Red Sox sign former Olympian Jamie Westbrook to minor-league deal

The Red Sox have signed free agent utilityman Jamie Westbrook to a minor-league contract, the club announced earlier Monday evening. The deal comes with an invitation to major-league spring training.

Westbrook, 28, spent the 2023 season with the Yankees organization after inking a similar minors pact with the club last December. In 117 games for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, the versatile right-handed hitter batted .294/.400/.496 with 20 doubles, 21 home runs, 65 RBIs, 70 runs scored, six stolen bases, a team-leading 67 walks, and 81 strikeouts over 496 plate appearances.

A native of Arizona, Westbrook was originally selected by his hometown Diamondbacks in the fifth round of the 2013 amateur draft out of Basha High School in Chandler. He forwent his commitment to Pepperdine by signing with Arizona for $450,000 and made it as far as Triple-A Reno before reaching minor-league free agency at the conclusion of the 2019 campaign.

Shortly thereafter, Westbrook latched on with the Giants but was released before the COVID-shortened 2020 season even began. With the pandemic putting a halt to Minor League Baseball, Westbrook instead spent the rest of his 2020 playing for the Sugar Land Lightning Sloths of the independent Constellation Energy League in Texas. He leveraged his performance there into a minors pact with the Brewers.

As part of an eventful 2021 season, Westbrook helped the United States win a silver medal in the Tokyo Olympics, where he was teammates with — among others — Triston Casas. Stateside, Westbrook spent most of the year with Milwaukee’s top affiliate in Nashville. He remained with the Brewers through the winter before being traded to the Tigers for cash considerations last April. With the Toledo Mud Hens (Detroit’s Triple-A affiliate) in 2022, he posted a .726 OPS in 120 games.

All told, Westbrook is a lifetime .279/.345/.434 hitter with 216 doubles, 28 triples, 120 home runs, 564 RBIs, 608 runs scored, 51 stolen bases, 352 walks, and 682 strikeouts in 1,110 career minor-league games (4,559 plate appearances). That includes a career .283/.376/.460 slash line with 50 homers and 184 runs driven in over 347 total games (1,431 plate appearances) at the Triple-A level.

On the other side of the ball, Westbrook is listed as an outfielder but has past experience in the outfield as well. With Scranton/Wilkes-Barre this past season, the 5-foot-7, 193-pounder logged 602 innings at second base, 308 2/3 innings at third base, and 18 innings in left field. For his minor-league career, he has made at least one start at every position besides center field, pitcher, and catcher.

To that end, Westbrook — who does not turn 29 until June — figures to provide the Red Sox with experienced depth all over the field at Triple-A Worcester next year. He has yet to make his major-league debut, but will be looking to do so with Boston in 2024.

In addition to Westbrook, the Red Sox invited six other non-roster players to spring training on Monday in left-handers Helcris Olivarez, Jorge Benitez, and Cam Booser, right-hander Frank German, outfielder Mark Contreras, and infielder/outfielder Eddy Alvarez.

Benitez and Olivarez both signed minor-league contracts with Boston last month after spending the 2023 season with the Mariners and Rockies organizations, respectively. Booser, who made 48 relief appearances for the WooSox this year, re-signed with the Red Sox on a minors pact in late October while German, who debuted for Boston last September, returned to the organization over the summer after brief stints with the White Sox and Reds.

Contreras, as was previously reported, signed a minor-league deal with the Sox in November after spending the first sevens of his professional career in the Twins organization. Alvarez, another member of Team USA’s 2021 Olympic team, initially signed a minors pact with Boston in July after being let go by the Brewers. Just five innings into his first game with the WooSox on July 26, though, Alvarez suffered a fractured foot while running the bases and missed the rest of the season as a result.

Of the seven players the Red Sox invited to spring training on Monday, three (Alvarez, Contreras, and German) have prior big-league experience. Of course, the club will likely add more non-roster invitees to their spring training roster before camp opens in February.