Red Sox Prospect Watch: Thad Ward inserts himself into conversations

4 of 5

BOSTON, MA – OCTOBER 31: The Boston Red Sox 2018 World Series Championship banner hangs outside Fenway Park on October 31, 2018 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Omar Rawlings/Getty Images) /

Advanced-A (Salem Red Sox)

The Salem Red Sox have the most exciting lineup in the Boston Red Sox minor league system. It all starts with Jarren Duran. He’s now played 45 games this year and has a .403 batting average. It’s not all singles either, as Duran has two home runs and three triples, as well as 13 doubles. He’s scored 45 runs and stolen 18 bases – making this one of the more ridiculous seasons that I’ve seen in a while.

Ryan Fitzgerald is one of the players capitalizing on Duran getting on base by driving him in. The shortstop is hitting .337 with 13 doubles and four triples. He’s second on the team with 35 RBI and has a solid 21 runs scored and eight steals as well.

More from Red Sox Prospects

Pedro Castellanos leads the team with 36 RBI. The first baseman is hitting .277 and has 11 doubles and one home run as well. He’s still just 21 and showing some solid growth at the plate. Once he gets a little more patient (only nine walks this season), Castellanos will be virtually unstoppable at the plate.

Victor Acosta is one of the most over-shadowed players in the Red Sox minors. He’s slashing .292/370/.350 with 17 RBI and 15 runs scored. Usually, those would be great numbers, but there are so many standouts on the Salem roster that he simply seems like another guy. That’s upsetting because Acosta’s a great all-around bat.

Marcus Wilson is with Salem now and seems to be enjoying it. The 22-year-old outfielder is hitting .313 with three doubles and one home run in nine games. He’s driven in seven runs and scored four more. It’s great to see him looking more comfortable in the system a month after the Blake Swihart trade.

Eduard Bazardo is having such a ridiculous season that he gave up one run in 4 1/3 innings this week and raised his ERA pretty significantly. He now has a 1.06 ERA as opposed to the 0.91 he had last week. In 34 innings, the right-hander has 41 strikeouts compared to seven walks. He has a 0.82 WHIP and .171 BAA and opponents have still yet to hit a home run off of him.

Rio Gomez joined Advanced-A and gave up two runs in two innings in his first outing (9.00 ERA). His only other appearance so far saw him go 2 2/3 innings without giving another run, lowering that ERA to 3.86. Gomez was untouchable in Full-A and it’s good to see the 24-year-old getting a chance in Advanced-A.

Kris Jackson is also in Salem at the moment. He had a 2.00 ERA over nine innings in Full-A and now has one shutout inning under his belt in Advanced-A. The 23-year-old has a lot of talent and could definitely turn into a steal as a 28th-round draft pick from the 2018 Draft.

Enmanuel De Jesus struggled in his last start but still has a 3.83 ERA this year. The 22-year-old has seen a lot more positives in 2019 than he has negatives. In fact, his first start of the week saw him go six innings without allowing an earned run. The left-hander will need to limit the walks (18 in 44 2/3 innings) if he wants the positives to continue outweighing the negatives.

Home/Red Sox Prospects