The Boston Red Sox gave him numerous chances, but electric right-hander Bryan Mata simply could not stay healthy. On Tuesday afternoon, with a pair of prospects to protect from the Rule 5 Draft, his rope ran out, replaced on the 40-man roster by Jhostynxon Garcia.
Well, indirectly; Garcia’s an infielder, while Mata is a right-hander who reached the top of Boston’s prospect mountain before their organization’s recent talent infusion. For reasons you can understand, though, I just wanted to type out Jhostynxon Garcia.
Ok, fine, I copy-pasted.
Mata was free, though, and while the potential remained for Boston to reunite with him on a minor-league pact and keep him off the 40-man roster, there were likely to be be plenty of advanced pitching factories interested in admitting him. The Guardians, who just keep getting stronger in that department, poached another Rays innovator this week. The Dodgers, though they’ve come under fire for churning and burning a bit (Andrew Friedman’s specialty), could use the depth and love fixing former Red Sox (Ryan Brasier, meet Joe Kelly).
It might’ve been nice to throw the Yankees’ hat in this particular ring, especially after Boston took advantage of New York’s roster crunch and nabbed a rehabbing Garrett Whitlock off some Instagram videos. Sadly, it wasn’t to be; the “pitching factory” that’s going to get a chance to take advantage of this underrated gem is … Boston!
While Non-Tender Madness was going down on Friday night, the Red Sox simply re-signed Mata to that aforementioned minor-league deal. Of course they did! Why would Boston ever lose talent? Why would something that rose to the level of even a minor inconvenience ever happen to that city?
Yankees should’ve pull a Garrett Whitlock move with former Red Sox pitching prospect Bryan Mata
Yes, the Red Sox system Mata rose through was a less star-studded one. But he made the 2018 Futures Game as a raw 19-year-old. His rise garnered national attention. His upper-90s heater fueled a 1.85 ERA in nine Double-A starts (10 outings) back in 2022. You don’t have to look far to see Mata’s tools coalescing. In fact, the chatter the past few years has centered around getting him healthy and giving him a well-earned big-league chance, not burying him and moving onto the next class.
Will anyone ever unlock his considerable talents? And, if so, will he remain healthy long enough to display them? It’s probably a losing bet, but it’s going to cost Boston next to nothing to find out. Clearly, this was no secret. They just wanted the order of operations to be extra aggravating for the rest of the league before they brought him back. Thanks, as always, Beantown.
