Former baseball standout joins Boston Red Sox

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al.com

Former Auburn standout joins Boston Red Sox

Updated: Apr. 29, 2024, 2:11 p.m.|Published: Apr. 29, 2024, 2:01 p.m.

4–5 minutes

Garrett Cooper gets a hit for the Chicago Cubs during a National League game against the Miami Marlins on April 19, 2024, at Wrigley Field in Chicago.(AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

By

Mark Inabinett | minabinett@al.com

The Boston Red Sox added former Auburn standout Garrett Cooper to their roster on Monday, the American League team announced.

The Red Sox acquired Cooper from the Chicago Cubs in exchange for cash considerations on Saturday after the first baseman/outfielder had been designated for assignment by the National League team last week.

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Boston obtained Cooper with first baseman Triston Casas out of the lineup because of torn cartilage in his rib cage. Casas hasn’t played since April 20 and won’t play again before June 21 because he’s on the 60-day injured list.

Bobby Dalbec has replaced Casas in the lineup, but he’s hitting .137 this season.

“Obviously, he’s a guy that can put together a good at-bat,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. “He can hit lefties and righties, he’s a good defender, so we’ll sit down and go over what we’re going to do. We do believe he’s going to help us out.”

The Cubs chose to DFA Cooper after he had hit .270 with a double, triple and home run in 12 games in 2024.

A member of the National League team at the 2022 MLB All-Star Game, Cooper batted .251 with 17 home runs in 123 games last season.

Cooper played 82 games for the Miami Marlins and 41 games for the San Diego Padres for a career-high 123 in 2023. The Marlins traded Cooper, Pensacola Blue Wahoos reliever Sean Reynolds and cash for Padres pitcher Ryan Weathers on Aug. 1.

During his MLB career, Cooper has appeared in 268 games at first base, 120 at designated hitter, 75 in right field and eight in left field.

Cooper batted .340 with a .503 slugging percentage during his two seasons at Auburn. He left the Tigers as a sixth-round draft pick of the Milwaukee Brewers in 2013.

Cooper reached the big leagues in 2017 with the New York Yankees. Thirteen games into his Major League career, Cooper had a .326 batting average as a summer callup when hamstring tendinitis sidelined him for the rest of the season.

Traded to Miami after the 2017 season, Cooper played in only 14 games in 2018 because of two wrist injuries. In 2019, he played in 107 games even though he took a pitch on his left hand in his first game off the injured list from a calf strain. In the shortened 2020 season, Cooper missed 26 of the 60 games on the COVID-19 list.

In 2021, Cooper had Tommy John surgery after suffering an elbow injury when an errant throw put him in the path of a baserunner at first, limiting him to 71 games.

After his All-Star Game appearance, Cooper went to the injured list three times before the end of the 2022 season because of a wrist injury, a concussion and a broken finger.

In 493 MLB games, Cooper has a .268 batting average, .337 on-base average and .435 slugging percentage. He has hit 57 home runs.

Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.

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Also, Bailey Horn just got claimed by the Boston Red Sox, so there's Garrett Cooper and Horn on the 40 man roster, and Richard Fitts, Hayden Mullins and Tyler Miller with the minor league system for the Red Sox.