Skip to Search Skip to Live Player Skip to Content Skip to Footer

Boston Red Sox

Red Sox address shortstop need with latest trade

Alex Barth January 24th

With Trevor Story out for the first few months of the regular season, the Red Sox find themselves needing a shortstop. While Kiké Hernandez is expected to help fill that role initially, the team is now also bringing in another player with MLB experience at the position.

As first reported by Mark Feinsand on Tuesday, the Red Sox are acquiring shortstop Adalberto Mondesi from Kansas City. In exchange, the team wills end relief pitcher Josh Taylor to the Royals. The Red Sox will also get either cash considerations or a player to be named later in the deal.

  • Mondesi, 27, spent his first seven years in the Majors with the Royals, having been called up at the age of 20. In that time he’s been up and down between the Majors and minors.

    Injuries have also limited him at times – he’s played in over 100 games just once, in 2019. That year, he hit 2.63 while leading the league with 10 triples. He also played a ‘full’ season during the 2020 Pandemic-shorted year, and led the Majors with 24 steals. Last season, Mondesi appeared in 15 games before tearing his left ACL.

    The Red Sox get Mondesi in the final year of his contract, when he’s set to make $3.05 million. He’s scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent after the 2023 season.

  • Apr 10, 2022; Kansas City, Missouri, USA; Kansas City Royals shortstop Adalberto Mondesi (27) fields a ground ball during the seventh inning against the Cleveland Guardians at Kauffman Stadium. Credit: Peter Aiken-USA TODAY Sports

    Apr 10, 2022; Kansas City, Missouri, USA; Kansas City Royals shortstop Adalberto Mondesi (27) fields a ground ball during the seventh inning against the Cleveland Guardians at Kauffman Stadium. Credit: Peter Aiken-USA TODAY Sports

  • A second-generation major leaguer, Mondesi is the son of Raul Mondesi, who played for seven MLB teams between 1993 and 2005. He was the NL Rookie of the Year in 1994, an All-Star in 1995, and won two Gold Glove awards as a right fielder in the late 90s. While with the Los Angeles Dodgers, he was teammates with current Red Sox manager Alex Cora in 1998 and 1999.

    As for Taylor, he’s spent the last five years in Boston after being acquired as a player to be named later in a 2018 trade with the Arizona Diamondbacks for Deven Marrero. He made his major league debut in 2019, and between 2019 and 2021 appeared in 121 games for the Red Sox posting a 3.69 ERA.

    Towards the end of the 2021 season, Taylor was placed on the IL with a lower back injury. Although he returned for the playoffs, he then began the 2022 season on the 10-day IL again with a back injury. He was then transferred to the 60-day IL and ended up missing the entire season.

  • Adalberto Mondesi’s career stats

    Standard Batting
    Year Age Tm G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB BB SO BA OBP SLG
    2016 20 KCR 47 135 16 25 1 3 2 13 9 6 48 .185 .231 .281
    2017 21 KCR 25 53 4 9 1 0 1 3 5 3 22 .170 .214 .245
    2018 22 KCR 75 275 47 76 13 3 14 37 32 11 77 .276 .306 .498
    2019 23 KCR 102 415 58 109 20 10 9 62 43 19 132 .263 .291 .424
    2020 24 KCR 59 219 33 56 11 3 6 22 24 11 70 .256 .294 .416
    2021 25 KCR 35 126 19 29 8 1 6 17 15 6 43 .230 .271 .452
    2022 26 KCR 15 50 3 7 0 0 0 3 5 4 20 .140 .204 .140
    Career 358 1273 180 311 54 20 38 157 133 60 412 .244 .280 .408
    162 avg. 162 576 81 141 24 9 17 71 60 27 186 .244 .280 .408
    Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
    Bold and italic season totals indicate player led all major leagues.
    Generated 1/24/2023.

  • Alex Barth is a writer and digital producer for 985TheSportsHub.com. Any opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of 98.5 The Sports Hub, Beasley Media Group, or any subsidiaries. Thoughts? Comments? Questions? Looking for a podcast guest? Let him know on Twitter @RealAlexBarth or via email at abarth@985TheSportsHub.com.

Tags
,,,,