Cole Brannen is the next elite base stealer for the Boston Red Sox
By Hunter Noll
The Boston Red Sox have had great base stealers in their history. They’ve been missing that 50-plus potential lately though. Cole Brannen can change that.
Jacoby Ellsbury. Love him, hate him, or genuinely don’t care about him anymore; he’s the last player to pose an elite base stealing threat for the Boston Red Sox. In his time with the team he had three 50-plus steal seasons, including a 70-steal campaign.
The Red Sox haven’t really been known for their elite base stealers in a while though. There’s Ellsbury with 241 steals for Boston, and ahead of him are Tris Speaker (267 in a Red Sox uniform) and Harry Hooper (300). After that though, steals run thin.
In fact, since 2000, Boston has just seven 30-plus steal efforts. Accompanying Ellsbury’s three 50-plus seasons is a year where he swiped 39 bags. Besides him, Johnny Damon stole 31 and 30 in back-to-back seasons; while Julio Lugo (of course) had 33 in a year.
Today, Boston boasts a fantastic team on the base paths. They were sixth in the Majors last season with 106 stolen bases. 50-plus steals isn’t coming from one person on this roster though.
Sure, Mookie Betts and Andrew Benintendi can give you 30. Meanwhile, Xander Bogaerts and Jackie Bradley Jr. can get 20. Even Rafael Devers and Dustin Pedroia could hit double digits (maybe even Christian Vazquez). None of them are touching 50 though.
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The most realistic candidate would be Eduardo Nunez (stole 40 in 2016) but he probably isn’t going to get the playing time to think about 50 steals.
So as of right now, there’s no one in Boston who’s getting 50 steals in a season. That’s not all that surprising though, as only two players in the Majors (Dee Gordon – 60 / Billy Hamilton -59) reached the 50-steal plateau last year.
It’s possible that list could be growing over the next few years however, and a Boston prospect could be part of the reason.
Cole Brannen was the Red Sox 2nd round pick in last season’s draft. The outfielder is already graded as their fastest prospect, and showed why in a small sample last year.
Despite appearing in just 42 games between Rookie Ball and Short-A, Brannen stole 10 base last season. He did so in just 12 attempts. His average sat at a combined .224, but he held an impressive .383 on-base percentage.
The 19-year-old should start the year in Short-A with the Lowell Spinners. There, the focus will be on finding his swing. While he doesn’t grade as the best hitting prospect, he should hit for decent average and could bring some pop as well. So the hopes will be he can work out the kinks. Brannen isn’t a slouch in the field either, and his speed will help him tremendously.
The hype is on the base paths though. It’s there that he can pave his way to the Majors. In fact, while everything else is still developing, hefty steal totals could help him move up some levels in the minors over the next few years.
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With so much still to go in his game (and no place on the current roster anyways), the left-handed hitter is still a few seasons from Boston. He has speed the Red Sox haven’t seen in years though. So when Cole Brannen does arrive, expect some bases to go missing.