Red Sox complete Andrew Benintendi trade with Royals, picking up these two prospects
The Kansas City Royals have officially completed their trade for outfielder Andrew Benintendi.
On Friday night, the Boston Red Sox announced they had selected minor-league right-handed pitchers Grant Gambrell and Luis De La Rosa from the Royals as the two “players to be named later” in the deal that was first announced in February.
Gambrell was the Royals’ 21st-ranked prospect, according to FanGraphs’ ranking, while De La Rosa was not listed in the top 51.
The Royals also previously sent outfielder Franchy Cordero to the Red Sox and outfield prospect Khalil Lee to the New York Mets as part of the three-way agreement.
Gambrell was drafted by the Royals in the third round of the 2019 draft out of Oregon State. FanGraphs’ Eric Longenhagen projected the 23-year-old Gambrell as a potential multi-inning relief pitcher who “sits in the mid-90s with a plus breaking ball (there might be two, but if so, they’ve run together in my looks) and a tailing, mid-80s changeup that he uses in some clever ways, including as a means to jam righties.”
De La Rosa, 18, was signed by the Royals out of the Dominican Republic in 2018. In 12 games with the Dominican Summer League Royals 1 in 2019, he posted a 2.33 ERA in 38 2/3 innings.
Benintendi, 26, recently was named the Royals player of the month for May. He’s played in 51 of the Royals’ 54 games this season, hitting .292 with five home runs and a .350 on-base percentage.
Cordero, meanwhile, has had a rough start in Boston, getting optioned to Triple-A last week after hitting .179 with one home run in 34 games for the Red Sox.
Boston also announced Friday it had acquired minor-league outfielder Freddy Valdez from the Mets as the third and final “player to be named later” in the deal.
