Red Sox Prospect Watch: Heading into the All-Star break
By Hunter Noll
Tzu-Wei Lin is on the tear of his career. The shortstop now holds an 11-game hitting streak, and has hit safely in 27-of-28. His average in Triple-A has sky-rocketed to .308 and he has 13 doubles and five home runs. The 24-year-old has 18 RBI and 22 runs scored, as well as two steals.
Lin is clearly blocked in Boston by a talented infield. His defense and versatility already make him pretty valuable though. Add in that he’s showing true potential with the bat and at some point the Red Sox will be forced to give him another MLB look.
Rusney Castillo is being threatened for the batting average title on the team. At the moment though, he’s still holding onto it. Castillo holds a .312 average to lead Pawtucket. Other categories he leads in include doubles (21) and RBI (39) as well as runs (40) and steals (8).
Castillo’s contract creates too many problems for the Red Sox to call him up in 2018. He’s making an intriguing case for 2019 though.
Oscar Hernandez might be the default emergency catcher. The 25-year-old isn’t impressing with his bat (.211/.313/.333) but has thrown out 10-of-18 would-be base stealers.
Ty Buttrey is back down to a 2.01 ERA after two more shutout innings this week. The right-hander has 61 strikeouts over 40 1/3 innings and opponents are hitting .212 against him. If the Red Sox continue shuffling up the bullpen, it’s hard to see the 25-year-old not getting his chance soon.
Bobby Poyner and Robby Scott might have something to say about that though.
Poyner holds a 2.49 ERA in Triple-A this year. More importantly though, the left-hander has a 1.69 ERA over 10 2/3 MLB innings this season.
Meanwhile, Scott has a 54.00 ERA in 1/3 of an inning with Boston this year. He holds a 1.15 ERA in 31 1/3 Triple-A innings though. The lefty has been absolutely lights out and should get another shot.