Red Sox claim Robert Manuel

This past Friday the Red Sox claimed right-handed pitcher Robert Manuel from Seattle. Manuel is 26 years old and was signed as a non-drafted free agent in '05 and has outperformed every expectation. He made his major league debut in July for the Reds before being traded to Seattle just before the deadline.

Manuel has been a reliever for the majority of his career (he was named best Double-A relief pitcher in '08). He has clearly demonstrated great command with a 5.14 K/BB rate in his four minor league seasons. His has also posted some strong Major League Equivalents including a 2.92 MLE FIP for Double-A in '08 and a 3.75 MLE FIP for Triple-A in '09 with the Reds organization. This is a strong indicator of potential success in the major leagues.

One area of concern is his strong fly-ball tendencies. According to minorleaguesplits.com he has a career fly ball rate of 49.2 percent (compared to just 33.2 percent GB). This is alarming considering Fenway Park's short outfield dimensions in left and right fields. So far in his career he has been able to do a fairly nice job of limiting home runs (just .5 per 9 innings) but this could change once he faces major league opponents on a regular basis.

According to fangraphs PitchFX, Manuel throws a fastball, change-up, and slider. His fastball sits in the high 80's and has some nice late movement that runs in on right handers.

Overall, a nice pickup for the Sox. He is a low risk guy who could eventually add some depth in the bullpen.