Congratulations, you’ve arrived at the announcement of the newest member of the Red Sox top-30 prospect list. Aren’t you glad you kept reading?
Catcher Roldani Baldwin has taken up the mantle at number 30, and it’s pretty obvious why. The 22-year-old is slashing .306/.375/.556 with three doubles and two home runs over nine games. He’s scored four runs and driven in five while stealing a base as well.
Santiago Espinal has been on an absolute tear. He’s currently holding onto a seven-game hitting streak and has a .296/.366/.509 slash line on the season. The shortstop has seven doubles and two triples, as well as four home runs, with most of those homers coming recently. Meanwhile, he’s driven in 14 runs and scored 24 more, while stealing four bases.
Brett Netzer hit home run number one this week. By home run number one, I mean the first home run of his professional career. Sure, the power isn’t ever going to be special, but he still brings a lot to the table. That’s not entirely evident by his .266/.314/.339 slash line, but the 21-year-old is still a work in progress.
Tyler Hill is here to get on base and steal bags. He’s doing both of those with a .380 on-base percentage and six steals in seven attempts.
Kyri Washington, on the other hand, is expected to hit home runs. After missing most of last year due to injury, Washington started off 2018 cold. He hit his first homer of the year on May 1, and added a few more along the week. By “a few more” I mean he had a three-homer game and now has pretty impressive numbers. The outfielder holds a .253/.361/.470 slash line with four home runs and 10 RBI on the year.
Bryan Mata is still dominating. It’s almost expected at this point. He finally turned 19 (on the third of May) and holds a 1.42 ERA over 19 innings. Opponents are hitting .167 against him but he does have control problems, as he’s already walked 18 batters.
Roniel Raudes isn’t much older at 20. He’s also having a dominant season, with a 3.54 ERA over 28 innings.
Continuing the trend of going up one year, Tanner Houck is 21. His season isn’t going as well with a 5.19 ERA over 26 innings. There’s a reason he’s the Red Sox number three prospect though. His pitches have dominating potential and he should grow throughout the year.
Matthew Gorst breaks the trend as he’s 23. He’s stuffing the stat sheet like most of the others though. The right-hander has a 1.17 ERA in nine appearances this year. Over 15 1/3 innings he’s struck out 21 batters while walking just two. He also holds a 0.91 WHIP and is 4-for-4 in save opportunities.