Five Red Sox you may have forgotten about who will still get World Series rings
The Red Sox capped a dream season with a World Series win on Sunday night, ensuring that Boston will always revere names like Price, Betts, Sale, Benintendi and Pearce. But it takes more than a handful of stars to win a championship. All manner of players had a hand in building the 2018 Red Sox, and they all deserve to be recognized for their efforts -- even if you may or may not have remembered them.
Hanley Ramirez
Han-Ram began the season as Boston's primary first baseman, appearing in 44 games, but he was eventually released after struggling in the month of May. Nobody was rooting harder come October, though:
Congrats to the boys and #RedSoxNation, start to finish best team in MLB in ‘18. Proven. Earned #WorldChamps🏆And congrats to the #BoysInBlue, heckuva year🙏🏽 #NLChamps #Dodgers #MLB⚾️
— Hanley Ramirez ⚾️ (@HanleyRamirez) October 29, 2018
Besides, Ramirez's dugout leadership more than earned him his ring. Watch here as he demonstrates the value of versatility and constant preparedness:
Jalen Beeks
Sure, Beeks' stat line with the Sox doesn't look like much: The lefty gave up nine runs in just 6 1/3 innings over two appearances. But hey, those innings were the first of his Major League career, which is pretty cool. And Beeks still wound up playing a pretty pivotal role in the Red Sox's title run: He was the player sent to Tampa Bay in return for Nathan Eovaldi.
Dan Butler
Butler entered the season as a glove-first catcher with just seven Major League appearances to his name -- all of which came back in 2014. But a Blake Swihart DL stint left Boston in need of another backstop, and for a couple glorious days in August, Butler found himself in the starting lineup of one of the best teams in baseball history. He even recorded an RBI!
Brandon Phillips
The Red Sox signed Dat Dude to a Minor League deal back in July, and eventually called him up to the big league club after rosters expanded in September. Phillips didn't do much -- he had 27 plate appearances over just nine games before being left off the postseason roster -- but he confirmed that, yes, he's still one of the coolest baseball players on the planet:
Tony Renda
An infielder by trade, Renda never played the field for the 2018 Red Sox. He never took an at-bat, either. Instead, he was a modern-day Moonlight Graham: Renda appeared in exactly one game, as a pinch-runner for Sandy Leon in the bottom of the 10th inning of a game against the Yankees on Aug. 5. But he did end up scoring the game-winning run -- and he'll get some nice bling as a result:
