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Brian Van Belle

Reds Acquire Brian Van Belle

By Mark Polishuk | June 14, 2025 at 11:51am CDT

The Reds and Red Sox have each announced that right-hander Brian Van Belle has been traded to Cincinnati in exchange for cash considerations.  Boston designated Van Belle for assignment earlier this week, and he has now been assigned to Triple-A Louisville.

It has been a busy six days for Van Belle, who joined a big league roster for the first time on Monday when the Sox selected his contract from Triple-A.  Van Belle’s cup of coffee in Boston came and went without an official in-game appearance, so the 28-year-old is still awaiting his Major League debut.  Since Van Belle has experience as both a starter and a reliever, his first MLB game might well come with the Reds in a number of different roles if the club makes the call to Louisville.

Van Belle began his pro career with the Red Sox as an undrafted free agent in 2020, though he almost surely would’ve been selected if that year’s draft hadn’t been shortened to five rounds due to the pandemic.  Working his way up to Triple-A Worcester by the 2023 season, Van Belle has a 4.48 ERA, 21.7% strikeout rate, and 6.97% walk rate over 205 career innings at the Triple-A level.  He has started 29 of his 55 Triple-A games, working primarily as a reliever in 2024 and getting most of action as a starter in 2023 and 2025.

On paper, Van Belle might fit best in the majors as a multi-inning reliever, though Cincinnati will probably consider him for at least spot-start duty should a need arise within the rotation.  Ace Hunter Greene is on the 15-day injured list and seems likely to miss the rest of June while dealing with a groin strain and back/hip tightness, leaving the Reds a bit short on rotation depth now that Wade Miley has joined the starting five in Greene’s place.

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Boston Red Sox Cincinnati Reds Transactions Brian Van Belle

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Red Sox Acquire Jorge Alcala

By Nick Deeds | June 12, 2025 at 7:20am CDT

June 12: The trade is now official, with both teams formally announcing the move late last night.

June 11: The Red Sox are acquiring right-hander Jorge Alcala from the Twins, as first reported by Phil Miller of the Star Tribune. Chris Cotillo of MassLive reports that infield/outfield prospect Andy Lugo is headed to Minnesota in return for Alcala’s services. The Athletic’s Dan Hayes reports that no cash is being sent from the Twins to Boston in the deal. Both teams subsequently announced the deal officially, and Boston designated right-hander Brian Van Belle for assignment to create room for Alcala on the 40-man roster.

According to The Athletic’s Aaron Gleeman, the Twins were planning to designate Alcala for assignment in the coming days, and after the club claimed southpaw Joey Wentz off waivers earlier today it’s fairly easy to surmise that the decision to part with Alcala was motivated by a desire to make room for Wentz on the active roster. By trading for Alcala preemptively, the Red Sox were able to bypass the waiver process in order and add the right-hander to their bullpen more directly. Even if the Twins were planning to part ways with Alcala prior to this trade, it’s clear that the Red Sox were very interested in the 29-year-old righty given that they gave up a low-level prospect to acquire him and took on the remainder of Alcala’s $1.5MM salary for this year despite the fact that most trades of DFA candidates wind up being cash deals.

Looking just at Alcala’s surface-level numbers, it may be hard to see why the Red Sox would be enamored with him. Across 22 appearances with Minnesota this year, he’s pitched to an 8.88 ERA with a 5.42 FIP and an elevated 13.2% walk rate. Those numbers are certainly concerning, but Alcala’s 24.6% strikeout rate has remained quite good even in this down season and he entered the year with a career 3.64 ERA and 4.33 FIP. His 2024 campaign was even better, as he posted a 3.24 ERA and 4.14 FIP in 58 1/3 innings of work during a season where his walk rate sat at a much more manageable 8.5%. Alcala’s .369 BABIP allowed and 52.6% strand rate are both certain to improve over a larger sample size, and if the Red Sox can help restore his command it’s not at all difficult to see them making him into a viable option for the middle innings of even a setup role.

That would be a fantastic development for Boston if it were to come to fruition, as they’re without Justin Slaten and Liam Hendriks while both are on the injured list. That’s left them a bit weak from the right side, with Garrett Whitlock and Greg Weissert forced to step into high leverage roles. Zack Kelly is currently in the club’s bullpen despite a 6.61 ERA, and the club has zero full-time relievers who throw from the right-hand side on the 40-man roster in the minors at the moment. The depth Alcala could provide to the bullpen if he manages to get right is considerable, and it was enough of an upgrade that the Red Sox opted to DFA Van Belle just one day after adding him to the roster. The Red Sox will have one week to either trade Van Belle, who has still not yet made his big league debut despite his brief call-up, or put him through waivers.

Heading to Minnesota in return for Alcala’s services is Lugo. The 21-year-old has been in the Red Sox organization since 2022 and is currently hitting .265/.327/.430 across 44 games at the High-A level. He’s split time between first base, third base, and left field throughout his pro career to this point, but is unranked on MLB.com’s Top 30 Red Sox Prospects list. That’s not necessarily a shock given his age and the fact that he’s not yet reached to the Double-A level, but it’s not impossible to imagine him getting called up to Double-A by the end of the year now that he’s in the Twins organization, so long as he can continue hitting fairly well in his new organization.

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Boston Red Sox Minnesota Twins Newsstand Transactions Andy Lugo Brian Van Belle jorge alcala

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Red Sox Designate Robert Stock For Assignment, Select Brian Van Belle

By Darragh McDonald | June 9, 2025 at 3:05pm CDT

The Red Sox announced that they have selected the contract of right-hander Brian Van Belle. He will take the roster spot of fellow righty Robert Stock, who has been designated for assignment.

Stock, 35, was just added to the roster a couple of days ago. Facing the Yankees on Friday, starter Walker Buehler only lasted two innings, in a game that finished in a 9-6 loss. Zack Kelly and Brennan Bernardino came in after Buehler before Cooper Criswell mopped up the final three frames.

Criswell likely wasn’t going to be available for a few days, so the Sox optioned him down and brought up Stock to give the bullpen a fresh arm. In last night’s 11-7 victory over the Yanks, the Sox used eight pitchers to get the necessary 27 outs, leaving them in a somewhat taxed position going into tonight’s contest against the Rays.

Stock was one of those eight pitchers and he wasn’t terribly efficient. He was put into the game in the bottom of the ninth with an 11-5 lead. He faced six batters, only retiring two of them, while throwing 30 pitches. Closer Aroldis Chapman had to come in and get the final out.

That’ll get Stock bumped off the roster for the second time this year. He signed a minor league deal with the Sox in the winter and was also called up in April, under somewhat similar circumstances. Boston had just played a doubleheader and wanted a fresh arm. Stock made one appearance and was designated for assignment right after. He cleared waivers and stuck with the club, which allowed him to come back up in recent days. It’s possible that the same sequence of events plays out in the coming days. Stock has a 10.13 earned run average in those two big league outings this year but a solid 3.09 ERA in Triple-A.

Van Belle, 28, has never been a huge name among prospect evaluators but is having a good season. An undrafted free agent in 2020, he has climbed the minor league ladder and been in Triple-A since 2023. This year, he has logged 51 innings over eight starts and four relief appearances with a 2.29 ERA. His 20% strikeout rate isn’t strong but his 3.4% walk rate is tiny and he’s been getting ground balls on 51.7% of balls in play.

As mentioned, the pitching staff got a lot of work yesterday. Van Belle will replace Stock and give the club a fresh arm capable of tossing multiple innings. He’ll be making his major league debut as soon as he gets into a game.

Photo courtesy of David Butler II, Imagn Images

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Boston Red Sox Transactions Brian Van Belle Robert Stock

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