Red Sox officially promote Rafael Devers; Kyle Martin optioned to Triple-A

We learned after Sunday’s loss to the Angels that the Red Sox would be calling up their top prospect Rafael Devers for the series in Seattle. This afternoon, we learned how they’d do it. They’ll be optioning Kyle Martin back down to Triple-A Pawtucket, and to make room on the 40-man roster they transferred Robbie Ross to the 60-day disabled list.

We’ve known for some time that this type of move was coming, as the Red Sox have had an imbalanced roster for the last couple of series. After all of the innings they played against the Yankees coming out of the break, Boston has been carrying an extra pitcher in their bullpen. They indicated they’d bring back a position player beginning on Monday, and the assumption was that it’d be the rehabbing Josh Rutledge. You know what they say about assuming.

Martin is the logical arm to go down, as he is one of three relievers currently in the bullpen with options. Brandon Workman and Ben Taylor are the other two, and have more of a track record to lean on as major-league quality relievers. Martin will be back at some point, though, even if it’s not until rosters expand in September. The righty made two appearances totalling 2 ¹⁄₃ innings while with the big-league team and allowed one run on two walks and one strikeout.

As for Ross, this doesn’t really change anything for him. He has been out since the middle of May, so he has been out for about 60 days regardless. There’s still no timetable on the lefty’s return, so moving him to make room for Devers on the 40-man was the logical choice.

Also of note is that Devers will be wearing number 11. Other recent Red Sox players to wear that number are Clay Buchholz, Hideo Nomo, Bill Mueller and, of course, Chase d’Arnaud. Let’s hope Devers can post a batting average similar to d’Arnaud’s in his time with the Red Sox.