The Red Sox will select catcher Caleb Hamilton onto the big league roster, reports Chris Cotillo of MassLive (Twitter link). He’ll take the active roster spot of Reese McGuire, who is headed to the 10-day injured list after straining his right oblique tonight.
Hamilton will join the Sox in Minnesota. He’s no stranger to Target Field, as his only MLB experience to date has come in a Twins uniform. A former 23rd-round selection by Minnesota, he reached the majors for 22 games last year. Minnesota put him on waivers at the end of the season.
Boston claimed him and successfully passed him through waivers themselves a month later. They kept him in the organization without dedicating a spot on the 40-man roster. Hamilton has spent the season with their top affiliate in Worcester, struggling to a .174/.281/.306 line over 114 trips to the plate. The right-handed hitter had a much better .233/.367/.442 slash in Triple-A with Minnesota last year.
This season’s production isn’t eye-catching, but McGuire’s injury forced Boston’s hand. The Red Sox have only had two catchers on the 40-man roster all season. McGuire and Connor Wong have taken the entirety of the work. McGuire hurt himself on a swing this evening, necessitating a depth call-up from Triple-A.
Boston could’ve turned to Ronaldo Hernández, who has a more impressive .242/.327/.492 showing in Worcester this season. Hernández, a former top prospect, has yet to make his MLB debut. Boston will go with Hamilton, who has a bit of experience in a depth role. Both Sandy León and Mike Zunino were released Wednesday evening. The Red Sox make for a speculative fit for either player. León spent five years in Boston earlier in his career, while Zunino overlapped in Tampa Bay for a season with Sox chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom.
For now, Wong ascends to the top of the depth chart. He’s hitting .245/.314/.447 in 53 games on the year. The Red Sox will need to create a spot on the 40-man roster for Hamilton, though that can be achieved by transferring Yu Chang to the 60-day injured list. The versatile infielder has already been out since April 25 after suffering a hamate fracture in his left wrist; his IL transfer would simply be a procedural formality.
Two Hamiltons called up to Boston in the same day? You could call them Aaron Burr from the way they’re selecting Hamiltons.
I look forward to references from the musical.
They actually cannot sign Mike Zunino until after 1 PM EDT tomorrow when he clears waivers. I wouldn’t be surprised if before their game against the White Sox on Friday they sign Zunino to a Major League Contract and DFA Caleb Hamilton. Or maybe they will do that with Sandy Leon.
At least Leon still has excellent defensive skills. Zunino has been as lost at the plate as I’ve ever seen a player, but his defense and inability to throw out runners have sunk his value to zero. Any team who signs him better pray for a miracle……or multiple miracles.
Good thing they let Alfaro just walk.
So the FO should have been able to see into the future and know McGwire was gonna get injured and DFAed him to make room for Alfaro a few weeks ago? Short of that I’m not sure how the FO was supposed to navigate that situation.
Alfaro has a 10/0 K/W with CO with a .514 OPS, and a -0.3 bWAR. I wonder if GA knows how difficult it is to get a -0.3 bWAR in only 23 ABs. That projects to a -7.8 in 600 ABs.
feel like Hernandez would’ve been the better option. also had a chance to debut last year but was optioned down before he could. feel like it would be the nice thing to do, plus he offers better offensive potential
I think many times they’ll call up a guy to see what they have. If he shows nothing they could move on from him. With Hernandez they sort of know who he is already. Just my thinking.
Hamilton-Mania!
“For now, Wong ascends to the top of the depth chart”
Wong is already at the top of the depth chart. Sometimes the writing here is awkward at best, misleading at worst.
The writing at MLB-R has been awful for a solid month now. I’m not expecting all the writers to know all 780 players, but professional writers should be familiar with all the starting players. I think most rotisserie players would’ve known that Wong was the starter.
Wong is far better than I thought he would be BTW, servicable both on offense and defense.
Joe – The writers don’t even need to be familiar with the starting players, they just need to know where to go for information.
mlb.com/redsox/roster/depth-chart
Heck, in the very next sentence the writer gives Wong’s slash line for 58 games. You can deduce he’s the starting catcher from the fact that he’s been in 75% of the games this season.