NASHVILLE — Wednesday will need to have been an thrilling, exhausting day for Justin Slaten.
In the span of some minutes the 26-year-old right-hander modified groups twice, however within the course of he additionally discovered he can be getting his first actual shot at making an enormous league roster.
Selected by the New York Mets within the Rule 5 Draft and subsequently traded to Boston, the Red Sox now hope he could make the crew and change into an overwhelming late-inning weapon.
“We’re really excited about bringing him on board,” mentioned chief baseball officer Craig Breslow. “A guy with huge swing and miss stuff, profiles as a back of the bullpen type arm, so we’re really excited to get him and see what he can do.”
Red Sox purchase RHP Justin Slaten from Mets
Originally a third-round select of the University of New Mexico by the Texas Rangers in 2019, Slaten is coming off a powerful season during which he posted a 2.87 ERA with 86 strikeouts over 59.2 innings break up between Double-A and Triple-A. He was lately recognized by Baseball America as the highest participant accessible within the Rule 5 Draft, and Breslow mentioned he was the membership’s focus above all else.
“He was very clearly the top target, and once he was not available for us we decided to pass,” Breslow mentioned.
Even although he was traded, the Rule 5 restrictions nonetheless apply to Slaten, that means he should spend the entire season on the Red Sox huge league roster or be supplied again to his authentic crew, the Rangers. The final time Boston had a Rule 5 choose on its roster, it labored out fairly nicely, as Garrett Whitlock emerged because the crew’s most dominant bullpen arm and completed the 2021 season as Boston’s nearer.
The Red Sox clearly hope Slaten works out equally in Boston, however Breslow mentioned they have no particular function in thoughts for him simply but.
“To be determined, we have a lot to learn about him, obviously the big league environment is going to be new for him, but we’re excited to get him into camp, to give him a chance to compete and make the team,” Breslow mentioned. “He’s a guy we have high hopes for, that’s the reason we went through this process, but it’s unfair to speculate exactly what role he may fill. I think we were thinking more about what does the stuff look like and how could it impact this bullpen.”
Source: www.bostonherald.com