Raimel Tapia, who wore a Toronto Blue Jays uniform last year and kept Ryu Hyun-jin behind, is heading to the Boston Red Sox.
John Heyman of the ‘MLB Network’ said on the 19th (hereinafter Korean time), “The Boston Red Sox have signed Raimel Tapia to a minor league contract.”
Tapia is a familiar figure to domestic baseball fans. The reason why I ate rice with Ryu Hyun-jin in Toronto last year. Tapia debuted with the Colorado Rockies in 2016 and played for Toronto in 2022. At the beginning of his debut, Tapia received attention enough to be named in the top 100 prospect rankings, but his growth was not outstanding.
Tapia wasn’t bad with a .280 OPS of .721 with 370 hits, 19 homers, and 45 stolen bases in 439 games while using hitter-friendly Coors Field as his home. However, last year in Toronto, he played in 128 games and had a sluggish season with 109 hits, 7 homers, and 8 stolen bases with a batting average of 0.265 OPS of 0.672.
Tapia is not bad for refinement and is a quick-footed hitter. However, he lacks long hit 메이저사이트 production and his stealing ability is not at an outstanding level. He also has a bad defensive side. Despite his strong shoulder, Tapia often showed poor batting ability, and parted ways with Toronto.
Toronto released Tapia, who had been with him for a year, as a non-tender right after the 2022 season ended. After leaving Coors Field, Tapia, whose batting average declined noticeably, could hardly find a destination, and ended up signing a minor league contract with Boston. For now, Tapia is expected to aim for a re-entry into the big leagues through invitation to spring camp.
Boston faced the worst situation as Xander Bogarts, who served as the starting shortstop until last year, transferred to the San Diego Padres and Trevor Story underwent surgery.
Boston, whose outfield defense is weakened if Hernandez goes to the infield, is currently focusing on strengthening the outfield. Boston recruited Adam Duvall the day before (19th), followed by Tapia, and is building up its depth little by little.