Double-A (Portland Sea Dogs)
Jarren Duran‘s figured out Double-A and that’s just absolutely dreadful news for opposing pitchers. He entered July 21 hitting .208, then went on a 12-game hitting streak. That streak was ended on August 3, but the next day he went 3-for-4 with 2 doubles. Now the 22-year-old has a .265 average.
Duran’s scored 28 runs and stolen 20 bases in Double-A so far. Combined between the two leagues he’s scored 77 runs and stolen 38 bases to this point – the numbers are ridiculous.
C.J. Chatham is hitting .297 with 23 doubles and five steals. He’s scored 37 runs and driven in 32 more and it would be really fun to see him in a Major League lineup. Boston should try him out at a few other positions (he’s played seven games at second base but needs more).
Marcus Wilson is on fire. He’s now up to .227 with Portland after hitting .342 in Advanced-A. He has a career-high 14 homers and his 50 RBI and 53 runs scored are both extremely close to setting new marks. Wilson is just 22 and I’m all-in on him being a big part of the Red Sox future.
Michael Osinski was called-up to Double-A after Dalbec got the move to Triple-A. The infielder is 2-for-8 so far (.250) with two RBI. Osinski had a great 2018 but has had injury problems this season. He’s a good all-around hitter and it’ll be interesting to see how he handles Portland for the rest of the year.
I feel really bad that I haven’t headlined Daniel McGrath yet. I’m sure it’s keeping him up at night.
Seriously though, McGrath deserves all the attention you can possibly give him. The left-handed pitcher has a 1.46 ERA in Double-A. That’s over 80 innings by the way. In that time, he has a .175 BAA and 78 strikeouts. He’s started 10 games and even has a save. In his last start, he ended a ridiculous streak of seven straight appearances (38 2/3 innings) without allowing an earned run – when he allowed one earned run over six innings.
Denyi Reyes is looking like that crazy dominant 2018 version of himself right now. The 22-year-old is down to a 3.63 ERA after seven straight starts that saw him lower that number. In his first year in Double-A, the righty took a minute to adjust but is clearly finding his footing.
Dedgar Jimenez has looked absolutely amazing out of the bullpen in his last few appearances. I’m warming up heavily to his switch to reliever. His only appearance last week saw him go 2 2/3 perfect innings, striking out five.
Then this week he had two outings. The first saw him go two shutout innings, allowing two hits and striking out two – picking up a save. Next, he went one shutout inning, allowing one hit and striking out one – again picking up a save. Baby Bartolo, closer? I’m here for it.
Bryan Mata did not have a good outing this week. He gave up four runs on five hits without recording an out. However, you can forgive the 20-year-old for a bad start in just his seventh Double-A appearance. Overall, he still has a 3.07 ERA combined between Advanced-A and Double-A this year and this should be the least concerning bad start from a prospect in a while.
Eduard Bazardo has had a few bad outings recently. However, he cleaned it up this week, combining to go 3 1/3 innings without allowing a run. He struck out three and only gave up one hit, lowering his ERA back down to 4.29 over 21 innings in Portland.
Durbin Feltman is down to a 4.83 ERA after two shutout innings this week. He walked three (which has been a problem all year) but struck out four. The 22-year-old certainly isn’t having the year anyone hoped for but he can create a lot of positives with a strong finish to the year.