If you checked out the Boston Red Sox recent transactions, you might have noticed they added two guys to the 40-man roster last week to protect them from the Rule V draft.
Indeed they did. Kyle Martin and Luis Ysla were added and since most people probably have no clue who either of these guys are, here is a breakdown explaining who they are, what their deal is and all that.
Martin was a right-handed workhorse reliever the the PawSox this past season. He pitched just 36 times but when he did pitch, he threw 66.2 innings and struck out 78 batters.
It might also be worth noting he is 6-foot-7, throws around 92-94 mph, his righty-lefty splits are pretty equal and was the Red Sox 9th round pick in the 2013 draft. He played in the Arizona Fall League last year and he improved a lot from 2015 to 2016, especially as he jumped levels.
Ysla was a left-handed reliever for the Portland Sea Dogs for most of last season. The Red Sox got him for Alejandro De Aza in 2015 and converted him to full-time relief.
The southpaw posted a 4.07 ERA in 39 outings (55.1 innings) this past season and while his 27 walks might cause concern, he did strike out 60 batters. And SoxProspects.com says his fastball averages 94-97 MPH. For a lefty, that’s impressive. His numbers might not have impressed last season, but the Red Sox are thin on left-handed relief depth and they must like what they see, so there is that.
Speaking of the 40-man roster, the Red Sox have plenty of work to do. At some point, they are going to have to do what they can to get Bryan Holaday, Roenis Elias and possibly Fernando Abad (unless they’re 100 percent positive they want him to be their second left-handed reliever next year, as crazy as it sounds).