Red Sox Prospect Watch: Heading into the All-Star break
By Hunter Noll
The season’s at the halfway mark as most MiLB teams head to the All-Star break. Time to evaluate how the year’s gone for some Boston Red Sox prospects.The Boston Red Sox have to be excited about the play of some of their prospects heading into the MiLB All-Star break. Not everyone is sticking around in the minors though. There’s been a revolving door leading to the bullpen lately, as the Red Sox try to compensate for injuries.
This revolving door has given more Major League innings to William Cuevas and Jalen Beeks. Cuevas threw two innings, allowing one run on one hit. Beeks, on the other hand, struggled once again, allowing three runs on four hits and one walk over 2 1/3 innings.
Beeks now holds a 12.79 ERA in the Majors. That’s been compiled over 6 1/3 innings however, so there’s still plenty of time for the left-hander to figure things out. He’s coming off a strong 2017 in Triple-A, and his numbers in Pawtucket are even better this year. There are a lot of reasons to believe everything will work out in the long run for the 25-year-old.
Ryan Brasier has also worked his way back to the Majors. The 30-year-old hadn’t pitched in the Majors since 2013, but already has two scoreless innings under his belt for Boston in 2018.
It’s absolutely possible the Red Sox continue to experiment with their bullpen while they wait for Steven Wright and Drew Pomeranz (among others) to return.
Another thing to watch out for are the catchers. Christian Vazquez is expected to be out for the next 6-to-8 weeks. That leaves the depth at the position in the Majors down to Sandy Leon and Blake Swihart. No more backup plan. The position in the minors just got a lot more important for the immediate future.