Justin Slaten already is making an impact at Red Sox spring training.
Could he be Boston’s subsequent Rule 5 Draft success story?
“Slate, today, the stuff used to be truely good. He threw cutters and the breaking ball and the fastball. It was enjoyable to watch,” Red Sox supervisor Alex Cora instructed reporters Thursday in Fort Myers after Slaten threw stay batting practice at JetBlue Park. “He was once somebody who is opening eyes proper away. If we can harness the stuff in the zone, then top notch things are going to happen.”
The Red Sox obtained Slaten in a change with the Mets this offseason after New York plucked him from the Texas Rangers in the Rule 5 Draft. The 26-year-old posted a 2.87 ERA and 1.073 WHIP in 40 appearances (59 2/3 innings) last season cut up between Double-A Frisco and Triple-A Round Rock. He struck out thirteen batters per nine innings, demonstrating a knack for missing bats.
Obviously, it’s hard to venture how he’ll operate at the major-league level, the place he’ll need to stay on the Red Sox’s 26-man energetic roster all season or else be presented again to his unique club (per Rule 5 Draft rules). He’s in no way thrown a pitch in The Show, and the 2019 third-round select struggled at instances prior to his 2023 breakout.
But Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow was once confident after including Slaten in a deal that sent minor-league left-hander Ryan Ammons and money considerations to the Mets. The right-hander has a actual possibility to carve out a position in Boston’s bullpen, lots like Garrett Whitlock did after being selected by way of the Red Sox in the Rule five Draft before the 2021 season.
“It was type of the marriage of the data, the uncooked pitch characteristics, the performance, the scouting group, every body type of aligned,” Breslow informed reporters back in December of obtaining Slaten. “This budding pitching infrastructure, we had been in a position to get additional perspectives, and when there’s alignment throughout all of those groups, it makes for a fairly convenient decision. He’s a man with large swing-and-miss stuff, profiles as a back-of-the-bullpen kind arm, so we’re simply excited to get him here and see what he can do.”
Of course, it’s frequently tough to roster a Rule 5 pick for an entire season. And that should be in particular proper for the Red Sox, who additionally have to parent out what to do with right-hander Bryan Mata, a touted pitching prospect who battled accidents in latest years and now is out of minor-league options.
“You understand the challenges. I think, roster-wise, the flexibility of making moves, but at the stop of the day, if you’ve acquired top stuff and you throw strikes, you have a chance, obviously,” Cora said Thursday of each Slaten and Mata potentially cracking Boston’s Opening Day roster. “That’s a decision we have to make towards the give up (of spring training), however they’re very talented.”
“So, I think, obviously, the next five, six weeks are going to dictate what we do, but I assume the only task is roster flexibility,” the skipper added. “If we have to raise two, we will (and) it’s due to the fact they earned it; now not because we gave it to them.”
All of this is to say Slaten, like Mata, is an interesting arm to watch as the Red Sox finalize their 2024 bullpen. Expecting a Whitlock-esque breakout may be unfair, but it positive would be an early feather in Breslow’s cap if Slaten has a stable spring and breaks camp with Boston at the quit of March.
