Red Sox Prospect Watch: Trade deadline shakes up the system

The Boston Red Sox minor league system saw a major shake up thanks to the trade deadline. What does this mean for the prospect watch? A lot.

Well, that was fun. The trade deadline provided the Boston Red Sox with some new talent for their World Series push. However, at the same time, it caused them to lose some talent in the minors.

A trade for pitcher Nathan Eovaldi lost Boston Jalen Beeks. While I believe Beeks will be a solid contributor in the future, there’s no doubt Eovaldi will be much more valuable to the team this year.

Then last night after the Blake Swihart walk-off (the man is absolutely raking), the Red Sox traded for Ian Kinsler. The second baseman cleans up a position that’s struggled without Dustin Pedroia. However, two top prospects were lost for his services in Williams Jerez and Ty Buttrey.

Jerez is a 26-year-old left-hander who’s enjoying his second straight strong season. The left-hander could’ve factored into the bullpen this season. If not, he’d have been a candidate to make the team next year.

Buttrey is 25 and has been having a career-year in Triple-A. The left-hander has been dominating all season long but has yet to get a chance in the Majors. This was perplexing because Buttrey has been on the 40-man roster. Now he should get a chance with the Los Angeles Angels though.

While it hurts to lose these three pitchers, it does open up more opportunities for other prospects to make names for themselves. It will be interesting to see who gets these chances, and who seizes them.

Okay, so the Kinsler trade puts the Red Sox at the highest luxury tax penalty. That means no matter how much money they spend at this point, they won’t be penalized anymore. I think you can see where I’m going with this by now.

Rusney Castillo is finally out of a terrible situation. If the Red Sox need help in the outfield, he can be called up without it hurting their 2019 draft/money. Which means there’s nothing holding back a return to Boston – because his play certainly isn’t holding anything up.

Castillo is slashing .323/.366/.433 in Pawtucket, with 26 doubles and five home runs. The average and doubles both lead the team. Meanwhile, his 48 RBI and 50 runs are also team-highs, as well as his 11 steals.

There’s officially no reason for Castillo not to see the Majors this year.

Sam Travis has continued his season turnaround. The numbers are steadily improving as his average is now up to .244. He’s hit nine doubles and six home runs while driving in 26 runs and scoring 25 more. Although those aren’t great, they’re vast improvements from how his season was shaping out not that long ago. Travis even picked up his first steal on the season on Monday.

Matthew Gorst posted a 1.59 ERA over 28 1/3 innings in Advanced-A this year. He did so with a 0.95 WHIP while opponents hit .200 against him. Then he went to Double-A and posted a 0.00 ERA in 20 1/3 innings. This time he did so with a 0.84 WHIP and opponents hitting .141 against him.

Now Gorst is in Triple-A. The 23-year-old made his first appearance on Tuesday, and surprise – he threw two scoreless innings.

Gorst has risen through the ranks at an incredibly fast rate. Thanks to the departure of the prospects mentioned in the first slide (and his utter domination), he’s now found his way into Triple-A.

The right-hander is pitching his way to the Majors in rapid succession and could theoretically find a way there this year. While that’s unlikely he’s definitely positioned himself for a shot in Spring Training next season.

Travis Lakins has also been promoted to Triple-A but has yet to make an appearance there. The right-hander has also put himself in a position to see the Majors soon.

Austin Rei‘s numbers at the plate are getting better and better as the weeks go by. The catcher is just holding onto that good on-base percentage anymore. Of course, that’s still at a fantastic .378, but the other numbers around it have improved heavily as well.

Rei is hitting .259 with 12 doubles and five home runs, as well as two triples. He’s driven in 24 runs and scored 20 more while stealing two bases. The 24-year-old seems to be improving on his numbers every week at this point.

Chad De La Guerra is hitting .261 in Double-A and just .230 combined between leagues this season. He has 10 homers in Portland and 11 overall though. Before this season, DLG’s career-high in homers was nine.

Danny Mars is hitting .255 with three home runs and 23 RBI on the season. The 24-year-old also has three triples and 18 doubles though. He’s now just three doubles away from tying his career-high. Mars is also 15-for-18 in steal attempts and has 52 runs scored, 10 away from his career-best of 62 set last year.

More from Red Sox Prospects

• Predicting top Red Sox outfield prospect Ceddanne Rafaela’s timeline to the majors
• Predicting Red Sox top prospect Marcelo Mayer’s timeline to the majors
• Red Sox risk repeating rookie mistake with Eric Hosmer release
• Red Sox invited group of players you’ve probably never heard of to Spring Training
• Jeter Downs’ official departure will continue to haunt Red Sox

Josh Ockimey now has 14 home runs on the season, his career-best is 18. He’s also hit 17 doubles and driven in 53 runs, all while missing the start of the year. While this isn’t his best year, there have been clear improvements in his game. This is also Ockimey’s first full year in Double-A, so the 22-year-old has plenty of time to improve.

Michael Chavis has struggled since finding his way back to Double-A. With Portland, the Red Sox top prospect is 7-for-46 (.152). He’s hit two home runs and driven in seven RBI. Chavis is still getting reintroduced to Double-A though, so patience is key.

Teddy Stankiewicz lowered his ERA once again, this time to 4.45. He threw another seven innings without allowing an earned run in his first start this week. On Tuesday Stankiewicz looked strong for the most part, but allowed five runs in the seventh inning. Still, five runs allowed over 14 innings is good work for a week.

Dedgar Jimenez also dropped his ERA pretty nicely. The left-hander went from a 5.07 to 4.90 thanks to seven innings of two-run ball. He posted a 2.35 ERA in July, as he’s clearly returning to the dominant form of last season.

Mike Shawaryn should get at least one Triple-A start this year. With Beeks gone Pawtucket will need some starter help, and Shawaryn has earned it. The 23-year-old right-hander now has a 3.28 ERA in 19 starts. He’s struck out 99 over 118 2/3 innings while holding opponents to a .238 average.

Michael Osinski won’t stop hitting. The third baseman was promoted to Advanced-A after a solid start in Full-A. However, his numbers in Full-A have nothing on what he’s doing in Salem.

The 22-year-old is hitting .330 with 14 RBI and 15 runs scored in 100 at-bats. Drafted in the 31st round in 2017, the right-hander is already climbing up the Red Sox minor league ladder. Osinski’s bat is for real.

Brett Netzer was hitting .280 a week ago. He collected a hit in five-of-six games this week though. All five of those games were multi-hit efforts, one of them being a three-hit game and another being a four-hit game. The tirade he went on brought Netzer’s average back up to .296. The second baseman’s also driven in 42 runs and scored 37 more.

Bobby Dalbec saw his average drop to .251 this week. He did so while adding home runs number 24 and 25 to his season total, however. The third baseman now has 25 homers to go along with 27 doubles. He’s driven in an absurd 84 runs and scored 57 more times. The Red Sox should find a way to get him some Double-A at-bats before the end of the season.

Victor Acosta is slashing .278/.300/.389 in his short time with Salem. He’s driven in four runs and already has four doubles in 36 at-bats. There isn’t much to tell here though, as we’ll have to wait for him to get more ABs at this level.

Bryan Mata is back but only threw one inning this week. The 19-year-old allowed a run in that time, raising his ERA to 3.50. He’s still having an incredible season, as the right-hander has a .229 batting average against and has still yielded just one home run in 72 innings pitched.

Darwinzon Hernandez allowed two earned runs over five innings this week, while striking out seven. The 21-year-old now has a 3.97 ERA on the year with 106 strikeouts in 90 2/3 innings pitched. In 31 2/3 innings this month the left-hander posted a 1.71 ERA. So, yeah – things are going well for him.

Tanner Houck has also been dominating recently. By that I mean, he’s allowed one earned run over his last three starts combined (18 innings). That stretch has lowered the 22-year-old’s ERA from 5.14 to 4.32. He’s also 19 while walking just two.

Garrett Benge has now appeared in 25 games for the Greenville Drive this year. He’s slashing .333/.495/.467 in that time. The third baseman has four doubles and two home runs, to go along with nine RBI and 15 runs scored (as well as one steal). What might be the most impressive stat are the 24 walks he’s drawn compared to just 14 strikeouts.

Benge is absolutely dominating this season, and as the third baseman at the levels above him move up, he could see a change of scenery as well.

Marino Campana is hitting .246 with 38 extra-base hits and 59 RBI. The 20-year-old is still rarely talked about, however, which is becoming harder and harder to understand. If he can become more disciplined at the plate Campana is an extremely intriguing prospect.

Ryan Fitzgerald is riding a hot streak and has risen his average to .301. The second baseman has eight home runs in 196 at-bats and has driven in 26 runs while scoring 27 more.

Zach Sterry is currently on a mini-three-game-hitting-streak. In that time he’s 8-for-13 and has brought his average up to .293. The 24-year-old has 19 RBI in 140 at-bats and is starting to look extremely comfortable at the plate.

Denyi Reyes has a 1.89 ERA in 21 appearances (18 starts) this season. He’s struck out 122 batters in 123 2/3 innings while walking 13. The 21-year-old also has a 0.85 WHIP and a .201 BAA. There’s legitimately nothing to nitpick at when it comes to the 2018 season for the right-hander.

Reyes has a career ERA of 2.10 over 295 1/3 innings pitched. It’s time to start talking about him.

Kutter Crawford is now the 19th ranked prospect in the Red Sox system. His 2018 season is proving why, as he’s posted a 2.99 ERA over 20 starts. The 22-year-old has 116 strikeouts in 108 1/3 innings while allowing only five home runs.

Durbin Feltman has thrown seven innings for Greenville so far. He’s already racked up 14 strikeouts in that time. The third round pick of this year’s draft is 3-for-3 in save opportunities and should see Advanced-A soon.