Red Sox Sign Ex-Rockies Southpaw In Free Agency To Bolster Organizational Depth

Boston continues to make shifts in the farm system

Scott Neville | Nov 17, 2023

Red Sox Sign Ex-Rockies Southpaw In Free Agency To Bolster Organizational Depth /

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The Boston Red Sox have added a once-touted prospect to their farm system in order to get his career back on track.

With Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow bringing his highly-touted pitching development system to Boston, it makes sense to invest in some raw players with high-end arm talent.

That process could be begin with left-handed pitcher Helcris Olivarez, who was signed by the Red Sox on Thursday after a long stint in the Colorado Rockies farm system.

Olivarez has a 4.32 ERA with a 290-to-142 strikeout-to-walk ratio, .225 batting average against and a 1.38 WHIP in 250 innings since turning pro in 2017, ranging from the Dominican Summer League to High-A Spokane.

The 23-year-old has been limited to just two innings in the last two seasons due to shoulder injuries but was once a top-15 Rockies prospect and had reached 100 mph pre-surgery.

Olivarez has never pitched above High-A and will not factor into the Red Sox's plans for 2024. That said, if the young hurler can get back on track and continue to develop post-rehab, he could become one of the most intriguing pitchers in a very position-player-heavy farm system.

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Published Nov 17, 2023

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