Advanced-A (Salem Red Sox)
Pedro Castellanos is not on the Red Sox top-30 prospect list according to MLB. He clearly doesn’t agree with that – and is giving everyone a reason as well. Ever since arriving in the organization people have said he has plus-power potential. However, he hit just three homers in 2016, two in 2017 and one in 2018.
Castellanos had just two homers this year heading into last week. He was already at a career-high in RBI but is also hitting under .300 for the first time in his career.
An incredible week capped off by three straight two-hit games started to turn things around though. Especially because the last two games were a two-homer game, followed by another homer the next day.
Castellanos piled up the hits, RBI, runs scored and homers this week. In fact, he’s on a 13-game hitting streak at the moment. He also now has a .280 average and career-highs in homers (5), RBI (59) and runs scored (51). Castellanos has an extremely bright future.
Victor Acosta is further proof that sometimes players just need time to adjust. After hitting .253 over 30 games in Advanced-A last season, he’s hitting .304 there in 71 games this year. The outfielder is also posting a fantastic .379 OBP and barely strikeouts (31) more than he walks (28).
Ryan Fitzgerald has another career-high as he surpassed his old runs scored mark and now has 47 on the year. That goes nicely with a .292 average and 55 RBI.
Thad Ward has a 1.91 ERA. In his last appearance, he gave up one earned run over five innings and barely lowered his ERA. When one run in five innings is barely lowering your ERA – you’re doing a lot of things right. The Red Sox should be crazy high on him.
Dominic LoBrutto made two appearances out of the bullpen this week, going three innings combined. In those three innings, he struck out more people (4) than he allowed on base (2). His ERA is down to 2.01 over 22 1/3 innings in Advanced-A.
Enmanuel De Jesus has a 3.99 ERA at the moment – after posting a somewhat solid start this week. The lefty went 6 1/3, allowing three earned runs. He struck out six while allowing five hits and three walks. All season long De Jesus has had an issue with baserunners but he’s been a little better recently. Hopefully that’s a sign of things to come.
Joan Martinez had two strong relief outings this week. The righty combined for two shutout innings, allowing no hits and one walk while striking out three. He now has a 3.63 ERA over 34 2/3 innings for Salem.