By Scott Barancik, editor

Boston Red Sox outfielder Ryan Kalish has signed a minor-league contract with the Chicago Cubs.

Behind the deal was a man who knows the 25-year-old well: former Red Sox GM Theo Epstein, who drafted Kalish out of high school in 2006 and joined the Cubs as president of baseball operations in October 2011.

Considered Boston’s outfielder of the future after a promising rookie season in 2010, Kalish missed all of the 2011 and 2013 seasons and much of 2012 with shoulder and neck injuries that required surgery. He became a free agent earlier this month.

After graduating from Red Bank Catholic High School in New Jersey, Kalish passed up a scholarship offer to play football and baseball at the University of Virginia when the Red Sox selected him in the ninth round of the 2006 amateur draft, CSNChicago reported.

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