Athletics designate Brett Harris for assignment

The trade was made official earlier on Wednesday. Harris is merely emergency infield depth for the injury-plagued Red Sox after being waived by the Athletics last weekend. The 28-year-old has hit .194/.307/.289 across 213 major-league plate appearances since debuting in 2024. He’ll head to Triple-A Worcester for now.

We thought the 28-year-old Harris would likely clear waivers, but he never even got there, as a Red Sox team dealing with a few infield injuries thought it was worth picking him up. The 28-year-old Harris has hit .194/.307/.289 in 213 plate appearances since debuting for the A’s in 2024. He has options left, so the Red Sox could stash him in Triple-A. If the Red Sox were to activate him immediately, it could be at Andrew Monasterio’s expense. The return for the A’s, Hansen, was a 2024 20th-round pick. The 24-year-old has a 4.75 ERA in High-A this year.

Harris returns to the minors after going 0-for-4 across five games with the Athletics since April 28. He’s merely a reserve infielder at this stage of his development.

Harris returns to the big leagues with third baseman Max Muncy hitting the shelf with a fractured finger. The 27-year-old has gotten into 68 games at the highest level since 2024.

Harris came into camp as part of an “open competition” for the starting third base job, but went 4-for-21 (.190) with six strikeouts. He will now head back to Triple-A, where he slashed .282/.369/.500 with 12 home runs and seven steals in 59 games last season.

Muncy fractured his hand last season and posted a .214/.259/.379 line in 220 plate appearances split between third base and second base. The A’s were reportedly close to acquiring Nolan Arenado this offseason, so it makes sense that they’re not exactly handing the 23-year-old Muncy the job. Neither of the three has much of a major-league track record to this point, but Muncy would have the highest upside in AL-only leagues.

Arenado was ultimately traded to the Diamondbacks, which is where he told the Cardinals preferred to play, but the Athletics “would have absorbed more money than the Diamondbacks.” While the Athletics could still pursue options like Eugenio Suarez and Yoan Moncada, Rosenthal reports that they “intend to use Max Muncy at third base, with Brett Harris and Darell Hernaiz also in the mix.”

Harris is expected to be ready for spring training, according to Athletics general manager David Forst. The 27-year-old infielder batted .274 with zero homers and five RBI in 32 games this past season at the highest level. He figures to be in the mix for a starting role in camp.

Harris doubled, singled and also drew a walk. The 27-year-old has hit .235/.324/.219 in his 12 game with the A’s in 2025. He doesn’t project to be much more than a depth piece on an MLB roster, and there’s just not a ton of fantasy upside in this type of profile.

The 27-year-old infielder has struggled in his limited big league action, but was slashing a solid .282/.369/.500 with 12 homers, 39 RBI, seven swipes and a 38/28 K/BB ratio over 252 plate appearances at Triple-A Las Vegas. Gio Urshela was designated for assignment in a corresponding move on Friday.