The Red Sox are going to select the contract of right-handed pitcher Frank German today, according to Christopher Smith of MassLive.com. He will take the roster spot of catcher Kevin Plawecki, whose designation for assignment was reported last night.
German, 24, came over to the Red Sox from the Yankees in a January 2021 trade. The Yanks were looking to offload Adam Ottavino and the last year of his contract, including German in the deal as payment for Boston helping them out in that regard. The Yanks had selected him in the fourth round of the 2018 draft.
Though German was mostly a starter in his first few years in the minors, he has worked exclusively in relief this season, with very encouraging results. Between Double-A and Triple-A, he’s thrown 49 2/3 innings on the year with a 2.72 ERA and excellent 32.5% strikeout rate. His 9.6% walk rate is a bit on the high side, but those are still very encouraging results. As noted in Smith’s report, German has an upper-90s fastball that he combines with a splitter and a slider. He’ll now get a chance to try out that repertoire at the big league level, making his MLB debut as soon as he gets into a game.
For the Red Sox, they are 10 games back of a playoff spot with just over two weeks remaining in the season. With their hopes of a postseason appearance gone, they can use their remaining games to audition players for next season and beyond. Since Plawecki was headed for free agency, the club has decided to use his roster spot on a young hurler who could factor into their future bullpen mix.
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