Swihart, Rodriguez, Coyle and Shaw added to 40-man roster

The Red Sox have announced the additions of four minor leaguers to their 40-man roster on Thursday, the deadline to protect players from the Rule 5 Draft. As expected, Boston has added catcher Blake Swihart, left-handed pitcher Eduardo Rodriguez, second baseman Sean Coyle and first baseman Travis Shaw. With the addition of these four, the 40-man roster is now full.

Swihart is coming off of a season that may have cemented him as the top catching prospect in all of baseball. The switch-hitting, 22-year-old hit .293/.341/.469 between 92 games for Portland and 18 for Pawtucket. In addition to being both a SoxProspects.com preseason and postseason All-Star, Swihart was an Eastern League All-Star and the Sea Dogs MVP in 2014. A first-round pick in 2011, Swihart projects to kick off next season as Pawtucket's starting catcher.

Rodriguez's addition comes after a mixed 2014 campaign. After initially struggling for Double-A Bowie in the Orioles' system, Rodriguez turned it around following a trade deadline deal that brought him to Boston. In six games for Portland, Rodriguez went 3-1 with a 0.96 ERA, striking out 39 in 37 1/3 innings pitched. Rodriguez projects to join fellow southpaws Henry Owens and Brian Johnson atop the Pawtucket rotation to begin 2015.

2014 represented a bounce-back year for Coyle as the 22-year-old hit .295/.371/.512 in 97 games for Portland. A third-round pick in 2010, Coyle's stock was down after a poor 2013 season in which he only saw time in 60 games due to injury. Coyle flashed some serious power in 2014, as 16 home runs to go along with that .512 slugging percentage show, though he did strike out 95 times in 336 trips to the plate. Coyle earned both SoxProspects.com season-end All-Star and Comeback Player of the Year honors, in addition to both Futures Game and Eastern League All-Star nods. Coyle projects to be Pawtucket's starting second baseman to open 2015.

Shaw is coming off a 2014 in which his performance for Portland earned a mid-season promotion to Pawtucket. Shaw hit .278/.353/.473 with 21 home runs between the two levels. The 24-year-old was a ninth-round selection the 2011 Draft. Shaw took home a SoxProspects.com All-Star nod to finish off his 2014. He will likely be Pawtucket's starting first baseman come next Opening Day.

Check out Chris Hatfield's Rule 5 preview for more info about players who were on the bubble and are now available for selection. The following is the full list of Red Sox players who will be available to other teams in the Rule 5 Draft:

RHP Mario Alcantara, RHP Jonathan Aro, C Michael Brenly, RHP Miguel Celestino, DH/1B David Chester, RHP Keith Couch, RHP William Cuevas, RHP Jacob Dahlstrand, OF Keury De La Cruz, RHP Dayan Diaz, RHP Luis Diaz, RHP Jason Garcia, 1B Matt Gedman, RHP Sergio Gomez, UT Dreily Guerrero, C Jayson Hernandez, LHP Chris Hernandez, RHP Williams Jerez, RHP Ellis Jimenez, OF Matty Johnson, OF Zach Kapstein, RHP Aaron Kurcz, RHP Mike McCarthy, RHP Matty Ott, LHP Mickey Pena, 3B/1B Aneudis Peralta, RHP Oscar Perez, OF Kendrick Perkins, RHP Carlos Pinales, RHP Noe Ramirez, OF Henry Ramos, RHP Nate Reed, C/1B Tim Roberson, UT Jonathan Roof, LHP Robby Scott, C David Sopilka, C Matt Spring, SS Jose Vinicio, OF Shannon Wilkerson, RHP Madison Younginer

Photo Credit: Blake Swihart by Kelly O'Connor

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