Concerning the Purple Sox offseason, you might have heard, amongst different issues, that they haven’t but signed a Main League free agent. That’s true. It’s, in truth, unclear if the entrance workplace is conscious that free company started on November sixth.
Minor league free brokers, although? The motion is scorching. The Purple Sox have signed a bevy of minor league arms in latest weeks with various expertise. So, despite the fact that we could not see a single inning thrown on the main league degree by anybody on this group, let’s meet the brand new guys!
Candy, 29, went undrafted in 2018 and signed as a free agent with the Seattle Mariners. He debuted in 2023 and threw a complete of 8 2/3 innings between the Mariners and the Athletics that season, with a ten.38 ERA. Since that point, Candy has spent a yr at Triple-A with each the Tigers and Phillies methods.
In his final scouting report for Baseball America, coming into the 2022 season, Candy’s fastball sat at 92-94 MPH however his changeup was thought-about a plus-plus pitch, one which “dies late to get silly swings and misses out entrance even when batters are on the lookout for it.” The truth is, it was featured by BA as one of many best changeups in the minor leagues for prospects past the High-100. If the nWo had been nonetheless related, they’d name his changeup “Just too Sweet!”
Present me a cool spotlight:
Certain, listed here are some good changeups on the 2021 Arizona Fall League “Fall Stars” Sport:
Gamboa was drafted within the ninth spherical by the Dodgers in 2019, out of Fresno Metropolis Faculty. He made his means as much as Triple-A in 2023 and, after three years on the degree, was granted his launch by the Dodgers group to pursue a possibility with the Lotte Giants of the Korea Baseball Group.
The left-handed Gamboa arrived in Korea in Could and pitched so properly upon arrival that he received the KBO’s Participant of the Month award in June, going 5-0 with a 1.72 ERA in 31 1/3 innings pitched.
This article notes that Gamboa pocketed 3 million received for profitable the award, which equates to 2,195 U.S. {dollars}. Not too shabby!
The second half didn’t go as properly for Gamboa, who completed the season at 7-8 with a 3.58 ERA with a ten.3/24.6% BB:Ok ratio.
In keeping with SoxProspects.com, Gamboa has a mid-90s four-seamer, a low-90’s sinker, a high-80’s slider, and an higher 70’s curveball, and retains the ball on the bottom with subpar management and little swing-and-miss stuff.
Sikkema was the best draft decide of this bunch, going thirty ninth total to the New York Yankees within the 2018 draft, out of the College of Missouri. He was traded from the Yankees to the Royals as a part of the Andrew Benintendi deal, earlier than ending up with the Reds, the place he reached Triple-A for the primary time a yr in the past.
In his final Baseball America scouting report in 2023, Sikkema had a 50-grade fastball, 55 slider, and 50 changeup, with 55 management. The 25-year-old Sikkema throws from the left facet within the low-90s, however will get deception with a singular arm angle in his supply and a high-spin slider.
Guerrero is an imposing gentleman who suits the Craig Breslow mould greater than any of the three relievers above, listed at 6’8”, 225 lbs. The 35-year-old final pitched for the Chiba Lotte Marines in Japan in 2025, his second stint within the NPB, permitting a 6.41 ERA in 19 2/3 innings.
Guerrero threw 106 innings within the Majors, principally in 2018 and 2019 with the Miami Marlins, after throwing two innings for the San Diego Padres in 2016. Guerrero was despatched to Miami as a part of the return for Josh Naylor, one of many many, many Josh Naylor trades over the previous decade. Guerrero had a 5.77 profession ERA in MLB. The scouting report, albeit an outdated one, on Guerrero is that he throws within the upper-90s and has touched 100+ previously, however with little or no management. He’s walked a couple of batter per inning at every level and country since first signing out of Columbia with the Padres in 2010. However, did I point out he throws 100+? Listed below are some MLB pitches when Guerrero was with the Marlins that touched 103 and 104 MPH.
So, there you’ve gotten it. Proof that the Purple Sox have been onerous at work, full-throttle even, signing free agent pitchers at each flip over the previous few weeks!
