Inside The Red Sox

Red Sox Lose 22-Year-Old Mystery Prospect To AL East Rival Rays

Did the Rays find a hidden gem after back-to-back lost seasons?
Jackson Roberts|
Sep 6, 2019; St. Petersburg, FL, USA; A detail view of a Tampa Bay Rays hat and glove at Tropicana Field. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-Imagn Images
Sep 6, 2019; St. Petersburg, FL, USA; A detail view of a Tampa Bay Rays hat and glove at Tropicana Field. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-Imagn Images | Kim Klement-Imagn Images

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Boston Red Sox

No division in baseball is more competitive than the American League East right now, and on Wednesday, that fierce competition extended to the Rule 5 Draft.

The Boston Red Sox lost talented 21-year-old righty Jedixson Paez in the major league portion of the Rule 5 proceedings, but there were three more pitchers snagged by rival clubs during the minor-league portion.

One of those pitchers went to an AL East club notorious for getting the most from its pitchers. According to the official MLB.com Rule 5 Draft tracker, the Tampa Bay Rays selected 22-year-old right-hander Alvaro Mejias with the ninth pick of the minor-league portion of the draft.

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Rays take Mejias after back-to-back lost seasons

Mejias, who the Red Sox signed as an amateur out of Venezuela in 2021, put up a 2.70 ERA and 51 strikeouts in the first 46 1/3 innings of his professional career. But he also has not pitched in a game since Aug. 22, 2023.

Mejias spent each of the last two years on the full-season injured list, according to his MiLB.com roster page. According to Ian Cundall of SoxProspects.com (one of the most knowledgeable people on the planet with regards to the Boston farm system), Mejias underwent Tommy John surgery last April.

There's not much out there about Mejias. SoxProspects' scouting report on the 22-year-old is limited to a single sentence: "Athletic frame with a lot of remaining projection." He's listed at 6-foot-2, 170 pounds on his official roster page, and may well have filled out while rehabbing over the past two years.

Having not pitched above rookie ball yet, it's too early to say whether Mejias is on track to making the Rays' investment in him pay off. But it's admittedly a minimal investment, as the cost to acquire a prospect during the minor-league portion of the Rule 5 draft is a mere $24,000.

Teams are undoubtedly taking note of the Red Sox's impressive pitching pipeline, though Mejias didn't exactly show results during his last two years in that pipeline.

More MLB: Red Sox, Athletics Swing Trade Sending High-Strikeout Righty To Boston

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Jackson Roberts
JACKSON ROBERTS

Jackson Roberts is a former Division III All-Region DH who now writes and talks about sports for a living. A Bay Area native and a graduate of Swarthmore College and the Newhouse School at Syracuse University, Jackson makes his home in North Jersey. He grew up rooting for the Red Sox, Patriots, and Warriors, and he recently added the Devils to his sports fandom mosaic. For all business/marketing inquiries regarding Boston Red Sox On SI, please reach out to Scott Neville: scott@wtfsports.org

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