Red Sox sign Danny Kirwin from the Oakland Ballers

The Oakland Ballers won’t even open their first training camp for another three weeks, but they’ve already lost a player to a big-league team.
The Boston Red Sox swiped hard-throwing reliever Danny Kirwin from the independent team on Tuesday after the Ballers posted video of Kirwin throwing 98 mph.
It might sound strange, but this is all part of the Ballers’ plan: They want to sign the best and brightest undrafted players and provide them a showcase to get a shot with a major-league organization.
“This is exactly what we wanted to happen,” said assistant general manager Tyler Petersen. “In fact, we sort of had an idea that we might lose one or two guys before camp even started, and Danny’s been working so hard for this opportunity that I’m not surprised that happened.”
Kirwin, like several other players on the Ballers’ roster, played in the Draft League after his final season at Rider University; that split-season league is operated by MLB for undrafted players, but his 3.68 ERA and 21 strikeouts in 14⅔ innings didn’t translate to a minor-league spot, with his 13 walks potentially a factor. According to Petersen, Kirwin spent the offseason working out diligently at Tread Athletics, a baseball performance company, and that paid off with more consistent upper-90s velocity.
Tread sent the Red Sox Kirwin's Trackman information from his bullpen session Friday, and Boston texted him the next day. Kirwin will get a physical Wednesday.
"I wasn't expecting this," Kirwin said, "I thought I would sign with a team this year, but I thought it would be during the season in Oakland."
Kirwin throws an upper-90s four-seamer, a mid-90s sinker and a cutter, slider and changeup.