Red Sox: Examining the remaining non-roster invitees in major league camp
As the Red Sox made their first round of cuts from major league camp on Tuesday, we took a look at some of the top remaining players and what value they might bring.
While our attention naturally shifts toward the stars on the Boston Red Sox roster, spring training provides an opportunity to watch some of the lesser known players in the organization. In camp this year there are a number of non-roster invitees worth monitoring.
Non-roster invitees provide and play a bevy of different roles in the typical spring training. For some clubs, non-roster invitees obviously provide competition for jobs, AAA-lifers getting spring training at-bats in search of coveted big league service time, prospects either trying to make the team out of camp or trying to impress the team for a major league call up soon down the road.
Regardless of which category the numerous amounts of non-roster players fall under in the organization, they can provide some context to a team’s spring and provide the juice behind headlines for writers in what can be a bit of a dry well before the season starts.
Looking at the Red Sox, their 15 non-roster invitees before spring training started were made up of five pitchers, three catchers, three infielders and four outfielders.
OF Junior Lake, third baseman Rafael Devers, and catcher Jordan Procyshen were all reassigned to minor league camp.
Moving forward, here’s a look at the top five remaining non-roster invitees, ranking their springs and their outlook in the future of the organization.
Chandler Shepherd
A 24-year-old right-handed reliever out of the University of Kentucky, Chandler Shepherd is seen as what could be a serviceable member of a major league bullpen at some point, though he hasn’t cracked the major league roster yet, as last year was his first year in both AA and AAA, compiling a 2.81 ERA over 40 games with a .189 BAA.
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This spring, Shepherd hasn’t fared very well, giving up six earned runs in seven innings of work out of the Red Sox bullpen. Opponents are batting .333 off of Shepherd and he’s given up two home runs to count. Thus to say this could be equated to the young righty having historically bad springs, as his career spring training ERA is 8.18.
Looking forward, Shepherd makes these rankings simply because of a lack of substance in terms of numbers of non-roster invitees, there aren’t a lot to choose from.
Down the road, Shepherd is a middle to lower-end prospect whose ceiling hits as a middle-innings reliever out of a major league bullpen. Whether that is with the Red Sox or not remains to be the question, as Shepherd is 24 and the Red Sox have plenty of formidable righties in their bullpen with the presence of Heath Hembree, Joe Kelly, Matt Barnes, Tyler Thornburg, and Craig Kimbrel.
Should Shepherd have a good start to the minor league season and one of the bullpen righties go down with an injury, Shepherd could provide some injury depth on a call-up to the Red Sox this season.
Allen Craig, 1B
A supposed cornerstone of the trade that gave John Lackey away to the St. Louis Cardinals, Allen Craig has had quite the following out with being able to be the player he once was in St. Louis since joining the Red Sox organization, having been delegated as a non-roster invitee with realistically no shot of contributing at the major league level any time soon.
This spring, Craig is 7-30 (.233), with a home run and two doubles to his credit. Another benefactor of being on this list due to the sheer lack of volume of non-roster invitees, the Allen Craig we see now is some kind of out-of-body version of the former Cardinals run producer aficionado.
Though Craig’s home run this spring did provide some nostalgia and maybe some misguided glimmer of hope for some Red Sox fans and maybe Ben Cherington as well.
Looking forward, the prospects of Craig playing for a major league baseball team again, let alone the Red Sox, diminish often are diminishing now. Craig will be 33 in July and hasn’t played in the majors since 2015, where he hit only .152 in 36 games for the Red Sox.
Edgar Olmos, LHP
Edgar Olmos is a strange case for the Red Sox this spring, a former third-round pick of the Marlins who failed to really develop as a starting pitcher, the now reliever has bounced around over the last couple years, having stints with the Marlins, Mariners, and two stints with both the Cubs and the Orioles.
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Signed as a minor league free agent last November, the 27-year-old has provided the Red Sox with a steady plan for a backup in terms of being the third lefty out of the bullpen for the Red Sox. He’ll start the season as AAA Pawtucket, waiting in the ranks for an injury to either happen to Robbie Ross, Fernando Abad or Robby Scott.
For Red Sox fans who haven’t really had the chance to tune into Red Sox spring training, Olmos has had arguably the best spring of Red Sox relievers, accumulating an ERA of only 1.17 over 7.2 innings.
Though he’s been dealing with a hamstring strain as of late, the relievers spring is something to be encouraged by for Red Sox diehards.
Matt Collins of Over The Monster even speculated that in his age 27 season, Olmos may be poised for a breakout season, similar to that of when Andrew Miller broke out during the same age year.
It’s not totally misguided, as Olmos stands 6’4″, 220 and Miller at 6’7, 205, both throw a fastball and a slider.
Maybe the Red Sox have stumbled on an unfinished diamond, and maybe Olmos is getting out minor league hitters. That’s baseball — we’ll see.
Sam Travis, 1B
I’ll make a bold assertion here — this is Mitch Moreland’s only year in Boston. After recovering from his torn ACL that wiped his 2016 season, Sam Travis is showing Red Sox players and management that he’s coming for the first base job, and it’s not unapparent.
Travis is hitting .321 this spring, adding three home runs and an eye-opening OPS of 1.174. His career numbers in spring training show for themselves as well — he’s hitting .394 in 66 career spring games against competition that has largely been at a higher level than him.
The minor league numbers are there as well. In 245 career games, Travis has a .303 average and 22 home runs throughout five leagues.
He just needs to refine his defense around the bag, something he’s been working on religiously this spring with Red Sox coach Brian Butterfield.
Barring injury to Moreland or Hanley Ramirez, Travis will start the season in AAA for some fine-tuning and getting more throws to first base, though the 23-year-old could easily contribute to the Red Sox lineup in a big way this season, and if Moreland struggles early on to find his groove in a Red Sox uniform, don’t be surprised if Dave Dombrowski gives a young prospect a chance to thrive in a position of need, something we saw heir apparently last season.
Kyle Kendrick, RHP
Kind of an afterthought in the minds of many, Kyle Kendrick came into the Red Sox spring training with no buzz really centered around the right-hander. The 32-year-od spent seven years in Philadelphia and 2015 in Colorado, accumulating a 4.63 ERA over those years, not that good obviously.
In 2016, the major league vet spent the season back riding buses with the Angels farm system.
For the opening day starter in 2015 as a Rockie, Kendrick has come a long way from being out of the majors in 2016. This spring he’s 2-0 with a 1.50 ERA in four starts, with 16 SO in 18 innings.
Coming into the spring, Kendrick has emerged from a long shot to possibly a savior in the waiting in terms of saving the depth of the Red Sox pitching rotation. Though he’ll likely start the season in AAA, Kendrick has become integrally important for the Red Sox following David Price’s elbow issues, the rehabilitation’s of Steven Wright and Drew Pomeranz, and the always-possible chance of Eduardo Rodriguez’s knee flaring up as well.
Next: Red Sox make more roster cuts
Similar to Rich Hill, Kendrick enlisted the help of Red Sox assistant pitching coach Brian Bannister, as according to Jen McCaffery of MassLive, Kendrick was one of a group of pitchers the Red Sox had Bannister target for depth, turning Kendrick in the offseason into his latest revived pupil.