The Red Sox announced they have selected the contract of left-hander Alec Gamboa from Triple-A Worcester. Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com first reported that Gamboa was on a flight to Detroit and likely to be added after exercising an upward mobility clause. He takes the active roster spot of fellow lefty Danny Coulombe, who has been placed on the 15-day injured list due to cervical spasms, retroactive to May 2nd. To open a 40-man spot, lefty Patrick Sandoval has been transferred to the 60-day IL.
Gamboa will take the mound as a 29-year-old rookie when he’s first plugged into a game. The 2019 Dodgers ninth-rounder spent years climbing the ranks in L.A.’s system but never reached the majors. The Dodgers granted him his release last year in order to sign with the KBO’s Lotte Giants, and Gamboa wound up making 19 starts with a 3.58 ERA in 108 innings in that overseas run. He fanned just under one quarter of his opponents, issued walks at a 10.3% clip and recorded a 55.2% ground-ball rate. Both his ERA and FIP were about 20% better than league average in South Korea’s hitter-friendly environment.
That showing prompted the Sox to bring Gamboa aboard on a minor league deal. He only pitched two spring innings and has tossed 13 frames in Worcester. The 6.23 ERA he’s turned in thus far isn’t going to generate much excitement, but Gamboa has a nice 25.4% strikeout rate with a solid 8.5% walk rate and a huge 57.9% grounder rate. He’s been plagued by a mammoth .405 average on balls in play that’s sure to regress closer to the .290 league average.
More to come.
