13. Nick Decker (Outfielder)
The Boston Red Sox selected outfielder Nick Decker in the second-round of the 2018 draft. So far, the outfielder is definitely flashing that crazy power that made him so coveted.
Decker appeared in 53 games for the Short-A Lowell Spinners in 2019. The left-handed hitter posted a .247 average in that time. Over 170 at-bats he had 10 doubles, five triples, and six home runs. He also drove in 25 runs and scored 23 more, showing solid run production.
Decker turned 20 on October 2. So he’s still got a lot of growing to do. That’s great news for the Red Sox as the power is already shining through. As he gets more at-bats he should get more comfortable and start to really put up home run numbers.
That’s not all Decker can do though. While he’s not a speed demon, he’s by no means slow. With all that juice in his bat, that should make doubles a pretty regular occurrence for him as well.
Meanwhile, a solid average should be expected as well. Maybe he won’t be a .300 hitter, but the .270s is something he could reach while still putting up really nice power numbers.
Defensively, Decker has a pretty strong arm and plays right field nicely. All of this comes out to a really exciting prospect that could help Boston in a number of ways.
It is the power that’s most intriguing though. Decker has been known to hit some absolute bombs and could be a 30-plus home run guy. That alone should get Red Sox fans excited.
They’ll have to wait a little bit though as he’ll likely be starting next year in Full-A. That will be his first chance full regular season (Short-A is under 80 games). It will be interesting to see how much he grows when given the longer year. 2020 could be a major step for his development.