The Red Sox have signed a pair of free agents to minor-league deals, as outfielders Rob Refsnyder and Christin Stewart have agreed to terms with Boston.
WEEI’s Rob Bradford was first to report the Stewart deal, while Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com reported the Refsnyder deal.
Stewart, a former 2015 first-round pick has spent his entire career with the Tigers. He had a strong 2018 in the majors in his first big-league stint, as through 17 games the 27-year-old socked two homers, hitting .267 and posting a 119 wRC+.
That would not carry over into 2019 and 2020 though, as, across 104 games in ’19, he hit just .233 with 10 homers and an 80 wRC+. His .167 batting average, as well as his 40 wRC+ and three homers in 36 games during ’20 put him in Triple-A Toledo for all of 2021.
Stewart did have a stellar ’21 season at the Triple-A level, but fell short of a major-league call-up. The outfielder slashed .254/.339/.538, clubbing 21 long balls and posting 58 RBI to go along with a 127 wRC+.
Refsnyder has some more recent major-league experience, as the 6-foot 30-year-old played 51 games last year with the Twins and has put on seven different uniforms in the past four seasons. He hit .245/.325/.338 this past season with just a pair of homers, accumulating an 86 wRC+.
The 2012 fifth-rounder worked his way up to the Yankees in 2015, and was scorching hot to start his career (15 games) but had a below average 2016 with New York, before getting dealt to the Blue Jays mid-2017. He still had yet to hit a major-league homer since his rookie year (78 games).
Refsnyder went homer-less in his short stint with Toronto (32 games) and spent his 2018 flip-flopping between the Rays and Triple-A Durham after Tampa Bay purchased the right-hander from the Indians. After being sold to the Reds from the Diamondbacks just a day into the season, he had a strong Triple-A season with Cincinnati but fell short of a call-up in 2019. He spent his 2020 with the Rangers, grabbing six hits across 15 games (.200), before he was signed last offseason by Minnesota.
(Photo of Christin Stewart by Mark Cunningham/MLB Photos via Getty Images)