The Red Sox added seven non-roster invitees to their spring coaching roster on Monday.
Pitchers Jorge Benitez, Cam Booser, Frank German, and Helcris Olivarez, infielder Jamie Westbrook, outfielder Mark Contreras, and IF/OF Eddy Alvarez may have an opportunity to show themselves in Fort Myers, Fla.
The Red Sox signed left-handers Olivarez, 23, and Benitez, 24, in November and assigned them each to Triple-A Worcester. They beforehand pitched within the Colorado Rockies and Seattle Mariners organizations, respectively. Benitez simply posted a 1.95 ERA over 45 appearances between High-A and Double-A, whereas shoulder surgical procedure price Olivarez a lot of the ‘22 season and all of ‘23.
Westbrook, 28, was initially the Arizona Diamondbacks’ fifth-round choose in 2013, however most just lately performed second base within the New York Yankees’ group. He hit .294 with a .897 OPS and 121 hits, together with 20 doubles and 21 house runs, in 117 Triple-A video games for them this season.
If German’s title rings a bell, it’s as a result of he arrived in Boston within the Adam Ottavino commerce through the ‘20-21 offseason and debuted with the Red Sox in ‘22. German was traded to the Chicago White Sox final February, however re-signed with Boston in July. His 5 ‘22 appearances with the Red Sox are the one Major League expertise of his profession to date.
Contreras and Alvarez additionally carry a little bit of Major League expertise to the desk. The former debuted in ‘22 however spent all of ‘23 with Triple-A St. Paul. The latter performed 50 big-league video games with the Miami Marlins and Los Angeles Dodgers between ‘20-22.
Then there’s Booser, the 31-year-old lefty reliever who has overcome a lot. He broke a femur and his again taking part in highschool soccer, then underwent Tommy John surgical procedure as a university freshman and went undrafted. In December ‘15, he was rehabbing shoulder surgery (torn labrum) at the Twins’ spring coaching facility – additionally in Fort Myers, simply down the street from the Red Sox’s – and received hit by a automobile. The incident fractured his sacrum, the bone on the base of the backbone that helps the vertebrae and pelvis. In layman’s phrases: damaged again, spherical two.
Booser’s stat web page suggests he bounced across the minor and impartial leagues for seven seasons with a large chunk of missed time. What the data of his ERAs, strikeouts, and years with none numbers in any respect don’t inform you is that after spending 5 seasons within the Minnesota Twins group, the left-hander retired from baseball, joined a carpenters union, and have become a building employee in his house state.
If that doesn’t already sound just like the plot of the 2002 movie “The Rookie,” wherein Dennis Quaid stars as the true later-in-life MLB pitcher Jim Morris, it will get even Rookie-er.
Booser started giving baseball classes. At one level, he determined to check his personal arm, and came upon he may throw fastballs within the excessive 90s. So, at 28 he started pitching, first semi-pro, then within the impartial American Association. After the Twins lastly granted his launch, he was shortly snapped up by the Arizona Diamondbacks.
By the time he reached Double-A Amarillo within the spring of ‘22, his fastballs had been blazing at triple-digit velocity. But they launched him in July, so he spent the remainder of the season with the impartial Lancaster Barnstormers.
Finally, his childhood staff signed him to a minor-league contract final February. Though he grew up in Seattle, Booser cherished the Red Sox. Perhaps that gave him slightly additional oomph this 12 months, as a result of in his first-ever Triple-A season, he made a career-high 48 appearances, tied for second-most on the WooSox roster.
Pitchers and catchers are resulting from report back to the Fort in simply over two months.
Now, Booser will likely be one in every of them. Another likelihood to beat astounding odds.
Source: www.bostonherald.com