliever moving forward, but the southpaw nonetheless possesses tantalizing stuff and — if healthy — could make his impact felt at the big-league level next season.

(Picture of Helcris Olivarez: Rob Leiter/MLB Photos via Getty Images)