Boston Red Sox Prospect Watch: 2021 MiLB season finally here
By Hunter Noll
Full-A (Salem Red Sox)
Gilberto Jimenez made a lot of headlines for adding plenty of muscle this offseason. The thought process was that the 20-year-old would now be adding power to his game, but might sacrifice some of his ridiculously elite speed. He immediately debunked that by beating out a routine grounder to second base for an infield single for his first hit of the year. Jimenez is 8-for-26 (.308) with two doubles, two RBI, six runs scored, and three steals on three attempts. An absolute star.
Nicholas Northcut was in the same boat as Howlett, stuck behind so many other third basemen. He’s carving his own path though, rocking a .357 average with one home run, six RBI, and two runs scored early on in the season.
Stephen Scott has come out of the gates swinging the hottest of hot bats. The left-handed hitter is slashing .462/.650/1.154 so far. He’s 6-for-13 with seven walks and three home runs. Meanwhile, he’s driven in five runs and scored five more. That’s a quick way to get recognized.
Nick Decker is hitting .235 but has a .381 OBP and one triple to go along with one home run. The outfielder has also driven in two runs, scored three more, and stolen one base.
Nick Yorke is having a few issues right now. He is hitting .200 (4-for-20) with one double, two RBI, two runs scored, and two steals. Not bad especially for it being early in the season. However, he has nine strikeouts and five errors already. It’s the beginning of the year and the 19-year-old was drafted last season and never got any real game experience so this is nothing to worry about.
Ceddanne Rafaela‘s full name is Ceddanne Chipper Nicasio Marte Rafaela, in case you wanted a new favorite player. He’s also a 20-year-old with loads of potential. The right-handed hitter is enjoying a .389/.421/.444 slash line at the moment, with one double, three runs scored, and 4-for-4 on steal opportunities.
“Matthew Lugo is Carlos Beltran’s nephew” is something you’ll probably hear a lot of when he’s a star in the Majors. For now though, he’s a 20-year-old prospect with a little ways to go. It’s all there though, speed, power, contact, fielding, arm, everything. Right now Lugo is hitting .157 (3-for-18) with one home run, two RBI, and two runs scored. He’ll be fine.
Jeremy Wu-Yelland was the Red Sox fourth-round draft pick in 2020. The lefty made his first appearance in the Boston system and put on a show. He went 2 1/3 innings, not allowing a single hit. He did have command issues, walking three and hitting two batters. However, Wu-Yelland did not allow an earned run and struck out five. On top of all of that, he has great hair. Always a plus.
Jordan DiValerio has appeared in two games for Salem so far. In those two games, the righty has thrown 4 2/3 shutout innings, allowing just three hits and no walks compared to nine strikeouts. Opponents are hitting .176 against him and his WHIP is 0.64.
Not to be outdone, Brandon Walter has thrown four innings shutout in two appearances for the Red Sox. He has also allowed just three hits and zero walks, striking out eight batters. Opponents are hitting .188 against the lefty and he boasts a WHIP of 0.75.
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Bradley Blalock has thrown three innings in one appearance so far. The 20-year-old righty has allowed one run on two hits and one walk in that time. He has also struck out five though and has a BAA of .200 and a WHIP of 1.00.