Red Sox Prospect Watch: Start of Regular Season
Now that Spring Training is over, where are your favorite Red Sox prospects starting the season? Here is a breakdown of who is playing where.
With Spring Training ending over the past weekend, we bid farewell to many prospects in the system. Unless you live near one of the farm teams, it is unlikely you will see many of the players in Boston.
Some players, like Marco Hernandez, will be on Boston’s roster at some point this year. Others, like Jason Groome, still need a lot of time at the minor league level. But, all of these players are valuable. Either for Boston’s future, or to package to acquire a MLB-caliber player.
Red Sox Nation’s favorite young player, Andrew Benintendi, will very soon shed his prospect status. In roughly a week, he will pass the at-bats limit that is given to prospects. Because of this, he will no longer be featured on the Prospect Watch.
Starting with this post, the Prospect Watch is going to look a little different. Each slide is going to focus on a certain level of the system. The prospects in Boston will get their own slide. So will the young players in both Pawtucket and Portland. To make things easier, all 3 levels of A-ball will be on one slide.
It is a natural way of life as a Red Sox fan to be enamored by the farm system. This is the same team who hyped up players like Allen Webster, Henry Owens, and Lars Anderson. Even so, there is something pretty cool about seeing a kid who’s not old enough to buy a beer dominate the minors. And hopefully they can dominate the majors one day.
Boston Red Sox
While the Red Sox have a lot of talented, young players, they do not have many prospects on the roster. Even if you wanted to include Andrew Benintendi, they would only have 4 prospects on the roster. And realistically, the only one who seems to factor long-term for this team is Benintendi.
Both Robby Scott and Ben Taylor got to experience their first Opening Day this year. Scott, who was not drafted and had to play independent ball just 6 years ago is now in the Show. It also seems like he might be favored for the lefty specialist job over Robbie Ross Jr.
Ben Taylor is the more intriguing out of the two pitchers. Where Robby Scott had the great showings in the minor leagues, Taylor has never been higher than Portland. Also, while Taylor was able to limit hard contact last year, he had a 3.44 ERA. So why was Ben Taylor, who has zero major league experience, named to the roster over other pitchers?
From what I can see, it has to be the coaching staff wanting to give someone else a shot. Noe Ramirez already has his chance for Boston, and was not a viable bullpen option. Who knows what Brandon Workman is going to show up? While Ben Taylor might not be up in Boston for long, I like the coaching staff trying to mix it up and see if someone can prove doubters and critics wrong.
The final prospect is Steve Selsky. An outfielder who made his debut with the Reds last season, he is blocked by the killer B’s. Personally, I do not understand why he made the roster over Marco Hernandez. The coaching staff must know and see something that everyone else does not.
Pawtucket Red Sox
Ah, Pawtucket. The gateway to Boston. Where the longest game in baseball history was played. While AA is where you see the most talent, AAA is essentially where most players are “MLB-Ready”. While that team is filled with prospects, let’s dive into two of the better ones.
First up is Sam Travis. Travis is slated to be the future 1st baseman for Boston, but just has to wait one more year. After tearing his ACL in May of last year, he came back with a vengeance this Spring. He was able to hit a couple home runs, including this one.
It is clear that Travis has a great amount of power. At the very least, he is someone who should be able to hit 20+ home runs in a full season. The reason why the Sox didn’t have Travis take the everyday first baseman role this year is his contact.
In a little less than 50 games in Pawtucket last year, Travis hit .272. Obviously that will get lowered when you get into the majors. Hopefully this is the year where he can hit for average better, and will be playing everyday next year.
The other featured prospect is Marco Hernandez. Personally, I think it is crazy that Hernandez is in Pawtucket to start the season. He had arguably the best spring of any player in camp (.377/8 2B’s/5 3B’s). Not to mention that the team currently has Brock Holt as the only backup for all infield positions except for first base.
While I don’t think Hernandez will be in Pawtucket for much longer, at least he is able to get to play every day. Hopefully he gets the playing time he deserves, and soon it results into a call-up to the big leagues.
Portland Sea Dogs
Nothing screams “baseball hotspot” like Portland, Maine. Seriously, Portland has had a who’s who of future MLB players take the field. Former prospects like Anthony Rizzo, Jon Lester, and Mookie Betts all were stars during their time at Hadlock Field. And hoping to be the next big star is the soon-to-be number 1 prospect in the system, Rafael Devers.
Devers is the third baseman of the future. The 20 year-old had his first taste of MLB life this Spring. Sadly, it was a spring for Devers to forget. He was able to only muster 3 hits in over 20 at-bats this year. Obviously he is not ready for the big leagues, but hopefully he is able to make a leap this year with his contact.
Just like Travis, Devers has the power but not the contact. Facing what should be the closest thing to MLB pitching in AA, this year will be pivotal in his development. Regardless, Devers will not be MLB-ready at least until 2018, and that could be overshooting it.
As I mentioned earlier, AA is where the most talent lies. That is true with the Red Sox system, as the Sea Dogs have 6 of the top 30 prospects in the system. Highlighted by Devers, this team also boasts names such as Trey Ball and Jake Cosart.
Ball and Cosart could both factor into Boston’s pitching future in the next couple of years. Ball, a former 1st round pick, seemed to accelerate his development last season. While he projects as a middle of the rotation type of pitcher, he could be someone who figures it out and is a diamond in the rough.
Jake Cosart was drafted as a starter, but now projects to be a bullpen piece. If he can keep pitching well in high leverage situations, he could possibly be called up as early as September. With guys like Wade Davis and Andrew Miller who transitioned from starter to reliever and had massive success, Cosart might be able to follow suit.
Salem, Greenville, and Lowell
The nitty-gritty of minor league baseball: A-Ball. For anyone who is unfamiliar, I’ll do a quick breakdown here. There are three levels of single-A.
Low-A is a team that plays in a short season league. They usually start in June and end in August. For Boston, that team is the Lowell Spinners. Lowell won’t factor into the conversation for the first 8 weeks of the season as they do not start until June.
Above that is single-A. In this system, that is the Greenville Drive of the South Atlantic League. The highest level of A-Ball is Advanced A, or High-A. The Red Sox affiliate is the Salem Red Sox of the Carolina League.
Ok, now that everyone knows the flow of how prospects move through single-A, let’s breakdown some of the big names that will spend some time in A-Ball. In Greenville, there are some great players.
The 12th overall pick in last year’s draft will be toeing the rubber in Greenville. Jason Groome will have his first full professional season this year, and hopes to showcase his exceptional skills. The player who has been compared to Madison Bumgardner only had one start at Lowell last year. While Groome is very young, all of Red Sox Nation is excited to watch him pitch his first season.
Next: An interview with Mookie Betts
Salem boasts one of the more intriguing prospects in Roniel Raudes. A international free agent who signed in 2014, he is a volatile prospect. It is very hard to try and project what he can be. He could be someone who could shoot up the system and be in the big leagues in a couple years. Or he could flame out in the minors. While the jury is still out on Raudes, this will be a year to keep an eye on him.