The Purple Sox introduced Monday that they’ve reinstated infielder Christian Arroyo from the injured checklist and, in a corresponding transfer, designated outfielder Raimel Tapia for project.
The veteran Tapia, 29, was non-tendered by the Blue Jays final winter and signed a minor league cope with the Purple Sox, who chosen his contract previous to Opening Day. He’s appeared in 39 video games up to now and tallied 97 plate appearances in Boston, batting .264/.333/.368 with a homer, 4 doubles, a triple and 6 stolen bases (in seven makes an attempt). He’s drawn 9 walks and fanned 19 instances alongside the best way, giving him barely better-than-average charges in each departments.
Tapia has performed all three outfield spots in Boston however has primarily been a left fielder in his huge league profession — most of which has been spent with the Rockies. He’s drawn strong, if unspectacular grades in left subject and in heart subject, although defensive metrics aren’t notably eager on his proper subject prowess. He’s been common or a tick worse throughout the board within the outfield this season per every of Defensive Runs Saved, Final Zone Score and Outs Above Common.
With some outfield versatility, above-average contact and above-average pace, Tapia has been a strong sufficient fourth outfielder in Boston, even with a obvious lack of energy. That’s usually par for the course for the speedster, who has by no means topped 9 dwelling runs in a giant league season and hasn’t been deemed a powerful sufficient defender by any of the Rockies, Jays or Purple Sox to expire in heart subject on a daily and even semi-regular foundation.
Tapia can definitely present worth, however as a primarily left-field choice with out a lot energy and with notable platoon splits (.105/.190/.105 versus lefties in 2023; .275/.305/.361 profession), he’s maybe a bit extra restricted than one would possibly count on with a cursory look at his batting line and 89th percentile dash pace (per Statcast). It’s nonetheless at the least considerably shocking to see the Purple Sox transfer on on this vogue, though with an all-left-handed-hitting outfield mixture of Masataka Yoshida, Jarren Duran and Alex Verdugo, Tapia’s lefty bat would possibly properly have been deemed a suboptimal match. The proper-handed-hitting Rob Refsnyder provides a extra pure complement in that regard.
The minor league deal Tapia signed over the winter contained a $2MM base wage, so any workforce that claims him or acquires him would have to be snug selecting up the rest of that prorated invoice. Boston might all the time embody some money to assist facilitate a commerce, and a commerce is definitely the workforce’s most well-liked choice, as Tapia has greater than 5 years of MLB service and may thus reject an outright project whereas retaining the whole lot of the wage nonetheless owed to him. The Purple Sox may have per week to commerce Tapia, try to go him by means of outright waivers, or launch him.
