Red Sox Prospect Watch: Bobby Dalbec crushing once again

Double-A (Portland Sea Dogs)

What have I been saying? There’s no reason to worry about Bobby Dalbec. 10 days ago, the third baseman was hitting under .200 with just two home runs – now he’s on an absolute tear though. The right-handed hitter has picked up at least one hit in seven of his last eight games. In his last four games, he’s 8-for-16 with five home runs and seven RBI.

All of a sudden, Dalbec has a .250 average (.391 OBP) with five doubles, one triple, and seven home runs. He’s driven in 22 runs and scored 18 more – and one of the best hitting prospects the Red Sox have is back.

C.J. Chatham is another one of those “best hitting prospects” for the Red Sox. The shortstop is hitting .324 with 10 doubles so far. He’s driven in 15 runs and scored 14 more.

Kyle Hart had two strong starts this week and is now down to a 2.59 ERA on the season. The left-hander has 49 strikeouts over 41 2/3 innings and has only given up one home run. He has a .190 BAA and 1.01 WHIP – keeping runners off the bases.

Denyi Reyes dropped his ERA from 7.01 to 5.74 with a spectacular start – giving up just one run in seven innings. He’s had a few fantastic starts but some miserable ones (like the eight runs he gave up in 3 1/3 innings) have really hurt his overall numbers.

Dedgar Jimenez continues the lowering of his ERA as well, as the lefty now has a 4.71 after giving up three runs in seven innings. This was his fourth straight start that lowered his ERA and he’s clearly trending up.

Tanner Houck struggled for the second straight outing, going just 2 2/3 innings – giving up three earned runs on five hits. His ERA is now 5.14 over 28 innings. The 22-year-old looked so dominant in a few starts that it’s hard to get too worried about this stretch.

Darwinzon Hernandez allowed six walks over three innings in his last start – however, he didn’t allow any earned runs – dropping his ERA to 4.19. Walks have been a problem from him this year, but he’s got such an electric arm it tends to get him out of trouble.

Durbin Feltman might be the weirdest case in Double-A. He has an 8.25 ERA this season thanks to a few implosion outings. However, he has a .175 BAA. The problem has been walks (13 in 12 innings). Feltman can clearly dominate, he just needs to find the strike zone more often.

Adam Lau has had no such problem when it comes to ERA. The 24-year-old has a 1.04 ERA over 17 1/3 innings. In that time, he’s struck out 23 and walked eight. He has a .151 BAA and 0.92 WHIP and has yet to allow a home run.

Dominic LoBrutto is back in Double-A. He spent a little time there this year but gave up two runs in two innings (9.00 ERA). Then he went to Advanced-A, where he allowed just one earned run in 15 1/3 innings (0.59 ERA). In his first appearance back with Portland, LoBrutto threw three shutout innings – lowering his ERA there to 3.60. His combined ERA this season sits at 1.33.