Red Sox Prospect Watch: The final week of the 2018 season

Michael Chavis hit a cold-streak to end his short Triple-A run this season. In his last four games, he went 0-for-16. The third baseman still managed to hit .273 with three doubles and two home runs in 33 at-bats. Chavis also drove in seven runs and scored eight more in eight games with Pawtucket.

Expect the top prospect to start the year in Triple-A again next year, although he deserves a chance to fight for a spot in the Majors. Personally, I wouldn’t be surprised if he made a strong case, but the Red Sox will at least want to wait a little to get an extra year of service time.

Rusney Castillo wasn’t part of the first wave of September call-ups. Barring injuries, it’s probably not happening. That’s upsetting because he’s definitely deserved it. Castillo hit .319 this season with 31 doubles and 13 steals. He also drove in 59 runs and scored another 56. All those numbers I just threw at you led the team.

Lin had a career-high .307 average and .448 slugging percentage in Triple-A this year. There’s life in his bat, maybe he can figure it out at the Major League level. If he can the shortstop could be an extremely valuable asset.

Looking back at the stats in a few years, anyone will say Travis didn’t have a great year. A .258 average isn’t great, and neither is 21 extra-base hits. Not even his run production was good (43 RBI and 35 runs scored). The first baseman had a superb second half though and showed there’s still a ton of potential in his bat. His numbers might be holding him back from the opportunity, but I’d love to see Travis get a chance in the Majors full-time. His bat could play extremely well at Fenway.

Tony Renda‘s still only 27. He hit .318 combined between Double-A and Triple-A this year. The second baseman deserves a shot in the Majors again. It might not be with the Red Sox but expect to see him at some point next year.

Josh Ockimey hit just .215 for Pawtucket this year, but you need to remember a few things.

First off, Ock is still just 22. Second, the first baseman had just 27 games (93 at-bats) in Triple-A. Third, in that time, he still hit five home runs and drove in 15 runs. Finally, he’s coming off a career-year in 2017 and managed to set a new career-best in home runs (20) this year. There’s tons of raw power in Ockimey’s bat.

Mike Shawaryn finished with a 3.93 ERA in 36 2/3 Triple-A innings. That’s after posting a 3.28 ERA in 112 2/3 innings for Double-A. For those keeping track at home that’s a combined 3.44 ERA in 149 1/3 innings this season. The right-hander had a 1.13 WHIP and struck out 132 batters compared to 38 walks in 2018. Shawaryn should see his MLB debut at some point next year.

Travis Lakins was awesome in Double-A but utterly dominant in Triple-A. Combined between the two the righty had a 2.32 ERA and 1.03 WHIP. Opponents hit .190 against him, and he struck out 57 in 54 1/3 innings.

Trevor Kelley is widely ignored because of pitchers like the two above. He’s not regarded as high as them, so his 1.54 ERA in 23 1/3 Triple-A innings somehow went unnoticed. The 24-year-old did so by allowing just one home run in that time.

Bobby Dalbec started off scorching-hot when he was promoted to Double-A, but cooled off towards the end (although he was picking it back up in the last few games). Still, the power is definitely real. The third baseman had eight doubles and six home runs in 111 Double-A at-bats, driving in 24 runs as well. His entire season saw Dalbec hit a combined .257 with 35 doubles and 32 home runs. He drove in a ridiculous 109 runs and scored 73 more.

Esteban Quiroz only played in 24 games this year due to injury. He managed a fantastic stat line however, hitting .299 with seven home runs and 24, as well as five doubles and 19 runs scored. The 26-year-old is someone I feel could make a massive impact in the Majors if given the chance. I’m interested to see how 2019 shapes up for him.

Chad De La Guerra hit .266 in Double-A this year and .242 combined between Portland and Pawtucket. DLG did manage a career-high in home runs with 16 (15 in Double-A). His 58 RBI were also one behind his career-best of 59. The 25-year-old may not be as highly-regarded in the system as he was at this time last year, but there’s still plenty to love.

Austin Rei slumped slightly at the end of the year, but still put together his best season in the minors. The catcher had career-highs in average (.249) and homers (7). His two triples were also a new career-mark as was his .355 OBP. That’s what I want to talk about right now. The 24-year-old has always been great at getting on-base despite low averages. This makes him a fantastic prospect because if the bat continues to improve he’ll become a legitimate offensive threat.

Danny Mars flashed the clutch-factor near the end of the year. That includes the last at-bat of the year for the outfielder, which was a go-ahead RBI-single in the 11th inning. The .255 average was a drop-off from .293 two seasons ago and .304 last year. He did manage to tie a career-high in doubles (21) and runs scored (62) though – and was a fantastic 19-for-24 in steal attempts. Mars also shattered his old career-high for walks in a season. It was 36, but he took a base-on-balls 45 times in 2018. His already-solid defense took a step forward in 2018 as well.

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

Now let’s get into two hitters I didn’t show enough love to this year. In fact, I don’t know if I ever mentioned Luke Tendler or Jeremy Rivera.

Tendler can mash, and led the team in home runs (15) and RBI (62). He also hit at a solid clip of .272. The outfielder was a rule-5 draft selection of the Red Sox in 2018 and definitely made his presence felt in Double-A.

Rivera hit .262 as the primary leadoff hitter. The shortstop had 16 doubles and five home runs and led the team with 70 runs scored. He also drove in 42 runs and stole 12 bases. The 23-year-old improved in basically every category this year compared to last despite moving up from Advanced-A to Double-A.

Dedgar Jimenez had a 4.39 ERA in Double-A this season which doesn’t seem that superb. The left-hander was lights-out post-All-Star break though (2.47 ERA). He also had a strong start in his only Triple-A appearance this year. The 22-year-old also posted the best BAA of his career, as opponents hit .242 against him. If I were the Red Sox, I’d pay attention to Baby Bartolo.

Teddy Stankiewicz is a workhorse. I know I’ve said it before but it deserves being said again. The right-hander threw at least five innings in every Double-A appearance he made since April 11. Even when he doesn’t have his best stuff, Stank finds a way to eat innings. The 24-year-old has quite a few things going for him, but his ability to go deep into games is the biggest.

Matthew Kent had the best season of his career despite being in Double-A for the first time. The lefty posted a 3.58 ERA while opponents hit .257 against him. He managed to work out of a lot of tough situations and was probably Portland’s most consistent pitcher.

Kyle Hart is up there too when it comes to consistency. The 25-year-old had a 3.57 ERA in 138 2/3 innings pitched this season. Like Kent, this was his first season in Double-A. Every other stop on the way saw Hart dominant. While his numbers were great, they weren’t exactly dominant this year.

That’s not a bad thing though. There’s a lot to build off of, and you can’t expect a prospect to just breeze through every level. Hart was great despite having no prior Double-A experience. It will be interesting to see how he performs in 2019.

Daniel McGrath got no love from me this year. The 24-year-old deserved some though. McGrath posted a 3.63 ERA in 89 1/3 innings for Portland this year. He made 11 starts in 33 appearances and even picked up a save. The lefty struck out 79 batters while only allowing one home run.

Darwinzon Hernandez spent most of his season in Advanced-A, but after dominating in one start off the DL – he was sent to Double-A to end the year. The 21-year-old threw six innings and allowed two earned runs in that time. He struck out 10 but walked six. The left-hander wasn’t perfect but definitely looked ready for Double-A. He should start there next year as a starting pitcher – and could make another level jump by the end of 2019.

Full disclosure, I’m working on a list of the Top-30 prospects in the Red Sox system. I’m telling you this because I absolutely hate that I had to leave Victor Acosta off that list. Things are subject to change, but at the moment, he’s just on the outside looking in.

Acosta hit .277 between Full-A and Advanced-A this season. The 22-year-old had career-highs in doubles (29) and triple (3), as well as home runs (8) though. He also set new career-marks in runs scored (39) and RBI (49). The outfielder has a lot going for him at the plate.

Tyler Hill ended up having a solid year at the plate with a .254/.348/.312 slash line at the plate. He only hit one home run, but had a career-high in doubles (20) and walks (54). The 22-year-old also stole 27 bases and scored 67 runs (career-high).

C.J. Chatham played more than 35 games for the first time this year – in fact, he played 114.  With that time he put together a fantastic season, hitting .314 with 25 extra base hits. The shortstop also drove in 52 runs and scored 55 more, while stealing 11 bases.

Michael Osinski posted a .296/.370/.368 slash line between Full-A and Advanced-A. The corner infielder drove in 47 runs and scored 48 more in 99 games. He also stole eight bases and hit 14 doubles. The 23-year-old was selected in the 31st round of the 2017 draft last season and could already be in Double-A next season.

Brett Netzer slumped pretty hard at the end of 2018, but still had a solid season at the plate. The second baseman hit .270 with 31 doubles and three steals. He also drove in 50 runs and scored 50 more.

Denyi Reyes ended his year in Advanced-A after winning the South Atlantic League’s 2018 Most Outstanding Pitcher award in Full-A. He was stupid dominant all year, posting a 1.89 ERA in Full-A and 2.25 ERA in Advanced-A.

Combined between the two, the 21-year-old had a 1.97 ERA while opponents hit .210 against him. The right-hander posted a ridiculous 0.91 WHIP and struck out 145 batters in 155 2/3 innings – compared to 19 walks.

Durbin Feltman ended his year in Advanced-A too, but this time I was expecting him to end higher. The reliever dominated at every level he was at this year, including posting a 2.19 ERA and 15 strikeouts in 12 1/3 innings for Salem.

Feltman had 36 strikeouts total between 23 1/3 innings this season. He posted a 0.99 WHIP and 1.93 ERA in that time. I was honestly expecting him to be considered for a spot with the Boston Red Sox this year, but somehow he didn’t make it past the Red Sox of Salem despite never faltering.

Tanner Houck was on-fire to finish off his 2018. The 22-year-old ended with a 4.24 ERA and was fantastic for the last month of the season. He walked a ton of batters (60 in 119 innings) but had a decent BAA (.245) and struck out 111 batters. This is definitely the type of season Houck can build off of, as it went from disastrous to solid thanks to how it ended. Hopefully, that momentum carries into 2019.

Bryan Mata and Roniel Raudes both ended the season on the DL. Raudes at 20, had a 3.67 ERA through 54 innings, but his other numbers weren’t that pretty. He still improved on many categories compared to 2017 though, and that’s a trend that hopefully continues next season.

Mata, on the other hand, had a 3.50 ERA but had 58 walks in 72 innings. He limited the damage thanks to a .229 BAA and by only allowing one home run. The 19-year-old has plenty of time to work on his command. In the meantime, it’s encouraging to see just how dominant he is in basically every other facet of the game.

Jarren Duran was selected by the Red Sox in the seventh round of the 2018 draft. He’s already in Full-A and should be further up the ladder. After hitting .348 in Short-A, the 22-year-old hit .367 in Full-A. That’s a combined .357 in 283 at-bats. In that time, Duran had 14 doubles and three home runs, as well as 11 triples. He had 35 RBI and 52 runs scored while stealing 24 bases.

The flying-under-the-radar of Garrett Benge stops here. Combined between Short-A and Full-A, the corner infielder hit .333 with 13 extra-base hits. The left-handed hitter had 19 RBI and 23 runs scored while walking more times (30) than he struck out (25).

Pedro Castellanos is expected to hit for power in the future, but he hit just one home run this year. The 20-year-old has time to develop power, however, so that shouldn’t be too much of a concern. Meanwhile, hitting .302 with 20 doubles is fantastic and shows there’s potential for an all-around bat.

Speaking of power, Marino Campana has tons of it. The 20-year-old hit 19 doubles and seven triples, as well as 16 home runs this year. He hit .246 but also drove in 69 runs while scoring 54 more.

When Alex Scherff returned from the DL on August 18, he had a 6.32 ERA on the season. As one of the Red Sox top pitching prospects, that wasn’t too encouraging. The 20-year-old was lights-out in his four post-DL appearances though and lowered that ERA all the way down to 4.98. Again, this is a situation where just looking at the stat line you’d think it was a lost year. That couldn’t be further from the case. Scherff showed a lot in his last few starts and gave the Red Sox a lot to be excited about.

Jhonathan Diaz was great all year for Greenville. He ramped it up to another level in his final month of the season. The left-hander is ranked in the Red Sox top-30 prospects and could move up even more if he continues to pitch like this next season. In 153 innings in Full-A, the 21-year-old had a 3.00 ERA and 1.06 WHIP. Opponents hit .223 against him and struck out 147 times.

Eduard Bazardo pitched three years in Rookie Ball before finally making the jump to Short-A this season. The Red Sox were impressed by what they saw in that short time as he ended the year in Full-A.

Bazardo posted a 2.67 ERA between the two leagues with a 0.93 WHIP. Opponents hit .217 against the 23-year-old, who struck out 84 batters in 77 2/3 innings. Most impressively, the right-hander only walked eight in that time.