Who is he and where did he come from?
He’s Vinny Capra. The 29-year-old actually already has ties to New England/Boston. He was drafted by the Blue Jays in the 20th round of the 2018 MLB Draft and spent some playing time for Manchester, New Hampshire’s Fisher Cats. After making his Major League debut with Toronto, he was traded alongside Tyler Heineman, who himself spent some time in the Red Sox system.
Now 29 and coming off of a season which he played a career-high 47 games in the bigs with the Brewers and White Sox, the Melbourne, Florida
native likely had a happy Thanksgiving dinner, as last Thursday, the Red Sox announced they’ed signed him to minor-league contract with a spring training invite.
Is he any good?
The White Sox are no longer historically bad. But, still, when they part with a player, that player is usually not very good. This, as of yet, is the case with Capra. He has not been good at the Major League level at the plate, but that’s not to say he’s without usefulness: he is defensively versatile. He’s played every defensive position except catcher, first base, and center field in the last 12 months. Capra has committed just 31 errors total since 2021, so he’s defensively sound as well. However, he has no isolated power to speak of at the Major League level, notching an OPS of .334 (!) and just one career home run (against Carlos Rodon!), and struggles to even get on base. His wRC+ is an unfathomable negative eleven. For reference, 100 — hat’s 100 with a plus sign — is average. I’ll speak more to the value his at-bats bring at a Triple-A level in a moment, but as long as Capra stays mostly in Worcester, this is a good depth signing.
Tl;dr, just give me his 2025 stats.
AAA: .286/.384/.440, 3 HR, 10 RBI
MLB: 125/.157/.177, 1 HR, 6 RBI
Show me a cool highlight.
If I showed you the thing he was most known for, it’d be something that lands him on the wrong side of the history books forever. He had the privilege of being Clayton Kershaw’s 3000th career strikeout victim while playing for the White Sox, so look out for some posters with him looking at the ground while Kershaw celebrates in circulation soon, I’m sure. On a more positive note, here’s the defensive prowess he’s capable of, as, even when playing deep, he has diamond awareness to get the out.
What’s he doing in his picture up there?
Well, he’s in a Pirates uniform, so, it’s a good bet he was high-fiving players that were used in transactions to gain players that were used in transactions to acquire pieces on the 2026 Red Sox.
What’s his role on the 2026 Red Sox?
Many would say Capra may not even be worthy of an article here, as the team has plenty of infield depth that provide more upside, like Nick Sogard, Tristan Grey, and Kristian Campbell, whatever position the latter ends up actually playing in 2026. But, as always, this versatile infielder being inked to a deal brings a sort of perspective to the type of depth the team looks for, and Capra does have Major League experience, so players of this caliber should always be factored into the big picture, even if it’s likely he’s spending the whole season at Polar Park in Worcester.
While Capra flat-out cannot hit and thus probably should not be pencilled in in any capacity to a position where Alex Bregman played, he’ll reliably get on base in Triple-A, and even if a clutch power hit likely won’t be the result of the at-bat from an eighth or ninth hitter in the lineup, he extends innings. This is EXTREMELY important to help develop guys that may be in the future of the organization behind Capra in the batting order, like Mikey Romero, or, later in the season, Franklin Arias or Miguel Bleis, as it affords them more at-bats. Furthermore, his ability to generate defensive outs extends outings for the Worcester rotation.
Overall, Capra will likely not see much time on the Major League club at all, but he can still play a part in developing the organization simply by doing what he is good at.
