The Boston Red Sox have decided to shed some organizational pitching depth in favor of an established veteran Thursday despite being fairly weak in that regard.
Boston officially signed right-hander Corey Kluber, which should greatly aid the starting rotation. Unfortunately, the corresponding move hurts the team's depth.
Fellow right-hander Connor Seabold was designated for assignment to make room for Kluber on the 40-man roster, the team announced.
Seabold went 0-4 with and 11.29 ERA, 19-to-8 strikeout-to-walk ratio and a whopping .402 batting average against last season in 18 1/3 innings last season for Boston.
That said, he has an electric pitch mix with a 20.8% whiff rate on his fastball, 21.9% whiff rate on his slider and an incredible 41% whiff rate on his changeup.
In his first start of the 2022 season, Seabold recorded seven strikeouts and 21 swing-and-misses, but he also allowed seven earned runs. It's been quite the anomaly for Seabold, but his potential is certainly there.
The 26-year-old is the No. 21 prospect in the organization according to MLB Pipeline and dominated Triple-A last season.
Seabold posted an 8-2 record with a 3.32 ERA, 89-to-19 strikeout-to-walk ratio and .237 batting average against in 86 2/3 innings for Worcester.
If he could put it all together, Seabold could be quite the weapon.
One issue Seabold had was a stubbornness to rely on his fastball, when he was much more effective with his changeup. Red Sox manager Alex Cora reportedly tried to get him to throw his filthy changeup more often, but his pitch usage never changed -- which could be a factor for his designation.
The current starting rotation looks like it will be comprised of Kluber, Chris Sale, Nick Pivetta, Garrett Whitlock, Bryan Bello or James Paxton. The depth options include Tanner Houck -- who will likely transition back to the bullpen -- Josh Winckowski and Kutter Crawford.
It would make the organizational depth deeper if Seabold could clear waivers, but that seems unlikely given his potential.
The move isn't a massive deal, but depleting an already thin area of the roster is something to monitor.
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