Tag: ralph garza

Red Sox lose Ralph Garza Jr. on waivers to Rays

Less than two hours after designating him for assignment, the Red Sox have lost right-hander Ralph Garza Jr. on waivers to the Rays, according to the Tampa Bay Times’ Marc Topkin.

Garza Jr., who celebrated his 28th birthday on Wednesday, was originally claimed off waivers by the Sox on March 24 after being designated for assignment by the Twins two days prior.

Boston immediately optioned Garza Jr. to Triple-A Worcester upon acquiring him from Minnesota. The righty travelled with the WooSox for their first series of the season against the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp this week, though he did not appear in a game for the affiliate.

All told, Garza Jr. spent just two weeks with the Red Sox, as he and fellow reliever Eduard Bazardo lost their respective spots on the 40-man roster on Thursday so the club could add the likes of Hansel Robles and Travis Shaw to their Opening Day squad.

(Picture of Ralph Garza Jr.: Douglas P. DeFelice/Getty Images)

Advertisement

Red Sox claim Ralph Garza off waivers from Twins, designate Kyle Tyler for assignment

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.

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.

Tyler, on the other hand, loses his spot on Boston’s 40-man roster just two days after getting claimed off waivers from the Angels earlier this week. The 25-year debuted with Los Angeles last season and yielded a 2.92 ERA (5.20 FIP) in five appearances out of the Halos’ bullpen.

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)