The Red Sox add some relief depth with experience from the, err, Sacramento Athletics on a pair of minor-league deals.
Who are they and where do they come from?
You’ve heard some variation of “if the worst team in the league doesn’t want them, why do we?” a few times on comment boards, right? Well, the Oak… Sac…. Las Vegas…. uh, Athletics had a few depth arms depart, and we’ve scooped two of them up. On January 6, the Red Sox signed 33-year-old righty Austin Adams to a minor league contract, Ten days later, another pitcher who had innings for the A’s this past season, 31-year-old lefty Sean Newcomb, was signed to a similar deal.
Those aren’t the only non-roster invitees with Major League experience you’ll see in the bullpen (or, more likely, Worcester’s bullpen) in 2025, as Colorado’s Noah Davis, another multi-inning reliever, was also given a deal. And, finally, Robert Stock, a guy written and lauded about in the Astroball documentary as a 2009 St. Louis Cardinals draft pick (who also played for the forgotten 2020 Sox), has landed in Worcester.
Are they any good?
I mean, have you ever seen four meet the new guys in one article? To answer that question as well as the question I posed:
No.
However, Newcomb, a first-round-pick in 2014, is a World Series champion in a low leverage role with the 2021 Braves. Newcomb also has ties to the area, being from Middleborough and going to college at Hartford. He has 175 career games logged, mostly in that innings-eater position which may prove valuable in a “break glass in case of emergency” role. It’s also notable he can go multiple innings if needed, as he’s gone 431 innings in 175 career games (with 438 career strikeouts). There is a catch, per the Bloom-Breslow rules: he’s had some knee troubles, as each knee has undergone arthroscopic surgery during his time in Oakland, which has severely limited his time actually throwing a baseball since 2022.
Adams led the league in batters hit by pitches in 2021 and has some nagging forearm issues, but he strikes out a lot of hitters (as we’ve constantly seen in pickups by the all-hallowed RUNS PREVENTION UNIT) and his 41 1⁄2 innings pitched were the second-most in the Majors since that fated 2021 season. He also induced a 35.3% whiff rate despite having virtually no extension on his fastball, which may lead Andrew Bailey to tweaking some mechanics for potentially even better results.
Tl:dr; just give me their 2024 stats.
Austin Adams: 56 G, 41 1⁄3 IP, 53 K, 3.92 ERA, 1.48 WHIP
Sean Newcomb: 7 G, 10 IP, 7 K, 6.30 ERA, 1.70 WHIP
Noah Davis: 9 G, 20 1⁄3 IP, 15 K, 5.75 ERA, 1.87 WHIP
Robert Stock played in Mexico in 2024, but put up impressive numbers: 98 2⁄3 IP, 104 K, 3.38 ERA
Show me a cool highlight.
Adams: Look at these dances after his strikeout. Who needs Pivetta’s celebrations when you have a guy throwing their gum out of their mouth after hurling a fastball? (I might need them, but the fact remains…)
Newcomb: Sorry for the copyright notice, but this is necessary background. When he was an uninjured starter in Atlanta, he took a no-hitter to the ninth inning including taking five innings perfect and walking just one. He looks cool as a cucumber, too.
Davis: How about a guy throwing four innings in relief and painting this corners? Always a good option when the pitcher combusts early. Which, please don’t let this happen to this rotation this year.
Stock: He threw a no-hitter as a member of the Long Island Ducks in 2023.
What are their roles on the 2025 Red Sox?
If you mean the Worcester Red Sox, they’ll provide some backup to rotation guys looking for callups like Dobbins, Shane Drohan, who’s back after being swiped in the Rule 5 draft, and Grant Gambrell. I actually think it’s most likely that Stock has some significant playing time in 2025, followed by Adams, but I’d be shocked if either logged more than twenty innings given that the team probably wants to see what they have in some younger options. Still, it’s good to have some experienced depth, but it could become very not good, and candidly, a huge concern if the team is ever in a situation that any of these guys have to step in for some considerable or higher-leverage innings.