Tag: jackie bradley jr.

Red Sox release 1B/3B prospect Alex Binelas

The Red Sox released minor league corner infielder Alex Binelas from Triple-A Worcester’s roster on Friday, per the club’s MiLB.com transactions log. The move presumably frees up space for the addition of first baseman/outfielder Ryan Noda, who was acquired from the Angels for cash considerations and subsequently optioned to Worcester on Thursday.

Binelas, who turns 25 next week, was originally acquired by the Red Sox alongside outfielder Jackie Bradley Jr. and then-prospect David Hamilton in the December 2021 trade that sent outfielder Hunter Renfroe to the Brewers. Coincidentally enough, Renfroe was designated for assignment by the Royals on Friday.

Binelas, meanwhile, was just beginning his professional career when he was traded from Milwaukee to Boston. The Oak Creek, Wis. native was selected by his hometown Brewers in the third round (86th overall) of the 2021 draft out of Louisville. He received a $700,000 signing bonus and put forth an impressive pro debut by slashing .309/.390/.583 with nine home runs and 29 RBIs in 36 games (159 plate appearances) between the Arizona Complex League and Low-A Carolina.

After switching organizations, Binelas opened the 2022 campaign at High-A Greenville and continued to put up solid offensive numbers. The left-handed hitter batted .245/.355/.495 with 14 homers and 43 RBIs in 58 games (259 plate appearances) for the Drive before receiving a promotion to Double-A Portland that June. He homered 11 more times in his first 55 games (241 plate appearances) for the Sea Dogs but spent all of 2023 and most of 2024 with Boston’s Eastern League affiliate as well.

It was not until last September that Binelas, after appearing in 225 games at the Double-A level across parts of three seasons, was finally promoted to Triple-A. He got into three games for the WooSox before the year ended and went 3-for-12 (.250) with one home run and one RBI. Upon returning to Worcester for the start of the 2025 season, he went 9-for-35 (.257) with two home runs and six RBIs over 13 games. It is worth noting that 34 of his 41 plate appearances came against right-handed pitchers.

Altogether, Binelas slashed .226/.319/.437 (105 wRC+) with 52 doubles, nine triples, 52 home runs, 196 RBIs, 173 runs scored, 36 stolen bases, 144 walks, and 371 strikeouts over 299 total games (1,232 plate appearances) between Greenville, Portland, and Worcester. On the other side of the ball, the 6-foot-2, 225-pounder saw most of his playing time as a member of the Red Sox organization come at either first base or third base. In limited action this year, he logged 24 2/3 innings at first, four innings at third, and one-third of an inning in right field (a career first), committing one error in 22 chances.

Looking back, Binelas was regarded as highly as the No. 17 prospect in Boston’s farm system by Baseball America, FanGraphs, and SoxProspects.com in 2022, while MLB Pipeline had him ranked 22nd within the organization around that same time. Given his past pedigree, it would not be too surprising if he found an opportunity to play elsewhere if he is intent on continuing his career.

(Picture of Alex Binelas: Kelly O’Connor/sittingstill.smugmug.com)

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)