Red Sox Prediction: Steve Selsky can play a big role in 2017

He came to the Red Sox through the most boring transaction in baseball – the waiver claim. But Steve Selsky has the tools to add to the 2017 bench.

Look back to January 25, nearly two months after Dave Dombrowski acquired ace Chris Sale, setup man Tyler Thornburg and first baseman Mitch Moreland in a 24-hour window. The Boston Red Sox 40-man roster looks all but set, and fans sit back knowing not to expect any more Boston blockbusters until perhaps the trade deadline.

They check their phones – the Red Sox claim first baseman/outfielder Steve Selsky from the Cincinnati Reds. Just another meaningless waiver claim, yawn. Back to work.

But perhaps there’s a level of significance here. Fast-forward to the present, and Selsky is an active member of the Red Sox Spring Training squad. The 27-year old has gotten 29 at-bats under his belt, hitting .276/.364/.517 with two homers. Huh, maybe he can play after all. Let’s see what he’s done in the big leagues.

After five seasons of minor league ball with a .295/.379/.459 slash line, Selsky finally got the call to the show in 2016, appearing 24 games. In his first taste of big league pitching, Selsky hit .314/.340/.471 with two homers . He didn’t show off his normal plate discipline – his SO/BB ratio of 22:2 doesn’t correlate well with his minor league 444:202 ratio – but Selsky’s hitting ability translated well over the small sample size.

Source:

This graph is from Selsky’s brief 2016 major league stint. Unlike many minor leaguers who climb to the big leagues on the merits of their bat, the right-handed slugger takes a balanced approach at the plate rather than being one-dimensional and pull-heavy. He showed the ability to spray line drives to right field, shoot the ball up the middle, and go deep to left center.

His heatmaps show how Selsky was pitched to as well as how he hit in every spot in and around the strike zone. The first heatmap shows that pitchers largely took a down-and-away approach to Selsky, a part of the strike zone that lesser developed hitters have a difficult time reaching. Especially for power hitters, the down-and-away fastball or breaking ball forces the hitter to focus on the opposite field, else lazy ground balls and pop-ups result. It’s usually the first thing that pitchers go to when a fresh face enters the batters box making his MLB debut.

However, the second map shows that Selsky was able to reach that part of the zone with some degree of success – although his affinity for the inside pitch is more prominent. Still, Selsky has the marks of a more polished hitter than a typical player with 24 games worth of MLB experience.

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Remember a big reason why the 2013 Red Sox won the World Series? Depth. When veteran regulars like Shane Victorino or Mike Napoli needed a day off or went down with nagging injury, guys like Jonny Gomes or Mike Carp would fill in off the bench and provide roughly a .800 OPS.

Looking at the 2017 roster, the bench is known insofar that Brock Holt, Chris Young and one of the three catchers will be on it. Thus, there’s a utility infielder, a corner outfielder and a catcher – or in 2013 terms, a Jose Iglesias, a Jonny Gomes and a David Ross. But where’s the 2017 Mike Carp, the bench player who can play first base or corner outfield with a solid bat?

Next: Examining remaining non-roster invitees in major league camp

The Red Sox may have found it in Selsky. And with the recent announcement that Farrell would experiment with the 27-year old at third base, Selsky may be able to add another position to his resume when applying for the fourth Red Sox bench spot.