Cottam, 24, was originally selected by the Red Sox in the fourth round of the 2018 amateur draft out of the University of Kentucky. The right-handed batting backstop spent the 2021 season between High-A Greenville and Double A-Portland and was also named an Arizona Fall League All-Star.
Among the topics Kole and I discussed were his days at Kentucky and his summer on Cape Cod in 2017, where he was when he found out he was getting drafted by the Red Sox in 2018, how he fared during the COVID-19 shutdown in 2020, a recap of his 2021 season, his thoughts on playing in the Arizona Fall League, the popularity the one-knee catching stance and his mustache, where he is at with two weeks to go until the start of the 2022 season, and much more!
The episode is available to listen to on iTunes and Spotify, among other platforms.
My thanks to Kole for taking some time out of his spring training schedule to have an insightful conversation with yours truly. You can follow Kole on Twitter (@Kole_Cotton13) by clicking here and on Instagram (@KoleCottam13) by clicking here.
Thank you for listening and we will see you next time! Please make sure to subscribe and leave a five-star review if you can!
(Picture of Kole Cottam: Mary DeCicco/MLB Photos via Getty Images)
The Red Sox have claimed right-hander Ralph Garza off waivers from the Minnesota Twins, the club announced on Thursday afternoon. In order to make room for Garza on the 40-man roster, fellow righty Kyle Tyler was designated for assignment.
The #RedSox today claimed RHP Ralph Garza off waivers from the Minnesota Twins and optioned him to Triple-A Worcester.
To make room for Garza on the 40-man roster, the club designated RHP Kyle Tyler for assignment.
Garza, who turns 28 next month, had been designated for assignment by the Twins on Tuesday so that Minnesota could accommodate the addition of star free-agent shortstop Carlos Correa.
The 27-year-old was originally selected by the Astros in the 26th round of the 2015 amateur draft out of the University of Houston and broke in with Houston just last year.
Just nine outings into his Astros career, though, Garza was designated for assignment on August 1 and was subsequently scooped up by the Twins three days later.
After spending a little more than a week with Minnesota’s Triple-A affiliate, Garza was recalled by the big-league club on Aug. 14. He closed out the year with the Twins by posting a 3.26 ERA and 4.88 FIP to go along with 15 strikeouts to seven walks over 18 relief appearances spanning 19 1/3 innings of work.
Listed at 6-foot-2 and 220 pounds, Garza — a Texas native — operates with a five-pitch mix that consists of a slider, sinker, four-seam fastball, cutter, changeup, curveball. His slider was his most-used pitch last year (31.1%) and opponents hit just .118 off it, per Baseball Savant.
Boston has already optioned Garza to Triple-A Worcester, so he should provide the Sox with some additional bullpen depth who has minor-league options remaining.
The Red Sox will now have the next seven days to either trade, release, or waive Tyler. It’s certainly possible that chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom and Co. are optimistic they can sneak the Oklahoman through waivers and keep him in the organization as a non-40-man roster player.
(Picture of Ralph Garza: David Berding/Getty Images)
Has Ryan Fitzgerald been the MVP of spring training so far for the Red Sox?
The left-handed hitting infielder has batted .364/.462/1.182 with a team-leading three home runs, seven RBIs, three runs scored, one stolen base, two walks, and two strikeouts through his first seven games (13 plate appearances) in the Grapefruit League.
— Red Sox Player Development (@RedSoxPlayerDev) March 19, 2022
Fitzgerald, 27, has the unique distinction of not being drafted out of college or high school. The Creighton University product instead began his pro career by playing one season with the Gary SouthShore RailCats of the independent American Association.
The following spring, Fitzgerald signed with the Red Sox as an undrafted free agent. The Illinois native was assigned to the then-Low-A Greenville Drive out of the gate and really has not looked back since.
In 2019 with the then-High A Salem Red Sox, Fitzgerald posted a .721 OPS across 127 games while making at least one appearance at all four infield positions en route to being named a Carolina League mid- and post-season All-Star. He was also recognized as the organization’s Minor League Defensive Player of the Year that September.
After not being able to do much of anything in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Fitzgerald broke minor-league camp last year with Double-A Portland and proceeded to slash .282/.365/.543 (144 wRC+) with 11 homers and 36 RBIs through his first 70 games with the Sea Dogs. He earned a promotion to Triple-A Worcester on July 29.
In a brief stint with the WooSox that lasted all of 13 games, Fitzgerald hit .262/.340/.571 (138 wRC+) with three home runs and nine RBIs before getting sent back down to Portland on August 17. He closed out his year at a .241/.313/.402 clip leading into the end of September.
Between the Double-A and Triple-A levels, Fitzgerald produced a .270/.350/.512 slash line (131 wRC+) while clubbing a total of 16 home runs, driving in a total of of 58 runs, scoring a total of 55 runs, stealing a total of four bases, drawing a total of 37 walks, and striking out a total of 81 times over 108 games (412 plate appearances) in 2021.
Defensively, the versatile 6-foot, 185 pounder made his pro debut as an outfielder last year, logging 10 innings in left, 79 innings in center, and eight innings in right field with the Sea Dogs and WooSox. He once again saw playing time at all four infield positions between the two affiliates, but none more than shortstop (619 2/3 combined innings).
Fitzgerald, who turns 28 in June, is currently regarded by SoxProspects.com as the No. 38 prospect in Boston’s farm system and is currently participating in his first major-league spring training down in Fort Myers. He appears to be a longshot to make the Sox’ Opening Day roster, but he has been making an intriguing case as a potential bench option these last few weeks.
Based off SoxProspects.com’s roster projections, Fitzgerald is in line to return to Worcester for the start of the 2022 season. That being said, the fact that he can play just about anywhere — as well as major-league rosters expanding from 26 to 28 players through the end of April — certainly works in his favor.
While Fitzgerald still has a little less than two weeks to prove he is worthy of an Opening Day roster spot, the 27-year-old will bat eighth and start at second base for the Red Sox in their Grapefruit League contest against the Orioles on Thursday night.
First pitch from Ed Smith Stadium in Sarasota is scheduled for 6:05 p.m. eastern time on MASN.
(Picture of Ryan Fitzgerald: Brace Hemmelgarn/Getty Images)
Headlined by the likes of Triston Casas, Marcelo Mayer, and Nick Yorke, the prospect who rounded out the list at No. 51 was right-hander Reidis Sena.
Sena, who turns 21 next month, originally signed with Boston as an international free agent out of the Dominican Republic for just $10,000 in December 2018.
After making his professional debut in the Dominican Summer League in 2019, Sena was unable to pitch at the organizational level in 2020 since the minor-league season was cancelled as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The young righty instead picked up where he left off last year by spending the entirety of the 2021 campaign in the rookie-level Florida Complex League. He made his season debut on July 24 and made a total of nine appearances (three starts) for the FCL Red Sox.
In those nine outings that spanned anywhere from one to four innings in length, Sena posted a 3.22 ERA and 3.83 FIP to go along with 31 strikeouts to 13 walks over 22 1/3 innings of work.
Among all FCL pitchers who threw at least 20 innings last year, the 20-year-old ranked 21st in strikeouts per nine innings (12.49), 23rd in strikeout rate (32.3%), 21st in swinging strike rate (33.7%), 29th in FIP, and 26th in xFIP (3.99), per FanGraphs.
With a listed height and weight of 5-foot-10 and 160 pounds, there is not much else available on Sena besides what FanGraphs’ Kevin Goldstein and Tess Taruskin have on him.
“Sena is pretty raw for a pitching prospect who will be 21 in 2022,” they wrote. “He has huge arm strength, sitting 95 mph on the complex last year, and he makes very heavy use of that fastball. His slider has plus raw spin but Sena throws his heater 85% of the time right now, suggesting he and the Sox are just trying to get him to throw a viable rate of strikes more than anything else. He walked over five hitters per nine innings in 2021. If things click for him, he’ll move very quickly.”
As Goldstein and Taruskin indicated, Sena does need to work on his command considering the fact he averaged more than five walks per nine innings and walked more than 13% of the batters he faced last year.
That being said, there does seem to be some intrigue with Sena based off his current arsenal that consists of a high-octane fastball and slider. It will be interesting to see if the Red Sox view the Neiba native as a potential starter or reliever in the long-term.
On that note, though, Sena is projected by SoxProspects.com to begin the 2022 season in Low-A Salem’s starting rotation. He will have the opportunity to rise through Boston’s prospect ranks beginning in April.
The Red Sox suffered their first loss of the spring on Wednesday afternoon when they fell to the Twins by a final score of 10-4 at JetBlue Park.
Despite dropping to 6-1 in Grapefruit League play, there were still plenty of positives to take away from Wednesday’s contest. For starters, Nathan Eovaldi looked as dominant as ever in his second start of the spring.
The veteran right-hander plunked the very first man he faced in Byron Buxton, but that was negated immediately when Christian Vazquez threw out the speedy outfielder as he attempted to steal second base. Eovaldi then retired the next 11 batters he faced in order while striking out six and walking none over four scoreless, no-hit innings.
Finishing with a final pitch count of 52, Eovaldi is in line to make three more starts this spring before Opening Day on April 7. The 32-year-old hurler has allowed a total of two runs through his first two outings of the year.
In relief of Eovaldi, Ryan Brasier got the first call out of the Red Sox bullpen beginning in the fifth inning. Things did not go as well for Brasier as they did for Eovaldi, as the righty reliever gave up four straight hits (including an RBI single to Ryan Jeffers and three-run home run to Trevor Larnach to put his side in a 4-0 hole.
Brasier at the very least recorded the first two outs of the inning before making way for Franklin German, who punched out the only batter he faced in Buxton to retire the side.
Fitzgerald’s team-leading third home run of the spring knotted things up at four runs apiece heading into the eighth inning for Connor Seabold.
Seabold, who is regarded by Baseball America as the No. 21 prospect in Boston’s farm system, struggled with his command in his 2022 debut. The 26-year-old right-hander walked the first two Twins he faced before yielding an RBI double to Dennis Ortega and a two-run single to Nick Gordon. He then walked Aaron Sabato to put runners at first and second with no outs, which prompted Red Sox manager Alex Cora to turn to Tyler Danish.
Danish proceeded to loaded the bases before allowing three additional two runs (two inherited) to score on a sacrifice fly and two-run double. That sequence gave the Twins a commanding 10-4 lead, which would go on to be Wednesday’s final score.
Some notes from this loss:
Christian Arroyo was originally slated to start at second base for the Red Sox on Wednesday but was scratched from the lineup due to a right thumb contusion. It is not believed to be a serious injury.
Coming into Wednesday, Red Sox pitchers this spring had allowed a total of 11 runs in six Grapefruit League games. They gave up 10 runs as a team on Wednesday.
All four runs the Red Sox scored on Wednesday came from the No.2 spot in the lineup. Devers got things started with his solo home run in the sixth and Fitzgerald, who came on as a defensive replacement for Devers at third base, followed suit with his three-run blast in the seventh.
Fitzgerald has appeared in all seven of Boston’s spring training games and is currently batting .364/.462/1.182 with three home runs, seven RBIs, three runs scored, one stolen base, two walks, and two strikeouts across 13 trips to the plate.
Next up: Pivetta vs. Zimmermanm
The Red Sox will travel to Sarasota on Thursday evening to take on the Orioles at Ed Smith Stadium. Nick Pivetta is slated to make his second start of the spring for Boston after striking out five in his 2022 debut last Saturday. The right-hander will be opposed by Baltimore left-hander Bruce Zimmermann.
First pitch Thursday is scheduled for 6:05 p.m. eastern time. The game will be televised, but only on MASN.
(Picture of Rafael Devers: Brace Hemmelgarn/Getty Images)
Infielder Jeter Downs, left-hander Jay Groome, and right-handers Bryan Mata, Connor Seabold, and Josh Winckowski were all optioned to Triple-A Worcester. On the other side of things, infielders Triston Casas, David Hamilton, and Christian Koss, left-hander Chris Murphy, and right-handers Durbin Feltman and Brian Keller were all reassigned to minor-league camp.
Downs, Groome, Mata, Seabold, and Winckowski were optioned to Worcester since they are on Boston’s 40-man roster. According to SoxProspects.com’s roster projections, all but Groome are expected to begin the 2022 season with the WooSox. Mata, of course, is still recovering from Tommy John surgery he underwent last April.
With these five getting optioned, the Red Sox’ spring training roster now consists of 34 40-man roster players. Notables who remain following Wednesday’s cuts include Eduard Bazardo, Brayan Bello, Kutter Crawford, Ronaldo Hernandez, Connor Wong, Jonathan Arauz, and Jarren Duran.
Elsewhere, six non-40-man roster players were sent back to minor-league spring training. Of these six, the most notable is undoubtedly Casas, who is regarded by many — including Baseball America — as the top prospect in Boston’s farm system.
Casas, Feltman, and Keller seem like locks to begin the year with Worcester, while Hamilton, Koss, and Murphy are projected by SoxProspects.com to start out with Double-A Portland.
All told, the Red Sox now have 55 players in major-league camp with Opening Day against the Yankees on April 7 fast approaching.
(Picture of Jeter Downs: Mary DeCicco/MLB Photos via Getty Images)
Using information from four different publications (Baseball America, FanGraphs, MLB Pipeline, and SoxProspects.com), BloggingtheRedSox.com has ranked the top 33 prospects in the Red Sox farm system heading into the 2022 season.
To nobody’s surprise, this group is headlined by the infield trio of Marcelo Mayer, Triston Casas, and Nick Yorke. This is certainly interesting when you consider the fact that Mayer (2021), Yorke (2020), and Casas (2018) were the last three players the Red Sox selected in the first round of the amateur draft.
Mayer is regarded by Baseball America and MLB Pipeline as Boston’s top overall prospect, while FanGraphs and SoxProspects have him at No. 2. Casas, on the other hand, is ranked No. 1 by FanGraphs and SoxProspects but No. 2 by Baseball America and MLB Pipeline. Yorke is ranked No. 3 by all four.
This is how the order was determined. For instance, the average of Casas’ four rankings and Mayer’s four rankings comes out to 1.5 [(1+1+2+2)/4)]. The tiebreaker went to Mayer since he is younger then Casas. From there, Yorke and 30 additional Red Sox prospects were ranked, with left-hander Jeremy Wu-Yelland rounding things out at No. 33.
With that, here is the full list of 33 beginning with Mayer and ending with Wu-Yelland. Let’s get to it.
Ward underwent Tommy John surgery last June and will not be ready for the start of the 2022 season. (Photo by Billie Weiss/Boston Red Sox/Getty Images)
Baseball America organizational rank: 31 FanGraphs organizational rank: 41 MLB Pipeline organizational rank: Not Ranked SoxProspects organizational rank: 35
Average: 35.67
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Other prospects who missed the cut but are still worth monitoring this season include pitchers Eduard Bazardo, Durbin Feltman, Luis Perales, and Jacob Wallace as well as position players like Cameron Cannon, Tyler Dearden, Ryan Fitzgerald, Niko Kavadas, Enderso Lira, and Stephen Scott, among others.
(Picture of Marcelo Mayer and Chaim Bloom: Billie Weiss/Boston Red Sox/Getty Images)
The Red Sox have officially signed free-agent infielder Trevor Story to a six-year contract, the club announced on Wednesday morning. In order to make room for Story on the 40-man roster, outfielder Jeisson Rosario was designated for assignment.
According to The Boston Globe’s Alex Speier, Story will earn $20 million in 2022 and 2023, $22.5 million in 2024 and 2025, and $25 million in 2026 and 2027. There is also a $25 million club option in 2028 that includes a $5 million buyout. He has the ability to opt out of the deal after the 2025 season, but the Red Sox could then exercise an option to retain him through his option year and pay him $25 million per season from 2026 to 2028.
All told, Story is guaranteed to earn at least $140 million and at most $160 million through 2028 if the option is picked up. As noted by MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo, it is the largest deal the Red Sox have given out since they signed left-hander David Price to seven-year, $217 million contract in December 2015.
Originally selected by the Rockies in the first round of the 2011 draft out of Irving High School, Story broke in with Colorado in 2016 and has since hit 158 home runs in 745 big-league contests.
A two-time Silver Slugger Award winner, the right-handed hitting Story batted .251/.329/.471 with 34 doubles, five triples, 24 homers, 75 RBIs, 88 runs scored, 20 stolen bases, 53 walks, and 139 strikeouts across 142 games (595 plate appearances) for the Rockies last season.
Story, who will wear the No. 10 with the Red Sox, only took the field as a shortstop in his time with Colorado but will make the transition to second base with Boston. The 6-foot-2, 213 pounder represents an upgrade there and could also take over at shortstop next year in the event that Bogaerts opts out of his deal and signs elsewhere at the conclusion of the 2022 campaign.
Rosario, 22, was one of two prospects the Red Sox acquired from the Padres in the August 2020 trade that sent veteran first baseman Mitch Moreland to San Diego. The other player Boston got in that deal was Hudson Potts, who was designated for assignment on Tuesday.
Coming into the 2021 season, Rosario was regarded by Baseball America as No. 21 prospect in Boston’s farm system. The speedy outfielder spent the entirety of the year with Double-A Portland and struggled to the tune of a .232/.335/.307 slash line to go along with 15 doubles, one triple, three home runs, 36 RBIs, 48 runs scored, 11 stolen bases, 50 walks, and 113 strikeouts over 98 games (405 plate appearances) for the Sea Dogs.
As was the case with Potts, the Red Sox now have the next seven days to either trade, release, or waive Rosario. If he clears waivers, the club can retain him as a non-40-man roster player.
Red Sox outfield prospect Wil Dalton homered in his Grapefruit League debut on Tuesday afternoon.
Hours after being added to the Sox’ roster for their contest against the Rays at Charlotte Sports Park, Dalton took over for Rob Refsnyder as a defensive replacement in left field in the middle of the sixth inning. He registered his first and only plate appearance of the day an inning and a half later.
Matched up against Rays reliever Jack Lobosky to lead off the top of the eighth, Dalton worked a 1-1 count before swinging away at the third pitch he saw. The right-handed hitter wound up drilling a solo shot over the left field wall to provide Boston with some much-needed insurance in an eventual 4-2 win over Tampa Bay.
Dalton, 24, was originally selected by the Sox in the eighth round of the 2019 amateur draft out of the University of Florida and signed with the club for $135,000 that summer.
Last spring, Dalton broke minor-league camp with Low-A Salem and embarked upon what would turn out to be an eventful 2021 season in which he played at three different levels.
From May 4 through June 16, Dalton posted for Salem regularly and batted a solid .265/.354/.449 (118 wRC+) with four home runs, 17 RBIs, 14 runs scored, and four stolen bases over 31 games spanning 113 plate appearances.
On June 17, Dalton was promoted to High-A Greenville. He proceeded to struggle to the tune of a .631 OPS in 33 games with the Drive but was added to Double-A Portland’s roster (presumably for depth-related reasons) in late July.
Dalton made his Double-A debut on July 30 and remained with the Sea Dogs for the next two weeks. He slashed .240/.296/.400 (90 wRC+) to go along with four doubles, three RBIs, and three runs scored over eight games (27 plate appearances) for Portland before getting sent back down to Greenville on August 11.
The transition from Double-A back to Low-A was not a smooth one for Dalton, who limped to the finish line and managed just a .573 OPS in his final 27 games to close out the year.
All told, Dalton appeared in a total of 99 games between Salem, Greenville, and Portland last year. Over that 99-game sample, he hit a collective .211/.293/.377 (82 wRC+) with 21 doubles, one triple, 11 home runs, 49 RBIs, 47 runs scored, five stolen bases, 36 walks, and 101 strikeouts across 380 trips to the plate.
Defensively, the 6-foot, 182 pound saw playing time at all three outfield positions in his travels last season. The former Gator logged 261 innings in left, 273 1/3 innings in center and 280 1/3 in right while recording eight outfield assists.
According to FanGraphs, 137 different Red Sox minor-leaguers registered at least one plate appearance over the course of the 2021 season. Among that group, Dalton was one of just three who played with three or more affiliates. The other two who did so were Danny Santana and Ricardo Cubillan.
Boston was able to come to terms with pitchers Nick Pivetta and Josh Taylor, infielders Christian Arroyo and Rafael Devers, and outfielder Alex Verdugo on Tuesday, thus avoiding a possible hearing. They did the same with reliever Ryan Brasier and catcher Kevin Plawecki prior to last November’s non-tender deadline.
Taylor, 29, was also entering his first season of arbitration eligibility and was projected by MLBTR to earn $1.1 million in 2022. The left-handed reliever may not be ready for the start of the season due to a back issue, but he will be making $1.025 million this year regardless, per McDaniel.
Arroyo is another first-year arbitration-eligible player. The 26-year-old second baseman was projected by MLBTR to also earn $1.1 million in 2022. He has instead avoided arbitration by agreeing to a $1.2 million salary for the upcoming season, according to the Boston Sports Journal’s Sean McAdam.
Devers is undoubtedly the most notable name on this list and the most expensive as well. As a second-year arbitration-eligible player, the 25-year-old All-Star was projected by MLBTR to earn $11.1 million in 2022 — representing a 143% raise from the $4.575 million he made in 2021.
There were some rumblings that Devers and the Red Sox were not going to come to an agreement on a salary figure for the 2022 season ahead of Tuesday’s 1 p.m. eastern time deadline and would instead be going to an arbitration hearing. Those concerns turned out to be premature, though, as the two sides have since settled on a $11.2 million salary for the year, according to MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand.
Finally, we arrive at Verdugo, who is also embarking upon his first season of arbitration eligibility. The 25-year-old was projected by MLBTR to earn $3.2 million in 2022 but will actually make a little more than that at $3.55 million, per MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo.
These agreements do not preclude the Red Sox from engaging in contract extension talks with any of the aforementioned players leading up to Opening Day on April 7. This is particularly prevalent for Devers, who can become a free agent at the conclusion of the 2023 season.
(Picture of Rafael Devers: Jim Rogash/Getty Images)
Blogging the Red Sox 