{"id":34727,"date":"2025-03-21T02:29:18","date_gmt":"2025-03-21T02:29:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=34727"},"modified":"2025-03-21T02:29:18","modified_gmt":"2025-03-21T02:29:18","slug":"stunning-trade-pitch-sees-red-sox-deal-2-time-all-star-for-top-catching-prospect","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=34727","title":{"rendered":"Stunning Trade Pitch Sees Red Sox Deal 2-Time All-Star For Top Catching Prospect"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"c-content entry-content\">\n<div id=\"post-featured-container-id\">\n<div id=\"post-featured\" class=\"wp-caption \">\n<div class=\"h-responsive\">\n<figure class=\"h-responsive__inner\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"attachment-featured-image size-featured-image wp-post-image\" src=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Trade-Pitch-Trevor-Story-Drake-Baldwin.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 820px) 95vw, 780px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Trade-Pitch-Trevor-Story-Drake-Baldwin.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780 780w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Trade-Pitch-Trevor-Story-Drake-Baldwin.jpg?quality=15&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1100 1100w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Trade-Pitch-Trevor-Story-Drake-Baldwin.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1350 1350w\" alt=\"Trade-Pitch-Trevor-Story-Drake-Baldwin\" width=\"780\" height=\"439\" data-dom-ready-time=\"1053\" data-img-load-time=\"1319\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-caption-text\"><span class=\"caption-credit\">Getty<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"c-post-image-caption-text\">Trevor Story<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>When the Boston Red Sox made the trade that got their offseason off the ground, acquiring former Chicago White Sox lefty ace Garrett Crochet, the acquisition did not come without a heavy price. The Red Sox gave top four of their best prospects, but most notable among them was their\u00a02023 first-round draft pick, 14th overall, out of the University of Virginia, Kyle Teel.<\/p>\n<p>The decision to send Teel to Chicago as part of the Crochet deal was not an easy one for the Red Sox. The\u00a023-year-old was\u00a0looked on by the Boston organization as the catcher of the future, tabbed to take over from Conor Wong who, despite a solid bat, rates\u00a0well below average on key defensive metrics\u00a0for a catcher.<\/p>\n<p>The Red Sox acquired\u00a0eight-season minor league backstop Carlos Narvaez\u00a0from the New York Yankees in December, and it now\u00a0appears that Narvaez will break camp as the primary back-up to Wong \u2014 but neither catcher is viewed as the long-term solution that the Red Sox planned for Teel to become.<\/p>\n<h2>Blockbuster Gets Red Sox Potential Next Great Catcher<\/h2>\n<p>But a new trade pitch\u00a0offered by\u00a0<em>Newsweek<\/em>\u00a0sporstwriter\u00a0Zach Presnell could open the door for the Red Sox to replace Teel at the top of their minor league system with a catcher who appears ready to step in at the Major League level on short notice.<\/p>\n<p>The trade would link the Red Sox with the Atlanta Braves, whose\u00a0No. 1 overall prospect is catcher\u00a0Drake Baldwin, age 23, who was\u00a0Atlanta\u2019s third-round draft pick\u00a0in 2022 out of Missouri State. Baldwin is ranked as the\u00a0No. 7 overall catching prospect\u00a0by\u00a0<em>MLB Pipeline<\/em> \u2014 though it should be noted that Teel is now ranked No. 3.<\/p>\n<p>At the same time, Atlanta is growing increasingly disillusioned with veteran shortstop Orlando Arcia, who has mustered just\u00a0two hits and three walks in 30 plate appearances\u00a0so far in Spring Training. If the Braves intend to get back to the postseason in 2025 after\u00a0seven years of playoff baseball\u00a0in a row \u2014 including the 2021 World Series championship \u2014 they will need more production from the shortstop slot.<\/p>\n<p>The Red Sox have veteran Trevor Story,\u00a0entering the fourth year\u00a0of the six-season, $140 million contract he signed with the Red Sox prior to the 2022 season, as their shortstop \u2014 but Story has been plagued by injuries,\u00a0appearing in only 163 games over three years in Boston. Nonetheless Story, 32, is a two-time All-Star with a career .833 OPS who may benefit from a change of scenery.<\/p>\n<h2>Marcelo Mayer Ready to Take Over From Story<\/h2>\n<p>In Presnell\u2019s trade pitch, Story would bring back a pair of Braves prospects in\u00a0righty pitcher Hurston Waldrep\u00a0\u2014 the Braves first round pick, 24th overall, out of Florida in 2023 \u2014 along with 2022\u00a0fifth-rounder Nacho Alvarez Jr., an infielder from Riverside, California.<\/p>\n<p>Waldrep and Alvarez are the Braves\u2019 fourth- and fifth-ranked prospects, respectively, per the\u00a0<em>MLB Pipeline<\/em> rankings.<\/p>\n<p>But while pitching is always in demand, the Red Sox have a backlog in the middle infield with Story, possibly Alex Bregman (if he moves from third base to second), David Hamilton, prospects Kristian Campbell and Marcelo Mayer, as well as Vaughn Grissom \u2014 who was acquired in last year\u2019s trade with the Braves that sent 2024 National League Cy Young winner Chris Sale to Atlanta.<\/p>\n<p>Grissom, however,\u00a0has been optioned to Triple-A due to the Red Sox wealth of middle infielders. Alvarez Jr. would likely find no path to the Major Leagues in Boston.<\/p>\n<p>Catcher, on the other hand, is a position where the Red Sox lack depth especially after surrendering Teel in the Crochet trade. Mayer, a natural shortstop\u00a0who is batting .357 with a .973 OPS in 15 Grapefruit League games, could take over shortstop from Story, and the Red Sox would gain a new catcher of the future in Baldwin if they were to execute the blockbuster trade idea.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Getty Trevor Story When the Boston Red Sox made the trade that got their offseason off the ground, acquiring former Chicago White Sox lefty ace Garrett Crochet,&#8230; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":34728,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34727","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Stunning Trade Pitch Sees Red Sox Deal 2-Time All-Star For Top Catching Prospect - 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