Red Sox Claim Easton McGee From Rays

The Red Sox have claimed right-hander Easton McGee off waivers from the Rays, according to Chris Cotillo of MassLive. McGee had been designated for assignment on Monday.

McGee, 24, will join just the second organization of his career. He was drafted by the Rays in 2016 and has been with them until today. He’s never been a huge strikeout guy, but has always limited walks and gotten lots of ground balls, though he’s gotten less grounders this year. In 107 2/3 Triple-A innings this season, he registered a 5.43 ERA with a 17.4% strikeout rate, 4.3% walk rate and 39.6% ground ball rate. He was especially vulnerable to the long ball, surrendering 24 home runs this year.

The Rays selected him to the big league roster a week ago and put him into Sunday’s game. McGee threw three innings in his MLB debut without allowing an earned run, though one unearned run did cross the plate. He was designated for assignment the next day as part of the standard Tampa Bay roster churn.

The Red Sox are evidently intrigued by the 6’6″ righty, nabbing him off waivers on the final day of the regular season. McGee comes with a full slate of options and just a few days of service time, meaning he can be part of Boston’s pitching staff for the foreseeable future, so long as he hangs onto a 40-man roster spot. The club is facing a great deal of turnover in its rotation, with Nathan Eovaldi, Rich Hill and Michael Wacha all slated to reach free agency in a month’s time, making it fairly sensible to reach out and grab another depth option.