Tag: alex cora

How Red Sox plan on using rookie catcher Connor Wong in prospect’s first big-league stint

With Kevin Plawecki hitting the 10-day injured list due to a left hamstring strain, the Red Sox recalled top catching prospect Connor Wong from Triple-A Worcester to fill in for the veteran backstop for the time being.

While Wong is not in Boston’s starting lineup for Tuesday night’s series opener against the Rays at Tropicana Field, the Sox are planning on using the young catcher while he is up with the big-league club.

As a matter of fact, Wong will make his first start behind the plate in Sunday’s series finale against the Yankees at Fenway Park, according to Red Sox manager Alex Cora — though he could see some playing time in the infield before then considering he has professional experience at both second and third base.

“We’ll use him just like Kevin [Plawecki],” Cora said of Wong. “The plan is for him to start on Sunday… Where we’re at, Christian [Arroyo], as you know, is banged up. We’ll stay away from him today, most likely. In case of an emergency, we’ll move him out there. He can pinch-run, he’s a right-handed bat. As of now, just kind of like Kevin. Use him that way.”

Wong, who turned 25 last month, was one of three players (Alex Verdugo and Jeter Downs being the other two) the Red Sox acquired from the Dodgers as part of the blockbuster trade that sent Mookie Betts and David Price to Los Angeles last February.

Although he did not get the chance to display his skills in a truly competitive environment last year on account of the COVID-19 pandemic cancelling the 2020 minor-league season, Wong did impress at the alternate training site, and he carried that over into his second big-league camp with the Sox this spring after being added to the club’s 40-man roster this past November.

“I do believe the people that saw him last year and the people that are working with him this year, they’re very comfortable with him. I’m very comfortable,” said Cora. “We talked a little bit in spring training. There’s just something about him. There’s a calm behind the plate. There’s not a lot of emotion, he just goes about his business. He’s a good athlete. His at-bats in spring training, he controlled the strike zone, which is very important. We’re very pleased with his progress.”

A former third-round draft selection of the Dodgers out of the University of Houston in 2017, the 6-foot-1, 181 pound backstop opened the 2021 minor-league season with Triple-A Pawtucket having only played 40 career games above the High-A level.

Due to a hamstring injury suffered in early May, however, Wong has been limited to just 16 games with the WooSox and is only slashing .148/.188/.245 with three doubles, one home run, seven RBI, five runs scored, three walks, and 19 strikeouts over his first 64 plate appearances at Triple-A. Those offensive struggles do not seem to concern Cora, though.

“He hasn’t swung the bat well since he came off the IL, but that doesn’t matter,” Cora said. “We like the player, we know what we can do. And hopefully here, working with [hitting coach Tim Hyers and assistant hitting coach Peter Fatse] — obviously with the feedback from [WooSox hitting coach Rich Gedman] down there — just working on the things that he has to work, and he’ll put together a good at-bat whenever we need him.”

Wong will become the second player in Red Sox history to don the No. 74, joining former left-hander Mike Kickham in doing so.

(Picture of Connor Wong: Billie Weiss/Boston Red Sox/Getty Images)

Red Sox ace Chris Sale slated to face live hitters at Fenway Park this weekend

Red Sox ace Chris Sale is slated to take another important step on his road back from Tommy John surgery.

The left-hander is slated to face live hitters for the first time since undergoing the procedure this coming Saturday at Fenway Park, Sox manager Alex Cora announced prior to Tuesday’s game against the Rays at Tropicana Field.

Sale, who was with the team during their latest homestand earlier this month, has been getting work in with some of the club’s affiliates since they hit the road last Monday.

On Friday, the 32-year-old hurler tossed a 45-pitch bullpen session at Triple-A Worcester’s Polar Park. On Tuesday, he threw another 45 pitches during a bullpen session on the mound at Double-A Portland’s Hadlock Field.

Per the Portland Press Herald’s Kevin Thomas, Sale threw to hitters, though they were not swinging, while mixing in all his pitches and topping out at 92 mph with his fastball over the course of two simulated innings.

Sale underwent Tommy John surgery on March 30, 2020 — his 31st birthday — so it goes without saying that the seven-time All-Star is inching closer and closer towards a rehab assignment, with him facing live hitters for the first time in well over a year being the next milestone to reach in this arduous process.

“He’s in a good position,” Cora said of Sale. “He feels great. I’ll get the feedback probably later on. I’ll talk to him tomorrow morning, and we’ll keep moving forward.”

(Picture of Chris Sale: Adam Glanzman/Getty Images)

Red Sox call up top catching prospect Connor Wong from Triple-A Worcester, place Kevin Plawecki on injured list with left hamstring strain

Before opening up a three-game series against the Rays in Tampa Bay on Tuesday night, the Red Sox placed backup catcher Kevin Plawecki on the 10-day injured list with a left hamstring strain.

In a corresponding move, catching prospect Connor Wong has been called up from Triple-A Worcester, the team announced earlier Tuesday afternoon.

Plawecki suffered a hamstring strain in the third inning of Sunday’s loss to the Royals after chasing down an errant throw from center fielder Enrique Hernandez.

The 30-year-old backstop was able to remain in the game for the remainder of the inning, but was pinch-hit for by Christian Vazquez in Boston’s half of the fourth before later being diagnosed with left hamstring tightness.

Red Sox manager Alex Cora did make it seem as though Plawecki could be headed towards a stint on the injured list when speaking with reporters following Sunday’s contest, and that winds up being the case.

Since his stay on the IL was backdated to Monday, the earliest Plawecki could be activated is Thursday, July 1, when the Sox are slated to take on the Royals at Fenway Park.

As of this moment, the amount of time Plawecki will need to miss while recovering from his hamstring injury is unknown.

Wong, meanwhile, is one of three players the Red Sox acquired from the Dodgers last February in the blockbuster trade that sent Mookie Betts and David Price to Los Angeles.

A former third-round pick of the Dodgers out of the University of Houston in 2017, the 25-year-old opened the 2021 minor-league season with Triple-A Worcester as the No. 2 catching prospect in Boston’s farm system according to Baseball America.

Due to a hamstring injury, however, Wong has been limited to just 16 games with the WooSox thus far and has posted a .148/.188/.245 slash line to go along with three doubles, one home run, seven RBI, five runs scored, three walks, and 19 strikeouts over his first 64 plate appearances at the Triple-A level. He has also spent some time on the Sox’ taxi squad.

Outside of Vazquez and Plawecki, the 6-foot-1, 181 pound backstop is one of two catchers on Boston’s 40-man roster alongside fellow prospect Ronaldo Hernandez, who is currently at Double-A Portland.

Because of this, it would appear that the Red Sox ultimately opted to go with Wong as opposed to a veteran with big-league experience — such as Chris Herrmann or Jett Bandy — in place of Plawecki so they would not need to make any additional room on their 40-man roster.

The expectation seems to be that Wong will be up with the Sox only for as long as Plawecki is on the injured list.

MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo was the first to report that the Red Sox would be calling up Wong and placing Plawecki on the IL.

(Picture of Connor Wong: Michael Reaves/Getty Images)

Red Sox injuries: Christian Arroyo (bone bruise), Kevin Plawecki (hamstring tightness) removed from Sunday’s series finale against Royals

The Red Sox received two potentially serious blows to their roster makeup in the process of falling to the Royals by a final score of 7-3 at Kauffmann Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

In the bottom of the fifth inning on a steamy day in Kansas City, Christian Arroyo needed to be removed from the game after colliding with center fielder Kiké Hernández while the two were going after a fly ball off the bat of Hunter Dozier that wound up going for a double.

In the process of trying to make an over-the-shoulder catch with his back towards the infield, the second baseman inadvertently bumped knees with Hernandez as he slid into the outfield grass.

As a result of the contact he made with Hernandez, Arroyo — who was in visible pain and seemingly could not put a ton of weight on his right knee — needed to be taken out and was replaced by Marwin Gonzalez at second base for the remainder of the contest.

Later diagnosed with a right shin bone bruise, X-rays on the 26-year-old’s knee did come back negative.

“Christian is sore,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora told reporters (including MassLive.com’s Christopher Smith). “It’s right below the patellar. So he’ll be sore for a little bit. He had X-rays. Everything’s good. They moved his knee around. It seems like he’ll be OK. Obviously let’s see how it goes on the plane and when we get to Tampa.”

As noted by The Athletic’s Jen McCaffrey, the Sox were planning on batting Arroyo leadoff for all three of their upcoming games against the Rays this week with left-handers on the mound for Tampa Bay, so this bone bruise certainly puts those plans in jeopardy.

Hernandez, meanwhile, was able to remain in the game after the fifth-inning collision, and he later described what happened on the play from his point of view.

“The collision happened after the ball dropped. I was coming in for the ball. He was still going back for the ball,” he said. “I wasn’t able to get out of the way because I was trying to keep up with the ball. We just happened to hit each other.”

Plawecki exits in fourth inning

Two innings before the collision that forced Arroyo out of this contest early, Hernandez was also somewhat involved in another Red Sox injury.

With one out and a runner at second base in the bottom half of the third, Hernandez fielded a line-drive single off the bat of Salvador Perez and attempted to gun down the runner — Whit Merrifield — at home.

Hernandez’s throw was errant, however, and it forced backup catcher Kevin Plawecki to leave his post and chase after the ball before it hit the backstop. He came up limping in the process of doing so.

Able to remain in the game for the remainder of the inning, Plawecki was ultimately pinch-hit for by Christian Vazquez in the top half of the fourth and was later ruled out with left hamstring tightness.

Based off what Cora told reporters (including The Boston Globe’s Pete Abraham) during his postgame media availability, it seems as though the Sox are optimistic that Arroyo will avoid a stint on the injured list; though the same cannot be said for Plawecki.

“With Kevin, we’ll wait a little bit,” Cora said of the 30-year-old backstop. “He wanted to grind it out. We’ll know more [Monday]. I talked to [athletic trainer] Brandon [Henry] and he feels like with that one, we should wait to see where we’re at during the week.”

The Red Sox have Monday off as they prepare to open a three-game series against the Rays in St. Petersburg.

If Plawecki’s status is still uncertain after that, then it’s likely Boston would need to place him on the injured list and, in turn, call up another catcher.

Besides Vazquez and Plawecki, prospects Connor Wong and Ronaldo Hernandez are the only other catchers on the Sox’ 40-man roster and neither have any big-league experience.

Veterans with major-league experience such as Chris Herrmann and Jett Bandy, however, are currently playing for the Red Sox’ Triple-A affiliate in Worcester, so that would likely be the move.

That being said, neither Bandy nor Herrmann are currently on Boston’s 40-man roster, so a corresponding transaction would need to be made in order for one of the two to be added to the big-league roster.

(Picture of Alex Cora and Christian Arroyo: Jamie Squire/Getty Images)

Newly-acquired Yacksel Ríos earns win in Red Sox debut: ‘He’s a guy that from afar, he always intrigued me,’ Alex Cora says

Yacksel Rios’ Red Sox debut came just hours after the reliever arrived in Atlanta and was activated ahead of Wednesday night’s series finale against the Braves at Truist Park.

Acquired from the Mariners in exchange for cash considerations earlier in the week, it seemed as though the Sox were likely going to option Rios to Triple-A Worcester as opposed to keep him up in the majors.

That was not the case, though, as Boston instead optioned infielder Michael Chavis to the WooSox while keeping Rios on their 26-man roster.

Available out of the bullpen in his first game in a Red Sox uniform, the right-hander was called upon by manager Alex Cora in a rather crucial spot with two outs and runners at second and third in the sixth inning of a game his side was trailing, 7-6.

With two potential insurance runs in scoring position for Atlanta, Rios — donning the No. 75 — was tasked with getting out of the jam he inherited by going up against a formidable opponent in Braves shortstop Dansby Swanson.

Having faced Swanson four times prior to Wednesday, Rios, who was working with Red Sox catcher Christian Vazquez for the first time, started out by peppering the outer half of the strike zone and initially falling behind in the count before getting a called strike to even things at 1-1.

His third pitch, a 97 mph heater, went for another called strike to get ahead in the count at 2-1. Two of the next three pitches were fouled off by Swanson, which put the right-handed hitter in a 2-2 count as the battle ensued.

On the seventh — and what would turn out to be the final — pitch of the at-bat, Rios delivered a low 88 mph slider that nearly wound up in the dirt and induced relatively weak contact off the bat of Swanson.

Rios was able to knock down Swanson’s 68 mph comebacker with ease and upon corralling the baseball, made the simple toss over to Bobby Dalbec at first base to record the putout and retire the side.

It was not much considering he threw all of seven pitches (five strikes) to end things in the sixth, but Rios’ effort would prove to be meaningful in the end, with the Red Sox coming back to defeat the Braves by a final score of 10-8 courtesy of a game-winning grand slam from Christian Arroyo in the top half of the seventh.

Because he was the last Boston pitcher on the mound before Arroyo came through in the clutch once more, Rios wound up picking up his his first win of the season in his Red Sox debut.

Of the seven pitches the 27-year-old threw on Wednesday night, four were four-seam fastballs and three were sliders. He sat around 95-96 mph with his four-seamer while topping out at 97.1 mph with it, and he also averaged 86.9 mph with his slider.

When speaking with reporters before Wednesday’s game, Red Sox manager Alex Cora acknowledged that Rios’ fastball was something that made him appealing to the Sox when he was designated for assignment by the Mariners earlier this month.

“He has a good fastball,” Cora said. “His fastball got better through the winter. He made some adjustments in spring training with the Rays. He went to Seattle. He gave up some runs and all that, but we believe that if we can use that fastball in certain spots, he should be OK. And the velocity is up, it just gives us another strong arm to our bullpen and that’s always good. So, we’ll see, we’ll see where it takes us.”

Rios, who turns 28 on June 27, was originally selected by the Phillies in the 12th round of the 2011 amateur draft out of high school. He made his major-league debut for Philadelphia in 2017 and has also spent time in the Pirates, Rays, and Mariners organizations.

After being let go by the Pirates over the winter and inking a minor-league pact with the Rays in February, Rios opened the 2021 season with Triple-A Durham, where he posted a 0.66 ERA and 2.31 FIP across 12 relief appearances spanning 13 2/3 innings pitched.

He was then dealt to the Mariners for cash on June 4, though his time in Seattle did not last long considering he gave up one run in each of his three outings with the club from June 5-10 and was later designated on June 11.

Like Cora, Rios hails from Caguas, Puerto Rico. And while the Sox manager might not know the righty all that well, he still has some familiarity with him dating back to the 2017 World Baseball Classic in which Cora served as Team Puerto Rico’s general manager.

“I know him, but I don’t know him that well,” said Cora. “But he’s a guy that from afar, he always intrigued me. We tried to actually add him to the roster in ’17 [for the World Baseball Classic], but he was trying to make a team with the Phillies at that time.

“But good kid, good fastball, good slider,” Cora added. “We’ll see where it takes us.”

Alex Verdugo comes through with game-winning 3-run homer as Red Sox hold off Braves, 10-8

Alex Cora’s Red Sox certainly seem to have a flair for the dramatic, especially when it comes to playing games against the Braves at Truist Park in Atlanta.

Brandon Phillips provided the Sox with one of their standout moments in 2018 by crushing a game-winning homer in September of that season. On Tuesday, Alex Verdugo may have done the same for the 2021 Red Sox.

With two outs in the top of the eighth and runners at second and third in what was at the time a 7-7 contest, Verdugo came through in the clutch yet again.

On a 2-0, 86 mph changeup at the top of the zone from Braves reliever Chris Martin, Verdugo demolished a go-ahead, three-run home run 409 feet to left-center field.

While celebrating his ninth homer of the year by pounding chest and pointing to his teammates in the visitor’s dugout, Verdugo put the Sox up. 10-7 late.

The fact that the Red Sox reached such a crucial point on Tuesday was somewhat surprising when considering they had leads of 5-0 and 7-4 over Atlanta, but the late-game dramatics were necessary nonetheless.

Devers notches 500th career hit in first inning

Matched up against Braves rookie left-hander Tucker Davidson to begin things on Tuesday, Rafael Devers got the scoring started for the Sox by reaching a significant career milestone.

Coming into the day with 499 career hits under his belt, Devers certainly made No. 500 count when he took Davidson 435 feet deep to dead center field for a three-run home run that got his side on the board first.

Hunter Renfroe followed with a big fly of his own, and Devers tacked on another on an RBI single in the second to make it a 5-0 contest early.

Rodriguez’s struggles continue

Eduardo Rodriguez, making his 13th start of the season for Boston, was rewarded for tossing two scoreless innings to begin his outing by being given a five-run lead to work with going into the third.

Alas, over his next two frames of work, Rodriguez saw that five-run edge trimmed down to just one as he surrendered a total of four runs on an RBI single from Freddie Freeman in the third and a pair of run-scoring doubles from Abraham Almonte and Ronald Acuna Jr. in the fourth.

The left-hander was able to punch out Freeman to limit any further damage, but that would mark the end of his outing since he had already given up four runs on six hits, one walk, and eight strikeouts over four innings.

Finishing with a final pitch count of 80 (53 strikes), Rodriguez raised his ERA on the season to 6.21 while getting hit with the no-decision. The 28-year-old’s next start should come against the Rays in Tampa Bay next Tuesday.

Bogaerts joins in on the home run action

The Red Sox were able to add to their 5-4 lead in their half of the fifth inning, when Xander Bogaerts deposited a solo shot to left field and Hunter Renfroe later drove in Rafael Devers on a run-scoring single off Braves reliever Edgar Santana.

Costly errors lead to three Braves runs

Garrett Whitlock was the first reliever the Sox turned to on Tuesday, and he delivered by tossing a scoreless fifth inning in addition to picking up his first career big-league hit in the top of the sixth.

Called back out for the bottom half of that frame, Whitlock walked the first batter he faced in Abraham Almonte before falling victim to some sloppy defense behind him, though he was not alone in that respect.

An Enrique Hernandez fielding error and Hunter Renfroe throwing error led to one Braves run crossing the board. 7-5.

After getting the first out of the sixth, Whitlock was replaced by left-hander Darwinzon Hernandez, who subsequently saw Atlanta’s sixth run of the night come into score on a passed ball that eluded Christian Vazquez behind the plate.

That same passed ball allowed Guillermo Heredia to advance to third base, and he came into score on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Freddie Freeman, which knotted things back up at seven runs apiece.

Eighth-inning rally

Following a scoreless frame courtesy of Hirokazu Sawamura in the seventh, Christian Vazquez and Bobby Dalbec led off their half of the eighth with a pair of back-to-back singles off Chris Martin.

Both runners advanced into scoring position on a well-placed bunt from the pinch-hitting Marwin Gonzalez, which paved the way for Alex Verdugo to deliver the moment of the night: a go-ahead, game-winning three-run blast.

Ottavino and Barnes close it out

Adam Ottavino took over in the bottom half of the eighth, and he needed all of 14 pitches to toss yet an shutout inning.

Sox closer Matt Barnes, meanwhile, made things interesting by yielding a run, but he was ultimately able to hold the Braves off to preserve the 10-8 victory as well as his 15th save of the year.

With the win, the Red Sox improve to 41-27 on the season and move to two games back of the Tampa Bay Rays for first place in the American League East.

Next up: Richards vs. Anderson

The Red Sox will send right-hander Garrett Richards to the mound as they go for the quick two-game sweep over the Braves on Wednesday.

The Braves will send fellow righty Ian Anderson to the hill as they look to prevent that from happening.

First pitch Wednesday is scheduled for 7:20 p.m. eastern time on NESN and ESPN.

(Picture of Alex Verdugo: Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

Red Sox’ Josh Taylor extends scoreless streak to 18 consecutive appearances in Monday’s win over Blue Jays; ‘He did an outstanding job,’ Alex Cora says

Slowly but surely, Red Sox reliever Josh Taylor has emerged as one of manager Alex Cora’s most trusted weapons out of the bullpen.

The latest instance of just how effective Taylor has been this season arose during the seventh inning of Monday night’s 2-1 victory over the Blue Jays at Fenway Park.

After getting 6 2/3 quality innings from Nathan Eovaldi, Cora turned to Taylor with one out to get in the top of the seventh and the potential tying run at third in the form of Vladimir Guerrero Jr.

Working with a 1-0 lead to protect, the left-hander took advantage of a lefty-on-lefty matchup by getting Rowdy Tellez to fan on six pitches, punctuating the at-bat by making the Blue Jays first baseman look foolish on a 2-2, 88 mph slider at the bottom of the zone.

As he came back out for his next inning of work in the eighth, Taylor again did not waste much time, as he got Lourdes Gurriel Jr. to ground out to third base on the first pitch he saw before picking up two more swinging strikeouts against Cavan Biggio and Reese McGuire.

“J.T.’s been throwing the ball great,” Eovaldi said. “He comes in in that big situation right there. I got the double play ball, and he was able to leave Vlad over there at third base and he got Tellez. It was a huge situation right there to clean up that inning. And then he followed that up with another clean inning to bridge that gap to (Matt) Barnes.”

When all was said and done and the Red Sox walked off the Blue Jays, 2-1, Taylor only needed 15 pitches to get through 1 1/3 innings of relief in the process of picking up his eighth hold of the season.

“He’s been doing that for a long time,” Cora said of Taylor’s performance. “We felt that pocket belonged to him. He gets the lefty. … He had Tellez, and then we felt like he could get Gurriel in that spot. And with all the lefties coming up, it was a great spot for him.

“That’s the way we saw it before the game,” added Cora. “The way they constructed their lineup and their defensive alignment, so we felt that was a good pocket for him and he did an outstanding job.”

By retiring all four hitters he faced on Monday, Taylor extended his scoreless appearance streak to 18 consecutive games, which dates all the way back to April 30.

Over that dominating stretch, opponents are hitting a measly .149/.231/.170 off the 28-year-old hurler. He has struck out 18 batters and walked just four in his last 14 innings out of the bullpen.

Among 38 major-league left-handed relievers who have thrown at least 14 innings since April 30, Taylor ranks first in ERA (0.00), first in hits allowed (7), fifth in batting average against, sixth in on-base percentage against, third in slugging percentage against, fourth in weighted on-base average against (.193), seventh in strikeout percentage (34.6%), second in FIP (1.65), and seventh in xFIP (2.78), per FanGraphs.

The fact that Taylor has turned in solid performance after solid performance as of late is certainly encouraging considering how poorly of a start he got off to earlier this season.

Because of his recent run of success, the southpaw has lowered his ERA on the year from 9.72 — which is where it sat the morning of April 30 — all the way down to a respectable 3.63.

(Picture of Josh Taylor: Omar Rawlings/Getty Images)

Red Sox acquire right-hander Yacksel Rios from Mariners, add him to 40-man roster

The Red Sox have acquired right-handed reliever Yacksel Rios from the Seattle Mariners in exchange for cash considerations, the team announced before Monday’s game against the Toronto Blue Jays.

Rios, who turns 28 later this month, will be added to Boston’s 40-man roster after the club designated fellow righty Ryan Weber for assignment to create an opening on its major-league roster for Michael Chavis earlier Monday afternoon.

Per MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo, “it appears Rios may take Chavis’ active roster spot when he is ready to join the team.”

The 27-year-old hurler allowed an earned run in each of his three appearances out of Seattle’s bullpen this month before he, too, was designated for assignment on June 11 despite having a minor-league option remaining.

A former 12th-round draft pick of the Phillies back in 2011, Rios made his major-league debut for Philadelphia during the 2017 campaign.

Since then, the 6-foot-3 hurler has made a total of 69 appearances in parts of four big-league seasons between the Phillies, Pirates, and Mariners. He owns an ERA of 6.47, a FIP of of 4.82, and a strikeout-to-walk ratio of 70:36 in those outings dating back to August 2017.

After being let go by Pittsburgh over the winter, Rios inked a minor-league pact with the Rays in February, though his time in Tampa Bay did not last long considering the fact he was dealt to the Mariners for cash considerations on June 4.

With that being said, Rios’ tenure in Seattle lasted all of a week.

Per Baseball Savant, Rios works with a sinker, a four-seam fastball, a slider, a split-finger fastball, and a rarely used curveball.

A native of Puerto Rico, Rios — a former catcher — hails from the same home town as Red Sox manager Alex Cora in Caguas.

(Picture of Yacksel Rios: Joe Sargent/Getty Images)

Red Sox recall Michael Chavis from Triple-A Worcester, designate Ryan Weber for assignment

Before wrapping up their four-game series against the Blue Jays at Fenway Park on Monday night, the Red Sox recalled infielder Michael Chavis from Triple-A Worcester.

In a corresponding move, right-hander Ryan Weber was designated for assignment in order to make room for Chavis on the Sox’ 26-man roster, Sox manager Alex Cora announced.

Chavis will be called up to Boston for the third time this season, most recently spending a little more than two weeks with the big-league club last month.

In the 10 games he got into during that stretch, the 25-year-old slashed .273/.273/.485 with four doubles, one home run, two RBI, six runs scored, zero walks, and 13 strikeouts over 33 plate appearances while primarily playing second base.

With Triple-A Worcester, Chavis has put up similar numbers, albeit over a larger sample size.

Narrowing it down to just what he has done since being optioned on May 24, the right-handed hitter owns a slash line of .275/.338/.420 (104 wRC+) to go along with one double, three homers, 12 runs driven in, 13 runs scored, six walks, 21 strikeouts, and one stolen base over his last 17 games (69 plate appearances) for the WooSox.

Weber, meanwhile, was designated for assignment one day after being selected from Worcester and getting absolutely shelled in his 2021 debut against Toronto on Sunday.

Working in relief of starter Martin Perez, the 30-year-old hurler surrendered a whopping 11 runs — all of which were earned — on 13 hits, two walks, seven strikeouts, and four home runs over 5 2/3 innings pitched.

The Red Sox will have the next seven days to either trade, release, or waive Weber.

Assuming he goes unclaimed on waivers, it seems likely that the veteran righy would be outrighted back to Worcester, where he put up a 4.63 ERA in seven outings (six starts) and 35 innings pitched this year prior to getting promoted over the weekend.

It should be noted that the move to designate Weber also opens up a spot on Boston’s 40-man roster, so that may be something to monitor in the coming days.

(Picture of Michael Chavis: Billie Weiss/Boston Red Sox/Getty Images)

Red Sox select Ryan Weber, designate Brandon Brennan for assignment

Before taking on the Blue Jays in the third game of a four-game series at Fenway Park on Sunday afternoon, the Red Sox selected the contract of right-hander Ryan Weber from Triple-A Worcester and added him to the major-league roster.

In a corresponding move, fellow right-hander Brandon Brennan was designated for assignment, the club announced earlier Sunday morning.

Weber, 30, re-joins the Sox’ 40-man roster after being designated and outrighted to Triple-A Worcester last November.

In seven appearances (six starts) with the WooSox this season, the veteran hurler posted a 4.63 ERA and 3.98 xFIP to go along with 10 walks and 33 strikeouts over 35 innings of work.

Weber’s last start for Worcester came on June 8, an outing in which he pitched well against the Syracuse Mets by only allowing two runs in seven innings, so he would be in line to start once again on Sunday.

“It was his spot in the rotation (for Worcester) and he can give us multiple innings,” said Red Sox manager Alex Cora. “If something happens with (Sunday’s starter) Martín (Pérez), we were running short on innings. So he’ll be a guy who can give us multiple innings.”

Originally signing a minor-league pact with Boston in December 2018, Weber has put up a 4.73 ERA over 35 appearances (eight starts) and 83 2/3 innings pitched in parts of two seasons with the Red Sox.

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Brandon Brennan, meanwhile, was designated for assignment despite the fact that he does have minor-league options remaining.

The 29-year-old was called up from Triple-A Worcester this past Thursday. He tossed three scoreless innings while scattering three hits, two walks, and one strikeout in his lone appearance out of the Boston bullpen against Toronto on Saturday.

The Red Sox will have seven days to either trade, release, or waive Brennan, who was claimed off waivers from the Mariners last month.

(Picture of Ryan Weber: Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)