I still don't think the "he never played in games for the sox" gets them off the hook. from the big Athletic profile, Preller was scouting him in Instructs in AZ, and tracked him in extended spring training. It is honestly a bit bizarre that he signed July 2, 2015, and still didn't show up in any games in AZL or DSL by late June.
But this was from the oral history article:
So it's not like the guy just never ended up in the ball field. He was at their fall instructs, he was at spring training. He clearly had huge growth the end of 2016.
But anyway, it was 6 years ago. Sucks so much though.