In Luis Urías, the Red Sox Choose Up a Reclamation Undertaking

After transport Enrique Hernández again to Los Angeles final week, the Red Sox addressed their newfound lack of infield depth with a last-minute commerce proper earlier than Tuesday’s commerce deadline, buying Luis Urías from the Brewers for right-handed pitching prospect Bradley Blalock.

Urías solely turned 26 years outdated in June, however he’s already had six years of huge league expertise underneath his belt. He was a extremely regarded prospect with the Padres earlier than getting dealt to the Brewers within the Trent Grisham commerce forward of the 2020 season, then broke out the subsequent 12 months, posting a 112 wRC+ with 23 dwelling runs and a .249/.345/.445 slash line. That type of manufacturing from an infielder who can capably play anyplace on the filth appeared to solidify him as a core piece in Milwaukee’s lineup. Unfortunately, a hamstring harm suffered on the primary day of the season value him all of April and May, and as soon as he returned from his harm, he was a shell of his former self, limping to a 60 wRC+ in 20 video games in June and getting demoted to Triple-A on the finish of the month. Since then, he’s posted a .250/.392/.447 slash line in 20 video games for Triple-A Nashville, good for a 113 wRC+.

Contact high quality was by no means Urías’ sturdy go well with, even when he was producing stable numbers in Milwaukee. He leveraged nice plate self-discipline to provide an above-average stroll price, giving him a great basis on the plate, and he pulled sufficient fly ball contact with a barrel price adequate to help his dwelling run totals in 2021 and ’22, however he wasn’t making sufficient exhausting contact to push his manufacturing to the subsequent stage. This 12 months, he fell to the opposite facet of that contact high quality tightrope.

Every single considered one of his batted ball peripherals has taken a flip for the more severe this 12 months. It’s definitely doable he was rushed again from his hamstring harm and that hampered his capacity to swing with authority. Whatever the case could also be, he clearly has quite a lot of work to do to get again to the type of manufacturing he loved over the earlier two years.

The excellent news is that his plate self-discipline gave the impression to be intact and even bettering in his temporary stint within the majors this 12 months. He was in a position to minimize his chase price by greater than six factors, right down to 16%. His total swing price was down, too, maybe indicating an acknowledgement that his swing wasn’t fairly proper. Those plate self-discipline beneficial properties have been offset by the bottom contact price of his profession (75.7%), which is a giant motive why his strikeout and stroll charges barely budged from his established norms.

The Red Sox have had a ton of bother fielding a competent center infield pair this 12 months. With Xander Bogaerts in San Diego and Trevor Story sidelined together with his elbow harm, Hernández and Christian Arroyo have performed the majority of the innings at shortstop and second base. Neither has been all that efficient; Hernández’s atrocious protection at brief was a giant motive why Boston opted to commerce him to Los Angeles final week, and so they’ve resorted to utilizing Yu Chang and Justin Turner on the up-the-middle positions since then. Story is nearing a return from his harm, which ought to give them an improve at brief, however second base will doubtless proceed to be an issue.

Adding Urías to this infield combine doesn’t remedy all of Boston’s issues, but when he figures out his points on the plate, he may very well be an choice at second base or as a versatile piece off the bench. He was assigned to Triple-A after the commerce was accomplished, so the Red Sox are going to let him proceed working issues out. Urías does have two extra years of arbitration eligibility left, although his escalating wage might end in a non-tender if his struggles proceed. That places some stress on him to show issues round shortly, but it surely’s a low-risk transfer by Boston to see if he can really do it.

In alternate for Urías, the Red Sox despatched Blalock to Milwaukee. He was a Thirty second-round decide in 2019 and had a really brief stint as an expert that 12 months earlier than the pandemic worn out what would have been his full season debut within the minors. He confirmed some progress in 2021 in A-ball, together with his velocity ticking as much as 93–95 mph. Tommy John surgical procedure in 2022 stalled his growth, however he has returned this 12 months with some actual prospect helium. On this 12 months’s prospect listing, he ranked nineteenth in Boston’s farm system with a 40+ FV. His fastball has continued to enhance and his curveball has proven super progress, resulting in a 2.55 ERA and a 3.65 FIP in seven High-A begins this 12 months.

Since 2023 is Blalock’s 40-man analysis 12 months, and with two probably plus pitches, the Brewers might want to work out shortly if he’s part of their future or probably go away him susceptible to the Rule 5 draft. He slots in at seventeenth of their group on The Board.