Boston Red Sox minor leaguer Braiden Ward made some spring training history on Thursday afternoon, stealing his 17th base of the Grapefruit League season in a game against the Minnesota Twins.

Amid little fanfare, Ward had some fun with the accomplishment, briefly picking up the bag in a salute to what Rickey Henderson did when he broke Lou Brock's all-time stolen base record.

Ward is in camp as a non-roster invitee and is getting extended playing time with so many members of the Red Sox participating in the World Baseball Classic. With Jarren Duran (Mexico), Nate Eaton (Great Britain) and Ceddanne Rafaela (Netherlands), all returning after failing to advance to the elimination round, it will be interesting to see how much time Ward gets moving forward.

A native of Turlock, Calif., Ward is 27 years old. A 16th-round pick of the Colorado Rockies in the 2021 MLB Draft out of Washington, speed is certainly Ward's calling card. He was a career .301 hitter in college who stole 89 bases in four years.

In the minors, he's a career .275 hitter over five seasons. He has 211 career stolen bases, including 57 in both 2022 and 2025. 

Candidly, they are not good at the moment. The Red Sox have too many outfielders as it is. With Duran, Rafaela, Roman Anthony, Wilyer Abreu and Masataka Yoshida in the fold, Boston is more likely to get rid of an outfielder than add another. Eaton is on the 40-man roster as well, while Ward is not. It seems like there would have to be significant injury attrition for the opportunity to extend his way.

--Ranger Suarez will start the WBC quarterfinal game for Team Venezuela on Saturday night. The game will be played against Team Japan - the defending WBC champions -- at 9 p.m. ET. Suarez signed a five-year deal worth $130 million in the offseason and should help make the Red Sox one of the best starting staffs in the majors in this campaign.

--Wilyer Abreu and Willson Contreras are also on Venezuela, while Anthony and Garrett Whitlock (USA) are also still playing in the international competition. Yoshida (Japan), Greg Weissert and Mickey Gasper (Italy), Brayan Bello (Dominican Republic), Jovani Moran and Eduardo Rivera (Puerto Rico) are all still playing as well. 

The championship is March 17.

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