When Boston Red Sox first baseman Triston Casas was lost for the season on May 2, tearing his patellar tendon running out a ground ball, the Red Sox were caught unprepared. They asked designated hitter Rafael Devers to try out a first baseman’s mitt, but Devers refused and was later traded to the San Francisco Giants.
Left with no real alternatives, chief baseball officer Craig Breslow reached into the club’s Triple-A roster, promoting veteran journeyman Abraham Toro. The Canadian-born utility infielder signed with Boston as a minor league free agent in January. Now, just 11 months later, Toro is gone, according to a report by Daniel Álvarez-Montes of the Spanish-language baseball publication El Extrabase.
According to the report, Toro has agreed to sign a minor league contract with the Kansas City Royals. The deal comes with an invitation to spring training. The deal was reported on Thursday, an early birthday gift for Toro, who reached his 29th birthday the following day.
If Toro receives a promotion to the major league Kansas City club, he will be playing for his sixth club in eight years, after debuting with the Houston Astros — who selected him in the fifth round of the 2016 draft out of Seminole State in Oklahoma — on Aug. 22, 2019.
The Red Sox saw Toro as a minor league depth player, but that depth came in extremely handy once Casas went down. Called up the following day, Toro made an immediate impact. In his first two months with the Red Sox, Toro posted a .790 OPS in 153 plate appearances across 42 games.
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The switch-hitting Toro also belted five of his seven home runs on the season in May and June. Unfortunately, his production dropped sharply after that. In his 25 games after the All-Star break, Toro produced an OPS of only .488, scraping together just 14 hits and three walks in 91 plate appearances.
After Boston signed former Washington Nationals first baseman Nathaniel Lowe, Toro was designated for assignment on Aug. 21 and outrighted back to Triple-A Worcester.
Though he chose to stay in the Red Sox system for the remainder of the season, Toro elected free agency on Oct. 10 and now reportedly has landed in Kansas City.
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