Red Sox Prospect Watch: Bobby Dalbec promoted to Triple-A

The Boston Red Sox minor leagues saw another major shake-up with third baseman Bobby Dalbec getting promoted to Triple-A this week.

Okay, so I was wrong. The Boston Red Sox minor league system wasn’t changed due to the trade deadline. That’s because the Red Sox surprised everyone by not making any trades. However, there was still a shake-up that we’ll get to later.

For now, let’s focus on the young talent in the majors. We’re going to start with Darwinzon Hernandez. Outside of Brandon Workman, Hernandez should be the reliever fans trust the most. Numbers back that up too. The left-hander has a 2.03 ERA in 13 1/3 innings in the Majors this year. More importantly (as he’s coming out of the bullpen) he has a 0.00 ERA in 10 1/3 innings as a reliever this year.

Hernandez has proven himself to be a valuable arm and should get more high-leverage situations.

Next up is Michael Chavis. He’s had multi-hit performances in each of his last two games, raising his average to .263. The infielder has 57 RBI and leads AL rookies in home runs with 18. All-in-all this is a very positive rookie campaign.

I’ve said it a lot in the past – Sam Travis will be a very good hitter in the Majors if given a chance. He’s getting that chance right now and he’s looking solid. Travis is hitting .250 with three doubles and three home runs. Meanwhile, he’s driven in nine runs and stolen two bases. He’s campaigning for the starting first base job and definitely isn’t disappointing. I expect things to only get better as he gets more time.

Remember, Sam Travis was once a top prospect for the Red Sox. His bat is legit.

Triple-A (Pawtucket Red Sox)

Here comes that big shake-up I was talking about. The Red Sox number two prospect is now in Triple-A. Bobby Dalbec got the call-up this week and has now played two games with Pawtucket. In that time, he’s 3-for-8 with a run scored.

Now the question is what was the purpose? Was this just because the Red Sox felt he needed the new challenge? Or do they plan on starting him in Triple-A next year and wanted to give him the rest of this season to adjust? Or could they be considering calling him up this year and wanted to ease him in? We’ll have to wait and see. Either way, it’s exciting that he’s so close to the Majors now.

Josh Ockimey is finding his stroke again, collecting a hit in 7-of-his-last-8 games. That stretch has risen his average from .188 to .204. He’s also had four home runs in his last six games, two in his last two. The left-handed hitter now has a career-high 21 home runs. He’s done that in 19 less games than it took him to hit 20 homers last season.

Chad De La Guerra is slashing .298/.371/.563 with 16 doubles and 13 home runs. It took him 102 games to hit a career-high 16 homers last year. Now he’s hit those 13 in 58 games. The 26-year-old deserves a shot in the Majors but probably won’t get one this year (outside of a September call-up).

Marco Hernandez is hitting .333 proving there’s absolutely no reason for him to be in the minors.

Chris Owings is hitting .329 with nine homers and 29 RBI in 39 games for Triple-A. Once again he’s proving that this was a very savvy pick up by Boston.

Cole Sturgeon is sneaky good depth for the Red Sox outfield. He plays very good defense and is hitting .285 thanks to a very hot stretch recently.

Tanner Houck had two appearances this week. He combined to go three shutout innings, allowing no hits and two walks, while striking out two as well. The right-hander should be given a chance in the Majors, especially with how bad the bullpen has been for the Red Sox recently.

Trevor Kelley has a 1.38 ERA and 0.98 WHIP. That’s all you need to know.

Kyle Hart has a 3.53 ERA after his third straight strong start. This time he went 5 1/3 innings, allowing two runs and striking out seven. His 21 strikeouts in the last three starts (18 innings) represent a great trend for him as well.

Teddy Stankiewicz bounced back with a great start this week – going seven innings, allowing two runs and striking out eight. The right-handed pitcher now has a 4.45 ERA, a big improvement over last season.

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.

Advanced-A (Salem Red Sox)

Logan Browning was having no problems with Full-A pitching and now gets to test himself in Advanced-A. His first showing was a little rocky but overall solid. Over two innings Browning allowed four hits and one walk but managed not to allow a run. The 23-year-old lefty had a 2.04 ERA with Greenville, now we’ll see what he brings to Salem.

Browning is joining another talented lefty in the Salem bullpen. Dominic LoBrutto has a 2.10 ERA over 25 2/3 innings in Advanced-A. He’s struck out 24 compared to just four walks and has a 0.94 WHIP to this point.

Thad Ward‘s struggled a bit over his last two starts but still has a 2.58 ERA in Advanced-A. The righty’s numbers between Salem and Greenville are ridiculous. He has 134 strikeouts over 110 2/3 innings as well as a .207 BAA and 2.20 ERA.

Joan Martinez has a 3.75 ERA and 47 strikeouts over 36 innings in Advanced-A. The 22-year-old has struggled in some areas (1.45 WHIP) but has a .229 BAA and his 3.96 combined ERA is much improved from last season.

Rio Gomez isn’t dominating like he did in Full-A but his Advanced-A numbers are still great. Yes, the 1.37 WHIP and .266 BAA need work, but the 2.88 ERA is solid. Overall, he has a 2.14 ERA, 1.08 WHIP, and .219 BAA. He’s also struck out 66 batters in 59 innings.

Pedro Castellanos is hitting .275 with 60 RBI and 54 runs scored. He’s mashed 19 doubles and one triple – and he added another homer this week, putting his career-high total up to six now. It appears he might actually be finding his power swing and that will make him an extremely interesting prospect.

Victor Acosta is driving in runs in bunches suddenly. He’s had seven over his last three games. The outfielder is hitting .303 with 33 runs scored and 41 RBI on the season. Although he doesn’t hit for much power (17 doubles and one home run), that’s the only weakness in the game. He still has an incredible 30 walks compared to just 33 strikeouts.

Ryan Fitzgerald is down to .284 but is still having a superb year. The shortstop has 20 doubles, six triples, and one home run. More importantly, though, he’s driven in 57 runs and scored 50 more.

Full-A (Greenville Drive)

Yoan Aybar had another great week. The potential is there people. Aybar threw four innings this week. The 22-year-old lefty allowed one hit and one walk without giving up a run. He struck out four in that time. Aybar has lowered his ERA to 4.73 and his WHIP to 1.42. Meanwhile, his BAA is a ridiculously low .165 and he has 62 strikeouts in 45 2/3 innings.

Chase Shugart has gotten hit pretty hard in his last two outings. This rose his ERA to 2.67 – still incredibly strong. The 22-year-old righty has thrown 70 2/3 innings this year. Due to that, he could still change his numbers in any direction pretty heavily. Smart money is on him improving though – he’s really good.

Brayan Bello has struggled a little in two starts this week. His 6.15 ERA isn’t great either. However, Bello’s still just 20 and has shown a lot to make anyone excited. The biggest of those is his sheer arm talent as the righty has struck out 94 batters in 90 2/3 innings.

Cole Brannen hasn’t shown to be much of a hitter so far. However, the 21-year-old has a lot of talent with his speed (23 steals this year) and is solid defensively. Now things are looking up a little with the bat. He’s on a four-game hitting streak, raising his average to .204. On Monday Brannen hit his first professional homer.

Triston Casas is down to .247 and hasn’t had an RBI in 13 games. However, that just means he’s due to go on a tear soon. The 19-year-old still has strong numbers on the year, including 17 home runs and 68 RBI.

Tyler Esplin is hitting .234 with a strong 23 doubles. He’s driven in 34 runs and scored another 45. The 20-year-old has a lot of potential in nearly every facet of the game. No, he likely won’t be an elite base stealer but he can swipe a few. His defense is improving and he is proving he can be an offensive threat.

Kole Cottam is slashing .258/.383/.416 with 19 doubles and six home runs. He’s driven in 32 runs and scored 40 more. So far, the catcher has proven that he’s extremely talented offensively and it should only help raise his stock as the season goes on.

Devlin Granberg is hitting .288 and has 19 doubles, five triples, and eight home runs. He’s driven in 45 runs and scored 57 more, stealing six bases. The first baseman is far from the flashiest prospect but he’s proving that he is extremely reliable and there’s plenty of reasons to believe he could be a very solid hitter at the next level.