Red Sox sign Kyle Wren to minor-league deal

One of the low-key issues with the Red Sox roster is their lack of outfield depth outside the major-league roster. Now, the extent of the issue depends on how strict you want to be about what it is to be an outfielder. If you consider Brock Holt, Tzu-Wei Lin and Sam Travis as outfield depth, then they have plenty of bodies. If you’re looking for real, full-time outfielders? Well, the best option in Triple-A is probably Rusney Castillo, and financial reasons will keep him out of the majors. So, the Red Sox are throwing another option on the wall and seeing what sticks. On Wednesday, they signed Kyle Wren to a minor-league deal.

Now before we get into where Wren came from, the name may sound familiar. That’s because he is the third member of the Wren family to join the Red Sox organization. His father, Frank, is the senior vice president of the organization. He is also a former GM in Atlanta, the team who originally drafted Kyle. There is also Jordan, Kyle’s younger brother who was drafted in the 10th round last year and is currently struggling in Greenville.

Now, as for Kyle, he is now in his age-27 season and has been in the pros since 2013. After spending his first two years in the Braves organization, Wren has spent the last four with Milwaukee, with parts of each of those seasons in Triple-A. Overall, he’s posted a solid .751 OPS in Triple-A, but one has to consider that has come in the Pacific Coast League. The PCL is a notorious hitter-friendly environment. He was released by the Brewers at the end of June after 47 games at Triple-A.

Wren likely isn’t going to factor into the outfield depth chart if we’re being honest, and he’s taking the spot of someone who they had hoped could. Back in March the Red Sox acquired Ramon Flores from the Diamondbacks, and he was released when they signed Wren. Flores was hitting .215/.299/.308 with the PawSox.