Boston Red Sox Prospect Watch: 2021 MiLB season finally here

High-A (Greenville Drive)

The Greenville Drive might be the most entertaining team in all of baseball right now.

Kole Cottam is off to a fantastic start, the catcher is hitting .444 (4-for-9) with two walks (leading to a .545 OBP) with one home run. The right-handed hitter has one RBI and two runs scored. Boston has a lot of catchers in their system, but don’t count out Cottam – the bat is legit and his defense has improved dramatically.

Tyreque Reed is new to the system and dude is a tank. A career .280 hitter who had 18 home runs in each of the last two seasons. Clearly he wants to bring that big bat to Boston. Listed at 6’1″, 250 lbs, the 23-year-old is 4-for-15 (.267) with one double and two home runs. He has walked twice, driving in five runs and scoring five more.

Shortstop Cameron Cannon has an exciting bat. He’s hitting just .200 (4-for-20) at the moment but already has two doubles and one home run. The right handed hitter also has one walk, and has one RBI while scoring four runs.

Brandon Howlett is one of those really exciting prospects in a bad spot. He’s a third baseman on a team that had Bobby Dalbec, Michael Chavis, and Rafael Devers, and Triston Casas all in that spot. Dalbec and Chavis don’t really play third anymore, so the position has freed up a bit which is good, because the 21-year-old deserves more eyes. He’s hitting .313 (5-for-16) with a double and a home run. Howlett has also walked twice, while driving in two runs and scoring two more.

Tyler Dearden started the year 0-for-7. Since then, he is 4-for-7 with two walks. Dearden already has one double, two home runs, six RBI, and four runs scored on the year. Those would be great numbers for someone that didn’t start off hitless in their first two games. He’s hitting .286 and the 22-year-old outfielder is set to make big waves in 2021.

Nick Sogard also started off the year with a hitless streak. After starting 0-for-6 Sogard is now 2-for-15. Obviously a .133 average is not great, but he is in a new system as well as having a year off so that small slump isn’t a big deal. What’s interesting about it is those two hits are both home runs. Sogard had zero home runs in his 214 at-bats in his only other season in the minors in 2019. Low strikeouts and good speed, his average will get back up there.

Chris Murphy‘s stuff is devastating. I absolutely love the way he mixes speeds, moves across the plate, and keeps hitters guessing. In his first start he allowed two runs on five hits over four innings. He struck out seven in that time. Murphy might be looking to rack up the Ks this year. The lefty is one of my favorite prospects to watch, let’s see where he can go in 2021.

Brayan Bello doesn’t get talked about enough. A 21-year-old with some wild pitches and more than decent enough command. In his first start of the year, Bello went 5 2/3 innings, giving up just one run on four hits.

Jay Groome gave up five runs on six hits in two innings. Who cares about the stats right now though, Groome is pitching again. The big thing is for him to stay healthy and get some rhythm going with his arm. Once he does that, the production will come. Groome is still just 22 and the lefty has elite potential to be a true ace, fight me on that I dare you.

Yorvin Pantoja has appeared in two games and the lefty has already thrown 3 1/3 shutout innings in that time. Pantoja has allowed just one hit (.091 BAA) and has struck out five. Fantastic start for the 23-year-old.

Rio Gomez has appeared in one game, tossing three innings. The son of the late, great journalist Pedro Gomez allowed one run on four hits in that outing. He did not surrender any walks and managed to rack up an impressive six strikeouts.