Red Sox Prospect Watch: Beeks continued dominance highlights week
Our Boston Red Sox prospect watch continues as pitcher Jalen Beeks steps into the spotlight as he’s been nothing short of dominant to start the season.
Last week, Tzu-Wei Lin graduated from prospect status. This left a spot in the top-30 prospect rankings that was filled by catcher Roldani Baldwin. This week however, there were no new faces added to the list.
That doesn’t mean there’s not plenty to talk about though.
There were players being promoted and demoted throughout the minor league system. Then there were rehab assignments. One of them has been completed, and knuckleballer Steven Wright is back in the Majors.
Although he has yet to pitch for the Red Sox, Wright could help the team immensely, as the bullpen is struggling at the moment.
Another rehab assignment that was completed was Brock Holt, as he looks to continue his scalding hot start for Boston.
Meanwhile, Tyler Thornburg continues to pitch in the minors and is closing in on his return. Finally, there’s Dustin Pedroia, who started his rehab assignment on Monday in Triple-A. Those right there are two massive names that could take the Red Sox to the next level.
None of those guys are exactly prospects though are they? The real purpose of this article is to bring light to the minor leaguers. How are they performing at the moment? Who’s hot and who’s cold? Who deserves more attention and who could use a break from the spotlight?
Without further ado, let’s jump right in to this weeks prospect watch with the Triple-A Pawtucket Red Sox, who have the hottest pitcher in the organization.
Jalen Beeks is next level ridiculous. He’s also one of the main reasons I feel going off team prospect rankings isn’t the best indicator of a team’s minor league system.
The Red Sox are considered to have one of the worst prospect corps in the MLB. Jalen Beeks is currently ranked 15th in their system.
The left-hander has thrown 37 1/3 innings so far this season. At the moment, he holds a 1.93 earned run average and 0.96 walks plus hits per inning pitched (WHIP). Opponents are hitting .191 against him and he has 59 strikeouts compared to 10 walks.
This is following a season that saw him dominant in Double-A and then more-than hold his own in Triple-A. Clearly, the 24-year-old has figured out this stage as well.
Okay, so I didn’t start with my obligatory Rusney Castillo update, but Beeks needed to be addressed immediately. Castillo’s still playing superb baseball. He holds a .317 average with 10 doubles. Meanwhile, he’s driven in 17 runs and scored 15 more, throwing in 5stolen five bases as well.
Speaking of the outfield, Cole Sturgeon has been added to the mix. He was promoted to Triple-A thanks to a fantastic start in Double-A. He’s only appeared in one game though, and is 0-for-3 with a run.
Sam Travis has been frigid lately. The first baseman currently holds an 0-for-19 streak that has dropped his average down to .253. He has just four extra-base hits and nine RBI on the year.
Jordan Betts on the other hand is the possessor of an eight-game hitting streak that’s risen his average up to .319. He has been fantastic since joining the Triple-A team and has 12 RBI in 20 games.
Tzu-Wei Lin isn’t technically a prospect anymore, but let’s keep tabs on him. He’s hitting .310 in Triple-A this year and hit his first homer of the year on Monday.
While we’re at it, Dustin Pedroia went 1-for-3 with a run scored in his first rehab game.
Chad De La Guerra struggled mightily in Triple-A to start the year. He’s with Double-A Portland now though, and is quickly finding his swing. Hopefully some time at this level could help get him back on track.
DLG is 10-for-25 (.400) for the Portland Sea Dogs. He has a .531 on-base percentage and already has a home run and a steal under his belt.
Esteban Quiroz meanwhile is still injured.
Now let’s move on to two guys who are showing major signs of life offensively. Josh Ockimey and Danny Mars.
Ockimey is riding a hot-streak that has helped jump his slash line to .241/.362/.418. Those numbers include four home runs and 12 RBI in 23 games this season.
Mars on the other hand is up to a .220 batting average. That’s still low (especially for him) but he’s getting solid swings in, and already has seven doubles on the year. His career-high is 21, so he’s on pace to break that. To go along with those doubles he has 12 runs scored and four stolen bases.
Jhon Nunez is bringing some excitement to the catching position in Double-A. He’s only slashing .235/.325/.353 with four doubles at the moment. However, he’s has just 34 Double-A at-bats under his belt and has four RBI and six runs scored in that time, as well as one steal.
Matthew Kent has a 0.95 ERA over 19 innings pitched. Not much else needs to be said about the 25-year-old. His last outing saw him go five shutout innings, striking out seven. It was a fantastic bounce-back effort after he allowed two earned runs over 2 2/3 innings his last time out.
Travis Lakins had some problems in his last outing, giving up four earned runs over 2 1/3 innings. His ERA still sits at 3.18 though and he should get another opportunity before the next prospect watch.
Kyle Hart lowered his ERA for the second straight outing. The 25-year-old left-hander went six innings, giving up just one earned run. His ERA now sits at 4.38.
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Teddy Stankiewicz pitched two games since the last prospect watch. Although he raised his ERA in his last outing, it’s still lower than it was since our last meeting.
Stankiewicz’s ERA sat at 7.03 last week. In his first game, he went 5 2/3 innings allowing just one earned run. This lowered it to 6.00. Then he allowed five earned runs over 5 1/3 innings though, which raised it back up to 6.37. Still, there’s a very positive trend going on for the 24-year-old, hopefully he can keep it up.
Mike Shawaryn also pitched two games since the last prospect watch. The first game was his best outing of the season, but the second one was his worst.
In the first performance, Shawaryn went seven scoreless innings. In that time he allowed just three hits while striking out eight.
His next appearances saw him go five innings, allowing seven earned runs though.
Overall, his ERA took a hit, raising to 4.12 on the season. It’s hard not to get excited about that incredible first performance though.
Dedgar Jimenez also had his best game of the season since the last time we spoke. The 22-year-old I’ve dubbed “Baby Bartolo” allowed two runs on just two hits over seven innings. He struck out nine batters, which set a new career-high.
Jimenez now has a 4.68 ERA in Double-A (remember he threw six innings in Triple-A, allowing two earned runs) this season. Opponents are only hitting .200 against him though and I expect him to continue to lower that ERA.
The newest member of the Red Sox top-30 prospect club, Roldani Baldwin has looked sharp so far. The catcher has a .293/.356/.512 slash line with three doubles and two home runs in 41 at-bats. There’s bad news however, as he’s currently on the disabled-list and hasn’t appeared in a game since May 9.
Santiago Espinal continues his hot start though. The shortstop is in the middle of a 12-game hitting-streak and holds a .302/.370/.519 slash line. To go along with that, the 23-year-old has seven doubles and three triples, as well as five home runs. He’s driven in 19 runs and scored 28 more, while stealing five bases.
Brett Netzer‘s been hot as well. After hitting his first career home run last week, he’s hit safely in six straight games this week. The second baseman holds a .283 batting average and has 15 RBI.
Bobby Dalbec is still hitting under .200 (.195). He leads the Salem Red Sox in Doubles (9) and home runs (7) though, as well as RBI (22).
C.J. Chatham is in Advanced-A. The promotion is something I was expecting, but he’s struggled since getting the call-up (.240 average). He only has 25 at-bats under his belt though so things can turn around quickly.
Welp, nobody’s perfect right? Bryan Mata had his first rough outing of the year on May 10. The 19-year-old allowed six earned runs over 1 2/3 innings, raising his ERA from 1.42 to 3.92. Walks are still a major problem, but even with the bad start, it’s hard not to be excited with what we’ve seen so far from him.
Roniel Raudes on the other hand looked pretty sharp is his last start. The 20-year-old went six innings, allowing three earned runs. He now holds a 3.83 ERA over 40 innings. Walks have been an issue for him as well. Just like Mata though, both are extremely young and it’s easy to forgive a little command issue at this stage.
Victor Acosta is quickly making a name for himself. The 21-year-old outfielder is getting impossible to ignore as the season progresses. Through 92 at-bats he holds a .337/.380/.522 slash line with 11 RBI and 13 runs scored. He’s smacked six doubles and one triple, as well as three home runs. The fact that his 2017 was strong as well makes him a good candidate to see a promotion at some point.
Charlie Madden was 3-for-13 before Monday. Therefore I felt he didn’t have enough time under his belt to warrant commenting on. The 22-year-old catcher had five at-bats on Monday though. While that may not seem like much, going 5-for-5 makes it massive.
Madden is now 8-for-16 (.500) on the year, with five RBI and five runs scored. The catcher should see more time after that impressive showing.
Zach Sterry also benefited from a huge game on Monday, going 4-for-6 and raising his average to .333 on the year. The first baseman has seven RBI and three runs scored to go along with his high average.
Michael Osinski is still on the disabled-list, so no news there.
Cole Brannen is down to a .156 average but up to nine steals on the year. I sound like a broken record, but if he can figure out the swing just a little, Brannen can steal all the bags. He’s 19 so there’s plenty of time to work things out.
Denyi Reyes had his second straight superb outing this week. After allowing one earned run over seven innings on May 6, he gave up no earned run in five innings on May 11. His ERA is down to 2.72 and his WHIP is down to 0.93. Meanwhile, he’s struck out 45 batters in 39 2/3 innings.
Kutter Crawford had a strong performance this week as well. The 22-year-old went 6 2/3 innings, allowing two earned runs. His season’s been so ridiculous that it actually raised his ERA though. It jumped from 1.80 to 1.96.
The right-hander has 44 strikeouts and opponents are hitting .212 against him. Most impressively though is that he’s thrown 36 2/3 innings this season, and has yet to give up a home run.
Enmanuel De Jesus has thrown 17 innings this season, and has 21 strikeouts. Opponents are hitting .188 against him, which highlights his 2.65 ERA. The 21-year-old could be on his way to the best season he’s had in his professional career.
Next: Red Sox Prospect Watch: Change to top-30 list highlights new week
Finally, there’s some news on Jay Groome. The 19-year-old continues to have problems health-wise. It’s been announced that he’s having Tommy John surgery and will be out for the entirety of the 2018 season. He has an incredible bright future ahead of him, but for the moment there’s still a lot he needs to do.