Red Sox Designate Former Top Prospect For Assignment
The Boston Red Sox entered Sunday’s series finale against the Chicago White Sox facing an unenviable situation in the American League Wild Card standings. With 20 games to play, they must make up five games in the standings to surpass the Minnesota Twins (76-66) to reach the postseason.
Against this backdrop, Richard Fitts is entering his major league debut at a somewhat precarious time.
Although he has the great fortune of facing the worst team in modern baseball history — the White Sox (32-111) are on pace to eclipse the expansion New York Mets’ record for most losses in a season — Fitts and every Red Sox starter between now and the end of the regular season effectively faces a must-win scenario. FanGraphs gives the team a 9.9 percent chance to make the playoffs.
Fitts’ promotion also comes with the pressure of displacing a former top prospect from the team’s 40-man roster.
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In order to accommodate Fitts, the Red Sox designated infielder Bobby Dalbec for assignment Sunday. Boston also optioned right-handed pitcher Chase Shugart to Triple-A Worcester to make room for Fitts on the 26-man roster.
Dalbec, 29, was a fourth-round pick by the Red Sox in the 2016 draft. He entered the pandemic-shortened 2020 season as the number-75 prospect in MLB according to Baseball America. In a 23-game cameo, Dalbec lived up to the hype.
In 92 plate appearances, Dalbec hit eight home runs, drove in 16, and batted .263 while seeing time at first and third base.
The 63-homer pace was unsustainable, but that first impression was enough for Dalbec to enter MLB Pipeline’s Top 100 rankings prior to the 2021 season.
Dalbec got a long runway to impress as a utility infielder in 2021, appearing in 133 games at three different positions (primarily first base) and designated hitter. He produced a .792 OPS, 25 home runs, and 78 RBIs. But his inability to draw walks (.298 OPS) was somewhat problematic given his high strikeout rate and relative inability to hit for average.
In 2022, Dalbec appeared in 117 games, slashing .215/.283/.369. Over the past two seasons, Dalbec spent more time at Triple-A Worcester than Boston. He ceded his place on the Red Sox’s first base depth chart to Triston Casas with an alarming .159/.234/.235 slash line across 146 trips to the major league plate.
Now out of minor league options, the Red Sox had little choice but to cut Dalbec from their major league roster. Even if he’s able to latch on with a new organization before the offseason, Dalbec will be ineligible to play for them in the postseason.
