Players are moving up in this week’s Boston Red Sox Prospect Watch
The Boston Red Sox went into the Bronx and swept the New York Yankees in a three-game series this weekend, so that was fun. They are now holding on to a four-game winning streak and are just one game back from the first place Tampa Bay Rays in the AL East. The two “prospect” type players that they have in the Majors played a role in that sweep – so again, fun.
Bobby Dalbec is slashing just .195/.248/.377 at the moment. He does have eight doubles, one triple, and six home runs however. Even better, the right-handed hitter has 24 RBI and 12 runs scored, as well as one steal. He plays a solid first base and did hit an absolutely mammoth home run against the Yankees on Saturday.
The power is real, now he just needs to make contact a little more often (60 strikeouts is a lot this early in the season). Dalbec has shown he can get hot though, and with the way the Red Sox are playing they can afford to let him work things out.
Garrett Whitlock has a 1.63 ERA, .235 BAA, and 1.12 WHIP. He even has a save. On Saturday against the Yankees (his old system), Whitlock picked up his first career win (he threw 1 2/3 shutout innings allowing just one hit and striking out two).
The numbers would be impressive even if we were just a few games in. Now Whitlock has thrown 27 2/3 innings though (29 strikeouts in that time). We are getting into that part of the year where you can stop claiming that it might just be a fluke. Whitlock really is this good.
It will be interesting to see what the Red Sox do over the next few weeks. With Dalbec struggling but showing signs of life – could Michael Chavis come back soon? What about Danny Santana’s poor numbers at the plate? There are a few players in the minors right now that could be right on the cusp of a promotion to the next level. Could this shake things up for all the levels – including the Majors?