The Red Sox brought back right-handers Isaiah Campbell and Bryan Mata on minor league contracts, reports Chris Cotillo of MassLive. Both players were designated for assignment on Tuesday when the Sox added a pair of prospects to their 40-man roster.
Boston waited until tonight’s non-tender deadline to cut them loose, thereby sending them to free agency without needing to run them through waivers. They evidently had a handshake agreement with both pitchers to circle back to the organization without occupying a 40-man spot. Both pitchers will be in big league camp as non-roster invitees, per Cotillo.
Mata, 25, was once among the most highly-touted pitchers in the Boston system. The Venezuela native posted excellent numbers in the low minors and earned a 40-man roster spot after the 2020 season. He unfortunately hasn’t made it to the big leagues four years later, largely because of injury. Mata underwent Tommy John surgery early in the ’21 campaign. He hasn’t topped 83 innings in a minor league season since then.
A hamstring strain limited him to 22 2/3 innings between four minor league levels this year. Mata turned in a 4.37 ERA as he tried to work to the majors. He has allowed 4.87 earned runs per nine through 87 career Triple-A frames. Mata has struggled to throw strikes consistently, but he routinely posts huge ground-ball numbers.
Campbell, 27, also lost most of the season to injury. Acquired from the Mariners last offseason for infielder Luis Urías, he only pitched 6 2/3 innings in a Sox uniform. Campbell was blitzed for 13 runs in that small sample, a far cry from the 2.83 ERA he posted in 27 appearances for the Mariners as a rookie. The Arkansas product missed time with both a shoulder impingement and elbow inflammation amidst a difficult year. He fared much better in a limited sample in Triple-A, where he struck out 19 batters while allowing only four runs over 16 1/3 innings.
Can’t hurt but probably won’t help either.
One open spot on the Red Sox 40 man roster now.
I think Campbell will have a great bounce back year in 2025.
Glad to see Mata back, seemed like a shame to not be able to find out what he’d turn into in Boston, but definitely was heavy in that 40-man spot. Campbell is a fine non-roster option too.
Both need to get their balls out of their purses and perform because their very baseball existence is on the line at their age and history. Kicked to the curb by new players and abundance in the world. Hope they both do but they should be training like their baseball life is on the line. Because it is!
Campbell has shown potential at least with Florida and with the bounce back when he got demoted. I’m pretty much done with Mata, he will never be more than a replacement level player and maybe not even that.