In Luis Urías, the Red Sox Pick Up a Reclamation Project

After shipping Enrique Hernández back to Los Angeles last week, the Red Sox addressed their newfound lack of infield depth with a last-minute trade right before Tuesday’s trade deadline, acquiring Luis Urías from the Brewers for right-handed pitching prospect Bradley Blalock.

Urías only turned 26 years old in June, but he’s already had six years of big league experience under his belt. He was a highly regarded prospect with the Padres before getting dealt to the Brewers in the Trent Grisham trade ahead of the 2020 season, then broke out the next year, posting a 112 wRC+ with 23 home runs and a .249/.345/.445 slash line. That kind of production from an infielder who can capably play anywhere on the dirt seemed to solidify him as a core piece in Milwaukee’s lineup. Unfortunately, a hamstring injury suffered on the first day of the season cost him all of April and May, and once he returned from his injury, he was a shell of his former self, limping to a 60 wRC+ in 20 games in June and getting demoted to Triple-A at the end of the month. Since then, he’s posted a .250/.392/.447 slash line in 20 games for Triple-A Nashville, good for a 113 wRC+.

Contact quality was never Urías’ strong suit, even when he was producing solid numbers in Milwaukee. He leveraged great plate discipline to produce an above-average walk rate, giving him a good foundation at the plate, and he pulled enough fly ball contact with a barrel rate good enough to support his home run totals in 2021 and ’22, but he wasn’t making enough hard contact to push his production to the next level. This year, he fell to the other side of that contact quality tightrope.

Every single one of his batted ball peripherals has taken a turn for the worse this year. It’s certainly possible he was rushed back from his hamstring injury and that hampered his ability to swing with authority. Whatever the case may be, he obviously has a lot of work to do to get back to the kind of production he enjoyed over the previous two years.

The good news is that his plate discipline seemed to be intact and even improving in his brief stint in the majors this year. He was able to cut his chase rate by more than six points, down to 16%. His overall swing rate was down, too, perhaps indicating an acknowledgement that his swing wasn’t quite right. Those plate discipline gains were offset by the lowest contact rate of his career (75.7%), which is a big reason why his strikeout and walk rates barely budged from his established norms.

The Red Sox have had a ton of trouble fielding a competent middle infield pair this year. With Xander Bogaerts in San Diego and Trevor Story sidelined with his elbow injury, Hernández and Christian Arroyo have played the bulk of the innings at shortstop and second base. Neither has been all that effective; Hernández’s atrocious defense at short was a big reason why Boston opted to trade him to Los Angeles last week, and they’ve resorted to using Yu Chang and Justin Turner at the up-the-middle positions since then. Story is nearing a return from his injury, which should give them an upgrade at short, but second base will likely continue to be a problem.

Adding Urías to this infield mix doesn’t solve all of Boston’s problems, but if he figures out his issues at the plate, he could be an option at second base or as a flexible piece off the bench. He was assigned to Triple-A after the trade was completed, so the Red Sox are going to let him continue working things out. Urías does have two more years of arbitration eligibility left, though his escalating salary could result in a non-tender if his struggles continue. That puts some pressure on him to turn things around quickly, but it’s a low-risk move by Boston to see if he can actually do it.

In exchange for Urías, the Red Sox sent Blalock to Milwaukee. He was a 32nd-round pick in 2019 and had a very short stint as a professional that year before the pandemic wiped out what would have been his full season debut in the minors. He showed some growth in 2021 in A-ball, with his velocity ticking up to 93–95 mph. Tommy John surgery in 2022 stalled his development, but he has returned this year with some real prospect helium. On this year’s prospect list, he ranked 19th in Boston’s farm system with a 40+ FV. His fastball has continued to improve and his curveball has shown tremendous growth, leading to a 2.55 ERA and a 3.65 FIP in seven High-A starts this year.

Since 2023 is Blalock’s 40-man evaluation year, and with two potentially plus pitches, the Brewers will need to figure out quickly if he’s a part of their future or potentially leave him vulnerable to the Rule 5 draft. He slots in at 17th in their organization on The Board.