Red Sox claim Robert Stock off waivers

The Red Sox probably aren’t going to be able to roster every fringe major-league pitcher in the league this year, but by golly they are going to try. They just continue to add pitchers to their roster through waivers or other means, and the latest is a big, hard-throwing righty. In the midst of Sunday’s loss to the Orioles, the Red Sox claimed righty Robert Stock off waivers from the Phillies.

As the tweet above points out, Stock was sent to the training site down in Pawtucket. This move, by my calculations, puts the 40-man roster at a full 40. I thought the 60-man player pool had been full before this move, but if we’re being honest there has been so much movement and these rules are so confusing that I’m not totally sure about that and I haven’t seen any clarification. Either way, with Darwinzon Hernandez and Josh Taylor trying to make their way back — players on the COVID IL are taken off the 40-man — and Brian Johnson presumably getting a chance at some point relatively soon there are going to be some roster moves to make all of these pieces fit.

We’ll deal with that when it comes, though. For now, we’ll focus on the addition of Stock, who is an interesting arm. Of course, we can’t go too far without pointing out that the righty had a very tough time in the majors last year, pitching to a 10.13 ERA and a 5.32 FIP, though it was just 10 ²⁄₃ innings and his DRA was a very solid 3.86. That said, his performance in Triple-A was rough, too.

Putting all of that aside, though, Stock does have a monster arm that can get up to 100 mph and can miss bats. Even in the struggles last season he struck out 12.7 per nine, and actually carried an identical rate in Triple-A. He was also very solid in 2018 in the majors in a much bigger sample. Even with a lower strikeout rate (just under a batter per inning), Stock pitched to a 2.50 ERA with a 2.66 FIP and a 3.51 ERA over 39 ²⁄₃ innings in that 2018 season, his first in the majors.

Stock is in the midst of his age-30 season, coming to the majors as a late-bloomer after starting his career as a catcher. Along with that big fastball, Stock throws a slider and occasionally mixes in a changeup and a sinker.