Blue Jays Return Rule 5 Pick Angel Bastardo To Red Sox

The Blue Jays have returned Rule 5 pick Angel Bastardo to the Red Sox, according to announcements from both clubs. Toronto designated him for assignment a week ago when setting their Opening Day roster. This announcement indicates the other 28 clubs passed on grabbing Bastardo via waivers. The Sox do not need to put Bastardo on their 40-man roster.

Bastardo, 24 in June, was an international signing of the Red Sox out of Venezuela in 2018. He reached Double-A in 2023 and was still at that level in 2024 when he required Tommy John surgery.

Since he was likely going to miss the 2025 season, the Sox left Bastardo off their roster in the fall of 2024, therefore leaving him exposed in the Rule 5 draft. The Blue Jays grabbed him in that draft and kept him on the injured list all throughout the 2025 season, hoping that Bastardo could perhaps earn a spot on their 2026 club.

Though he had already been on the roster for a whole year, a Rule 5 pick is still bound by the restrictions of that draft until he spends 90 days on the active roster. That meant the Jays would need to keep him in the big leagues for at least the first three months of the schedule.

Bastardo is now recovered from his surgery but showed some rust in camp. He faced 33 batters in spring training and walked seven of them, a 21.2% clip which is close to three times the regular season league average. He also threw four wild pitches in there.

The Jays decided it couldn’t work and designated Bastardo for assignment. Another club could have grabbed him off waivers and absorbed the same Rule 5 situation but they all decided against it.

The Red Sox will now get to plug him back into their system, so Bastardo could be back at the Double-A level soon or perhaps get bumped up to Triple-A. It may have been strange for Bastardo to switch organizations for a year while rehabbing but he benefited by earning a year of big league pay and service time while on the IL in 2025.

Photo courtesy of Jim Rassol, Imagn Images