Austin Maddox and Rajai Davis in, Robby Scott and Chris Young out

HOUSTON – The Red Sox released their 25-man roster for the ALDS this morning, and it included only one minor surprise.

As expected, the team has 11 pitchers on the roster and 14 position players.

The pitchers (11): Chris Sale, Drew Pomeranz, Doug Fister, Rick Porcello, Eduardo Rodriguez, Austin Maddox, Joe Kelly, Carson Smith, David Price, Addison Reed, Craig Kimbrel.

The position players (14): Sandy Leon, Christian Vazquez, Mitch Moreland, Hanley Ramirez, Dustin Pedroia, Eduardo Nunez, Brock Holt, Deven Marrero, Xander Bogaerts, Rafael Devers, Andrew Benintendi, Jackie Bradley Jr., Mookie Betts, and Rajai Davis.

Takeways:

• The biggest surprise was selecting Maddox and leaving Robby Scott off.  Maddox was a nice surprise this year, allowing just one run in 17.1 innings pitched. I actually had him on my first two roster projections, but that was when I had reason to believe the Sox were going to take 12 pitchers. When the numbers were trimmed to 11 because of concern over infield depth. Instead, Maddox makes it over lefty Robby Scott, whom most expected to be part of the roster as the lefty specialist.

This suggests that Rodriguez will be in the bullpen and not the rotation, to give the Sox a lefty to match-up with. Price is the only other lefty in the bullpen, and he’ll be used for multi-inning exposures, not one-batter matchups. That also suggests that Fister will get a start since John Farrell said the other day that Fister wouldn’t be in play for a bullpen role. And further suggests, with Rodriguez in the bullpen, Porcello will also get a start.

• Chris Young, as projected, was left off. Young simply didn’t hit lefties this season (.200/.310/.280) and that was supposed to be his value to the roster. But without that skill set, he didn’t really have a role. It’s a particularly tough break for Young since Houston is his hometown and he has lots of family in the area. Instead, the Sox gave the extra outfield spot to Davis, whose primary function will be to serve a pinch-runner.