Inside The Red Sox

Red Sox Add Veteran Outfielder With Elite Speed To Bolster Depth For 2023 Season

Boston adds another position player to improve the team's depth

Scott Neville

Red Sox Add Veteran Outfielder With Elite Speed To Bolster Depth For 2023 Season
Red Sox Add Veteran Outfielder With Elite Speed To Bolster Depth For 2023 Season /
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The Boston Red Sox jumped to acquire a veteran outfielder with elite speed and defense to bolster their depth with 118 games remaining on the schedule. 

After being released by the Los Angeles Dodgers on Thursday, the Red Sox wasted no time bringing outfielder Bradley Zimmer into the fold one day later, according to the Worcester Red Sox -- where he's expected to be sent. 

The 30-year-old is a career .213 hitter with a .298 on-base percentage and .631 OPS in 372 games at the Major League level. His offensive numbers do not jump off the page, and are far from the reason he's been able to stick around in professional baseball. 

Zimmer is one of the fastest players in Major League Baseball and has an elite defensive skillset as well. He's swiped 42 bases in 50 career attempts and ranked in the 97th percentile for sprint speed, 93rd percentile for arm strength and 96th percentile for Outs Above Average in 2021 -- he did not have enough playing time in 2022 to record qualified metrics. 

Interestingly, he also ranked in the 91st percentile for max exit velocity and 75th percentile for average exit velocity. Unfortunately, his strikeout and whiff rates were so bad that they offset his ability to make hard contact.

Zimmer is not going to come in and take playing time away from anyone currently on the big-league roster. However, there's a long season ahead for the Red Sox and having veteran depth can come in handy -- just ask Red Sox manager Alex Cora how relieved he must be to have Pablo Reyes right now.

Zimmer replaced Edwin Díaz on the WooSox roster, so they swapped a veteran infielder for a veteran outfielder to bolster their depth. This move will have little impact on the current state of the Red Sox, we'll see if Zimmer is ever called upon down the stretch. 

More MLB: Red Sox's No. 1 Prospect Marcelo Mayer Shows Off Clutch Gene With Walk-Off Hit

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Scott Neville
SCOTT NEVILLE

Scott Neville covers the Boston Red Sox for Sports Illustrated's new page "Inside The Red Sox." Before starting "Inside The Red Sox", Neville attended Merrimack College, where he earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Communication and Media with a minor in Marketing. Neville spent all four years with Merrimack's radio station WMCK, where he grew as a radio/podcast host and producer.  His propensity for being in front of a microphone eventually expanded to film, where he produced multiple short films alongside his then-roommate and current co-worker Stephen Mottram. On a journey that began as a way to receive easy credits via film classes, he received a call from "It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia" star Charlie Day. Day advised him to make a feature-length film, which he completed his senior year. While writing the film, Neville completed an internship for United Way as part of their NFL Partnership Program. Neville ran the blog for a team of interns and hosted an internet show called "United Way's NFL Partnership Series" where he interviewed NFL alumni. After college Neville wrote for SB Nation's "Over The Monster," a Red Sox sister site of the flagship brand. His work would eventually lead him to a job as a content producer with NESN, where he would cover all sports. After developing as a writer with the top regional network in the world, he was given the opportunity to join the Sports Illustrated Media Group in his current endeavor as the publisher of "Inside The Red Sox." The successful launch and quick rise of "Inside The Red Sox" led to Neville joining the Baseball Essential ownership group, a national baseball site under SIMG. Follow him on Twitter: @ScottNeville46 Email: nevilles@merrimack.edu

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