NASHVILLE — Wednesday must have been an exciting, exhausting day for Justin Slaten.

In the span of a few minutes the 26-year-old right-hander changed teams twice, but in the process he also learned he would be getting his first real shot at making a big league roster.

Selected by the New York Mets in the Rule 5 Draft and subsequently traded to Boston, the Red Sox now hope he can make the team and become an overpowering late-inning weapon.

“We’re really excited about bringing him on board,” said chief baseball officer Craig Breslow. “A guy with huge swing and miss stuff, profiles as a back of the bullpen type arm, so we’re really excited to get him and see what he can do.”

Red Sox acquire RHP Justin Slaten from Mets

Originally a third-round pick out of the University of New Mexico by the Texas Rangers in 2019, Slaten is coming off a strong season in which he posted a 2.87 ERA with 86 strikeouts over 59.2 innings split between Double-A and Triple-A. He was recently identified by Baseball America as the top player available in the Rule 5 Draft, and Breslow said he was the club’s focus above all else.

“He was very clearly the top target, and once he was not available for us we decided to pass,” Breslow said.

Even though he was traded, the Rule 5 restrictions still apply to Slaten, meaning he must spend the whole season on the Red Sox big league roster or be offered back to his original team, the Rangers. The last time Boston had a Rule 5 pick on its roster, it worked out pretty well, as Garrett Whitlock emerged as the team’s most dominant bullpen arm and finished the 2021 season as Boston’s closer.

The Red Sox obviously hope Slaten works out similarly in Boston, but Breslow said they don’t have any specific role in mind for him just yet.

“To be determined, we have a lot to learn about him, obviously the big league environment is going to be new for him, but we’re excited to get him into camp, to give him a chance to compete and make the team,” Breslow said. “He’s a guy we have high hopes for, that’s the reason we went through this process, but it’s unfair to speculate exactly what role he may fill. I think we were thinking more about what does the stuff look like and how could it impact this bullpen.”