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

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?

Red Sox Triple-A (Worcester)

Worcester is still without Jarren Duran. They did get Jeter Downs back though, so that’s a nice jolt to the offense.

Downs only appeared in two games this week, going 2-for-7. He is now slashing .244/.337/.385 with two doubles and three home runs. Downs has driven in seven runs and scored nine more, while stealing seven bases on eight attempts.

Marcus Wilson has been on absolute fire as of late. The outfielder is 8-for-23 with one double and three home runs in the month of June. He’s already driven in six runs and scored five more. This has risen the right-handed hitter’s average from .254 to .277 on the year. He also has a .382 OBP with five doubles, two triples, and six home runs. Wilson has very solid run production too, driving in 17 runs, scoring 16, and going 5-for-5 on steal attempts.

Johan Mieses got the very deserved promotion to Triple-A this week. He was slashing .286/.368/.714 with 11 home runs and 22 RBI in 23 games in Double-A. It didn’t take long for him to make an impact in Worcester either. In his second game, Mieses blasted his first Triple-A homer of the season. The outfielder is 3-for-14 with that home run and one walk so far. He has 12 long balls on the year between the two leagues combined. A true power hitter.

This was a fantastic week for Josh Ockimey. At first glance, that might seem confusing – as he went just 2-for-9. However, there are a few reasons it was a great week. First of all, those two hits were both MAMMOTH home runs. Second, he walked three times. So while Ockimey has a .222 batting average so far in June, he also has .417 OBP. The first baseman is slashing .164/.288/.403 at the moment with five home runs. His power is starting to show through and that should also help him draw more walks.

Michael Chavis is 6-for-26 so far in the month of June. That’s come with no extra base hits and just one RBI. He has scored five runs and stolen a base, but he’s only walked once – while striking out five times. The only stat that people should be worried about are the walks and the strikeouts. His main issue in the Majors was his inability to lay off pitches outside of the strike zone. Hopefully he corrects that soon because all the tools are there.

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.

More from Red Sox Prospects

• Predicting top Red Sox outfield prospect Ceddanne Rafaela’s timeline to the majors
• Predicting Red Sox top prospect Marcelo Mayer’s timeline to the majors
• Red Sox risk repeating rookie mistake with Eric Hosmer release
• Red Sox invited group of players you’ve probably never heard of to Spring Training
• Jeter Downs’ official departure will continue to haunt Red Sox

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.

Red Sox Advanced-A (Greenville)

It’s time for a promotion for Tyreque Reed. A lot of players put together nice hitting streaks at some point in their career. Well Reed is currently on a streak of his own, nine games. Not a hitting streak though. In nine straight games Reed has recorded at least one RBI. That’s nuts. Reed is slashing .333/.443/.690 with five doubles, one triple, and eight home runs. He has driven in 33 runs and scored 23 more in 23 games. Reed is 10-for-22 in June – an incredible find by the Red Sox, now get him up to Double-A.

I’m going to be honest with you, I have not talked about Devlin Granberg nearly enough. In the words of R-Truth, “that one’s on me, that’s my bad!” Granberg has been consistently productive his entire career and is having a star-making season right now. The outfielder (and first baseman although he hasn’t spent any time there in 2021) is 11-for-18 with three homers and nine RBI in June. He’s slashing .347/.440/.694 with seven doubles and six home runs (his career-high is eight). The right-handed hitter has 22 RBI and 16 runs scored and the is on an amazing hot streak that could see him get a call-up soon as well.

Kole Cottam is currently hitting .270 and has at least one RBI in each of his last three games. In fact, in the month of June, Cottam two doubles, one home run, and six RBI. All of those double or nearly double his season totals. The catcher has a .402 OBP with four doubles, three home runs, and 12 RBI on the year. He’s walked 13 times and managed 12 runs scored, making Cottam a very well rounded offensive player.

Christian Koss entered May 26 with a .203 batting average. Since then, the right-handed hitter has been on a 10-game hitting streak and is hitting .381 in five games in June. This has risen his average heavily all the way up to .253. Koss has five doubles, two triples, and one home run to go along with five RBI and 18 runs scored, stealing four bases along the way.

Brandon Howlett has struggled a little lately, but has also enjoyed some massive games. The third baseman enjoyed two separate monster games this week, that combined included one double, two triples, and one home run. In those two games, he also walked five times, stole one base, drove in four runs, and scored EIGHT more. Howlett is now slashing .267/.368/.456 with seven doubles, two triples, and two home runs. He has scored 20 runs, driven in 15 more, and stolen two bases on two attempts.

Cameron Cannon was slumping hard in June, going 0-for-15 in his first three games and 1-for-19 in his first four. On Sunday the shortstop went 4-for-6 with two RBI and a steal though. For the year, Cannon is slashing .267/.323/.431 with seven doubles and four home runs. He has driven in 16 runs, scored 18 more, and stolen four bases as well.

Tyler Dearden is 5-for-16 with nine RBI in June so far. On the year, the outfielder is slashing .300/.430/.600 with nine doubles and (already a career-high) five home runs. He has 21 runs scored and (again already a career-high) 26 RBI. Dearden’s got some legitimately decent pop and a great eye. He’s a serious offensive weapon.

Tyler Esplin is slashing .260/.405/.346 at the moment. The outfielder has six doubles and one home run, to go along with 16 RBI, 27 runs scored, and three steals in three attempts. He has walked (24) just as many times as he has struck out. An incredible eye mixed with a good combination of speed, contact, and power makes Esplin a dangerous batter.

Nick Sogard has been so consistently solid at the plate for almost the entire year. The switch-hitter is currently working with a .282/.360/.513 slash line with four doubles, one triple, and four home runs. He has eight RBI and 13 runs scored, as well as one stolen base.

Brayan Bello is a superstar and an ace. There’s no argument against it and even if there is, I won’t believe you. Bello made two starts this week for a total of 10 1/3 innings pitched. In those two starts he allowed three earned runs on 11 hits and three walks, striking out 15. On the year, the right-handed pitcher has a 2.27 ERA, .217 BAA, and 1.01 WHIP. He’s struck out 45 batters compared to seven walks in 31 2/3 innings. Insanity.

Chris Murphy made one start this week, and it happened to be on his birthday (June 5). In that start, the lefty went five innings, allowing two runs on four hits and one walk, striking out four. Through 28 innings so far, Murph has a 4.50 ERA, .252 BAA, and 1.43 WHIP. He has struck out 30 so far.

Yorvin Pantoja has thrown three innings in June so far. The left-handed pitcher has yet to allow a run, or even a hit, in those three innings. The only damage Pantoja has given up is a lone walk, striking out four batters. On the year Pantoja has a 1.76 ERA, .196 BAA, and 0.85 WHIP to go along with 21 strikeouts (compared to two walks) in 15 1/3 innings.

Alex Scherff has thrown two innings in June, not allowing a run on just one hit and one walk – striking out three and earning his first career save. The right-handed pitcher has a 3.55 ERA, 1.11 WHIP, and a ridiculous .114 BAA on the year. He’s struck out 22 batters in 12 2/3 innings pitched.

Chase Shugart threw five innings in his lone start this week. The righty allowed two runs on four hits and no walks while striking out five. On the year Shugart has a 4.66 ERA, .266 BAA, 1.24 WHIP, and 21 strikeouts over 19 1/3 innings. However, most of that damage was done in one outing. On May 21, Shugart allowed six runs in 3 1/3 innings pitched. In the other 16 innings, he’s given up just four runs.

Jay Groome continues to slowly fix his numbers. In his five innings of work this week, the lefty allowed three runs on four hits and one walk while striking out eight. This lowered Groome’s numbers to a 7.29 ERA, .256 BAA, and 1.52 WHIP. While the numbers still aren’t good they are once again improvements from last week. He even has 30 strikeouts over 21 innings pitched. Groome’s fantastic and he’s starting to fix his stats.