Three days after designating for assignment, the Red Sox have outrighted infielder Taylor Motter to Triple-A Worcester, the club announced earlier Friday afternoon.
Motter, who turns 32 next weekend, was initially claimed off waivers from the Rockies on September 2 — a point in time in which the Sox found themselves in need of experienced infield depth with the likes of Enrique Hernandez, Christian Arroyo, Xander Bogaerts, and Yairo Munoz all out on the COVID-19 related injured list.
After being activated on September 4, Motter made his Red Sox debut that same night, as he appeared as a pinch-runner in the ninth inning and scored the game-winning run in last Saturday’s 4-3 walk-off victory over the Indians at Fenway Park.
The versatile 31-year-old also appeared as a defensive replacement on Sunday and made his first start at second base for Boston in Monday’s 11-10 loss to the Rays, going 2-for-5 with a double, a triple, an RBI, and two runs scored while batting out of the leadoff spot.
Despite the bit of explosiveness he showed in his brief stint with the Red Sox, Motter lost his spot on the club’s major-league and 40-man rosters when both Hernandez and Danny Santana were activated from the COVID-19 related injured list on Tuesday.
Now that he has cleared waivers and accepted an assignment to Worcester, the 6-foot-1, 195 pound right-handed hitter will look to provide the Red Sox with some upper-minors infield depth as a member of the WooSox.
Prior to being claimed off waivers from the Rockies last week, Motter had appeared in 68 games for Colorado’s Triple-A affiliate in Albuquerque.
In those 68 games, the former 17th-round draft pick slashed an impressive .335/.460/.759 to go along with 16 doubles, one triple, 24 home runs, 57 RBI, 54 runs scored, 49 walks, and 49 strikeouts across 267 trips to the plate for the Isotopes.
For his big-league career, which dates back to May 2016, Motter has gotten playing time at first base, second base, third base, shortstop, and both corner outfield positions over the course of four seasons spent with the Rays, Mariners, Twins, Rockies, and Red Sox.
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