Boston Red Sox Prospect Watch: Prospects ready to move in the rankings

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FT. MYERS, FL – FEBRUARY 21: Ronaldo Hernandez of the Boston Red Sox looks on during a spring training team workout on February 21, 2021 at jetBlue Park at Fenway South in Fort Myers, Florida. (Photo by Billie Weiss/Boston Red Sox/Getty Images) /

Red Sox Double-A (Portland)

The Portland Sea Dogs are suffering severely from a loss of players at the moment. Think about who their best hitters have been this year? Triston Casas, Roldani Baldwin, and Johan Mieses. Casas is playing with Team USA right now. Mieses got the (very deserving) call-up to Triple-A, and Baldwin hasn’t played since May 27 due to an injury.

Without some of their best hitters, Portland has seen some numbers dip. It makes sense too, suddenly the lineup lost a ton of firepower. Which means different players get pitched differently.

Ronaldo Hernandez is 3-for-22 to start June. That’s definitely not great and has seen his average dip from .262 to .230. However, the catcher only had two home runs and three RBI in May. He already has one homer and two RBI in June. So there is a positive in the run production category right there.

Jeisson Rosario is 3-for-24 in June. The stretch has dropped his average from .278 to .243. Rosario still has a strong .333 OBP but he’s another victim of losing bats around him. The good news is he has been playing good defense and should see the numbers jump up again soon.

Ryan Fitzgerald is 2-for-21 in June. His average was .288 but now it’s .248. Fitzgerald shouldn’t worry anyone though. The left-handed hitter has been very consistent in his career so far. He’ll get it back up into the .270s or better soon enough. Great contact hitter.

Not everyone had a bad week. Pedro Castellanos is 7-for-20 in June. He has raised his average up from .241 to .262. Not only has the average risen, but Castellanos has one double, one triple, and two home runs in the month. He’s driven in four runs and scored five more, and has only struck out twice. Castellanos could be gearing up for a massive hot streak.

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Josh Winckowski had his worst start of the year this week. It still wasn’t ungodly awful or anything. Five innings pitched, eight hits, four runs, zero walks, and two strikeouts. Not good, but it didn’t murder his numbers. The right-handed pitcher still has a 2.25 ERA, 1.00 WHIP, and .190 BAA – striking out 28 batters in 32 innings.

Kutter Crawford had a phenomenal game this week. He allowed just one run on one hit in five innings. The right-handed pitcher struck out six batters, walking two. Crawford now has a 3.54 ERA to go along with a .200 BAA and a 0.89 WHIP. He’s struck out 25 batters over 20 1/3 innings.

Durbin Feltman is having a great month of June. He’s appeared in three games already, throwing 2 1/3 innings, allowing just one walk. Other than that there’s been no damage. Feltman’s allowed no runs and no hits, lowering his ERA to 3.86, his BAA to .250, and his WHIP to 1.36.

Denyi Reyes gave up three runs on seven hits in his five innings of work this week. However, the right-handed pitcher also struck out seven batters while walking none. Reyes currently holds a 3.63 ERA, .259 BAA, and 1.12 WHIP. He’s struck out 22 batters in 22 1/3 innings while walking just three.

Dominic LoBrutto is building himself back up quickly. Entering May 22, he had a 7.71 ERA. The left-handed pitcher has not allowed an earned run in the 5 2/3 innings he’s pitched since then. That has lowered LoBrutto’s ERA to 4.26. He has a .288 BAA and 1.42 WHIP to go with that. It’s great to see him finding his stuff again. LoBrutto has a lot of positives and deserves to have an eye kept on him.

Frank German had his best start of the year this week. The 23-year-old righty threw five shutout innings, allowing just two hits and one walk while striking out three. This severely lowered his numbers. German saw his ERA drop from 8.47 to 6.55. Meanwhile, his WHIP went from 2.06 to 1.73 and his BAA went from .315 to .278. Could this be the start of his resurgence?

Matthew Kent threw six shutout innings, allowing six hits while striking out three, in his start on Sunday. The lefty now has a 0.95 ERA, .242 BAA, and 0.89 WHIP. He has 18 strikeouts compared to just one walk in 19 innings pitched so far.

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