Boston Red Sox top-30 prospect rankings after the 2019 season

22. Chase Shugart (Starting Pitcher)

The Red Sox drafted Chase Shugart in the 12th round in 2018. Coming out of Texas, Shugart was an interesting prospect.

Listed at 5’10”, 180 lbs, he’s not the typical frame of a pitcher. Shugart has a really good repertoire of pitches, but sometimes struggled with the usage of them.

Some of those issues led to Shugart getting drafted that late. So far, it’s been great for the Red Sox though.

Shugart made 16 starts in 2019. He was in Full-A the entire time, and threw 89 2/3 innings. In that time, the right-handed pitcher posted a 2.81 ERA and 1.25 WHIP. He also struck out 73 batters.

Sure, the numbers weren’t completely dominant for Shugart outside of the ERA. What that shows though is his ability to create weak contact.

This is due to those pitches I was talking about. Shugart has a fastball that sits in the mid-90s.  When it’s on, the fastball is a great pitch that he can rely on pretty heavily. However, sometimes he throws it too often and it gets flat.

The 23-year-old (turned 23 on October 24) also has a changeup that has its moments. This is his worst secondary pitch. It’s usually in the mid-80s and has a decent enough dip. Nothing incredible but it gets the job done.

Then there’s a curveball that I absolutely love. It’s usually in the high-70s and has a really great break to it. I would say this is his most consistent secondary pitch. Shugart is also very comfortable with it and seems to throw it at a solid rate.

Finally, he has a slider. The slider is his best secondary pitch and has the potential to be great. It goes anywhere from the low-to-mid-80s and has a really sharp break to it. When it’s on this pitch is absolutely devastating. However, he doesn’t seem to have the feel for it that he has for his curveball, at least not yet.

Shugart has only pitched as high as Full-A so far. However, he will likely start in Advanced-A next season and could climb the ladder pretty quickly.

It will be interesting to see how the Red Sox view him. They might want to move him to the bullpen to get the most out of his pitches, but he could definitely be a steady rotation arm as well.