Brock Holt Claims a Red Sox Teammate Threatened to Shoot Him in 2018

Brock Holt told a mind-boggling story about an unnamed former Red Sox player threatening to shoot his teammates, and it didn’t take long for fans to come up with a suspect.

On the latest episode of the Section 10 podcast, the former Red Sox utility man, who won a World Series with the team in 2018, claimed during that season, a teammate threatened to shoot him. Holt was discussing how a bad teammate can disrupt an entire clubhouse, and that Boston had, “One or two like that in ’18 and we got rid of ‘em, and we took off.” Then he launched into a hair-raising story.

“I’ll tell you this, we were in Tampa, and we were stretching before [batting practice], and we were all in a circle having a ol’ good time,” Holt said. “This someone, like, looks around at all of us and says, ‘You know what? I’m gonna bring a gun to the field tomorrow and kill all of you.’ And then he looks straight at me, and he says, ‘And you’re gonna be first.’”

You can watch him tell the whole story below.

Brock Holt tells us an INSANE story about a member of the 2018 Red Sox…who was then quickly released 😬 pic.twitter.com/in9Qx5Mhrx
— Section 10 Podcast (@Section10Pod) February 12, 2026

Very quickly, fans online debating whom Holt may have been referring to coalesced around one player. You can go ahead and click on the X post above to see the player being discussed as a compelling possibility. We will keep him nameless as we lay out the evidence.

This player was abruptly released in the middle of the 2018 season. While he was having a down year, he wasn’t terrible. In the 44 games he played, he was slashing .254/.313/.395 with a .708 OPS. That’s not great, but wouldn’t necessarily get a former All-Star like him cut.

Holt said the team was in Tampa when the incident took place. The 2018 Red Sox had a three-game road set against the Rays from May 22–24. The team designated this player for assignment on May 25 and officially released him on May 31. The timeline matches. The only other series Boston played in Tampa that year were a season-opening set from March 29 to April 1 and a three-game set from Aug. 24–26. No players were released from the major-league roster in the immediate aftermath of those series, according to MLB transaction pages.

Now, Boston may have just needed the roster space when activating second baseman Dustin Pedroia, and felt this player was past his prime. That could absolutely be the case. But the timelines are a bit suspicious.

This player was not picked up by any other team the rest of the season, latching on with Cleveland in 2019 for 16 games in the final major-league action of his career.

Holt, meanwhile, was a solid piece of the Red Sox’ run to a World Series title. He played 109 games and slashed .277/.362/.411 with seven home runs and a career-best 46 RBIs. His .774 OPS was also the best of his career, and he played six different positions on the diamond. He was also clutch in the postseason, as he compiled a .894 OPS and one home run to go with six RBIs.

The 37-year-old announced his retirement in 2022.

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