Urías is called up
It appears the Red Sox have a new starting second baseman.
Luis Urías, the club’s lone acquisition at Tuesday’s trade deadline, has been called up to the big league club from Triple-A. To clear space on the roster, the Red Sox designated incumbent starter Christian Arroyo for assignment, and afterwards manager Alex Cora indicated Urías will get the bulk of the playing time at second going forward.
“We trust this kid, I think offensively he had some good seasons and he can play second base,” Cora said. “Obviously we pulled the trade and he’s here to play.”
“I’m very happy and very grateful to have this opportunity with this team and this group,” Urías said via translator Carlos Villoria Benítez. “They’ve all been very nice and very welcoming to me.”
Not long ago Urías was among the most productive young middle infielders in the National League, and while the 26-year-old has endured a nightmare season so far — batting .145 in 20 big league games — the Red Sox are betting he can get back to being the player who hit 23 home runs with 75 RBI two seasons ago.
Once that was decided, the club then needed to choose between Arroyo and Pablo Reyes as the utility infielder, and Cora said they went with Reyes because he’s more versatile.
“He’s a good kid, up and down season, at one point it felt like he was trying too much in a sense,” Cora said of Arroyo, who he called a good defensive second baseman who came up with some big hits in his Red Sox career. “Obviously we’ll miss him but we’ll see what the future holds and we’ll go from there.”
Though Arroyo was a popular clubhouse presence and came up big for Boston on a number of occasions, the writing had been on the wall for the 28-year-old infielder for some time. Arroyo is batting .241 with three home runs and an unimpressive .638 OPS on the season, and in recent weeks he’d begun losing playing time to Justin Turner, who is 38 years old and hadn’t played regularly at second base since 2015.
Turner may continue to see time at second given that seven of the club’s best hitters are either outfielders and corner infielders, meaning that was the only way to get all of them in the lineup at once, but if Urías can recapture his old form that may change the calculus for Cora on a nightly basis.
After recording back-to-back seasons with 3-plus wins above replacement — which indicates borderline all-star production — Urías injured his hamstring on opening day and missed the first two months of the season. He returned on June 5 and played so poorly afterwards that he was demoted to Triple-A barely three weeks later.
He’s remained in the minors ever since, but since the All-Star break he’s begun to show signs of a turnaround, batting .264 with a .900 OPS and as many walks (14) as strikeouts (14). Speaking to reporters Friday, Urías described his season so far as “very difficult” but added that he’s feeling much better physically and is finally getting his timing back.
“When I started getting more at bats and more repetitions I started to gain more confidence,” Urías said. “I feel really good right now.”
Story’s return imminent
In addition to Urías, the Red Sox are also expected to activate shortstop Trevor Story at some point in the coming days. Story’s rehab assignment is due to expire on Wednesday, meaning he should be back by mid-week at the latest, but Cora didn’t rule out the possibility he could return over the weekend.
“It’s about how he’s bouncing back from games. He played Tuesday and Wednesday, the night game and then the day game, he felt it, and that’s the reason he’s not playing with us today,” Cora said Friday. “I’m not saying it’s day by day but it’s about him feeling that he can go out there and compete at this level.”
Whitlock likely to bullpen
Chris Sale (stress reaction in shoulder) is scheduled to start Sunday for the WooSox. Sale could be back in Boston “sooner rather than later.”
Garrett Whitlock (right elbow bone bruise) is also expected to begin his rehab assignment next week, and Cora indicated that once he returns he will likely do so as a multi-inning reliever similar to his role in 2021. … Turner (heel bruise) was not in the lineup Friday for the third consecutive game, but Cora said he’s available off the bench.