The rise of Red Sox prospect Ryan Fitzgerald: An analytical success story

Ryan Fitzgerald’s climb through the Red Sox minor league system

Since the Red Sox purchased his contract from the RailCats ahead of the 2018 season, Fitzgerald has made a jump in professional levels each year. He’s coming off his best season of professional baseball after batting .270 with an .862 OPS, 16 home runs, 32 doubles and 58 RBI in 108 games between Double-A Portland and Triple-A Worcester last year.

Fitzgerald has been relentless in the pursuit of his dream of making the major leagues. And the transformation that technology and analytics have helped him achieve with his swing now has him knocking on the door of making his dreams come true. He’s currently a mainstay in the middle of the WooSox lineup, positioning himself to be called up to the big-league club in the (hopefully) near future.

But there is just one last hurtle in Fitzgerlad’s way – he needs to be added to the organization’s 40-man roster to be eligible to be promoted to Boston. And there are two likely reasons for the delay in doing so.

The first is that to add him to the 40-man roster, someone currently on it will need be placed on waivers, which risks losing that player from the organization. The second is, as an undrafted independent league player, there is less of a financial commitment into Fitzgerald’s services than there is for a lot of other guys in the organization. And often is the case, the players with more money invested in them by the organization are the ones that receive priority in getting their first chance in the big leagues.

If the Red Sox don’t add Fitzgerald to the 40-man roster by December, then he will be eligible to be selected in the Rule 5 Draft this year. Like how the Red Sox obtained Garrett Whitlock in the Rule 5 Draft from the Yankees in 2020, this would guarantee Fitzgerald a spot on his new team’s Opening Day roster. For Red Sox fans, this would be a sad time as it means Fitzy would be making his MLB debut with another team. But for Fitzgerald, this would mean his lifelong dream would finally become a reality.

Regardless of how it happens, Fitzgerald’s MLB debut looks to be on the horizon, and Red Sox Nation is pleading for the front office to make sure it happens in Boston. And when the time does come, maybe Fitzgerald’s hitting analogy of having a Lamborghini engine will soon have a bigger meaning to it.