Red Sox Full-A (Salem)
Gilberto Jimenez has been in Full-A for 11 games and already I feel like he needs more of a challenge. He’s a future star for the Red Sox. Jimenez is hitting .378 with three doubles, five RBI, and nine runs scored. He is also 4-for-4 on stolen base attempts. Remember when Dave Chappelle did the AND1 mixtape for different sports (bowling, tennis, baseball)? Jimenez would end up on an AND1 baseball mixtape weekly with his mixture of speed, strength, and athleticism. Human highlight reel. Also, please bring back AND1 mixtapes.
Ceddanne Rafaela hype train has officially started. Dude just has “it” (shout out to Chris Jericho). Currently, Rafaela is hitting .273 with one double, one walk, two RBI, and six runs scored. He’s also 5-for-5 on stolen base attempts and is really fun to watch in the field. Oh, and the 20-year-old has already logged time at third base, second base, shortstop, and center field. Stud.
Matthew Lugo has picked it up a little bit, getting his average up to .222. The right-handed hitter has slapped one double and one home run, while driving in three runs, scoring two more, and stealing one base. After going 3-for-18 in week one, he went 5-for-18 in week two. Clear progression, even if it isn’t the biggest in the world. Let’s see where he goes from here.
Nick Yorke is just 6-for-40 (.150) at the moment. With that average he has just one double, three walks, two RBI, and three runs scored. However, he’s also stolen two bases in two attempts and didn’t make an error in week two after recording five in week one. He also only struck out six times this week after nine the week before. Small improvements but remember this is a 19-year-old getting his first taste of the minors.
Joe Davis bounced back nicely from a rough first week. The first baseman collected five hits in 15 at-bats and smacked his first homer of the year. He now has a .259 average (.364 OBP) with one home run, four RBI, and four runs scored.
Jeremy Wu-Yelland is looking like a star. He’s only thrown 8 1/3 innings so far, so let’s not get too ahead of ourselves – but you have to love what you see. The lefty has a 1.08 ERA, .143 BAA, and 1.20 WHIP while striking out 13 batters. It should be interesting to see what happens when the Red Sox decide to stretch him out for longer outings.
Bradley Blalock now has two appearances on the year. The first was three shutout innings, and the second was three innings of one-run ball. He now has a 1.50 ERA, .200 BAA, and 0.83 WHIP. The 20-year-old righty has also struck out eight batters while walking just one.
Jordan DiValerio has thrown 7 2/3 shutout innings so far. The right-hander has allowed just four hits and zero walks (one hit batter), while striking out 12. He has a .148 BAA and 0.52 WHIP, and his hometown of Berwick, PA is barely an hour away from my hometown of Nazareth and 30 minutes from the town that my brother and sister-in-law currently live in. So he gets extra points for that.
Shane Drohan has a 1.13 ERA, 1.00 WHIP, and .160 BAA in his first eight innings pitched this year. The left-handed pitcher has struck out 11 batters compared to four walks so far and did not allow more than two hits in either of his two starts so far.