Red Sox: 3 players who won’t be on the Opening Day roster

When looking back at the Betts trade, the biggest prize the Red Sox received was infielder prospect Jeter Downs. While he has been viewed as a shortstop prospect, there is talk of him potentially moving to second base. Either case, Downs is expected to play a huge role in Boston’s future.

In his last full season in the minor leagues, Downs slashed .276/.362/.526 while recording 24 home runs, 86 RBI, 127 hits and 92 runs scored. Downs is also known for his speed, as he recorded 24 stolen bases in the 119 games.

From the sounds of it, the expectation is that Downs will make his MLB debut this year. But Opening Day? That is very unlikely due to MLB organizations’ infatuation with service time. We have seen it in the past, where the team will send their top prospect to the minor leagues for long enough to prevent them from reaching the required 172 days to accrue a year of service time. If the player does not reach that limit, then they are under team control for an additional year.

Prime example of that was with Chicago Cubs third baseman Kris Bryant. Back in 2015, Bryant was destined to make the Opening Day roster. The problem was, the Cubs sent him down to the minors just long enough so he could miss the 172 days accrued. That year, Bryant had 171 days, which delayed his free agency year until after the 2021 season.

Realistically, that’s not on the Red Sox’s mind. Downs hasn’t played in a minor league game since 2019 in the Dodgers farm system. In all likelihood, Boston’s minor league coaches would like to get a look at the infielder first before the Red Sox make a decision regarding a call-up.