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

Red Sox Full-A (Salem)

Gilberto Jimenez is slumping a little bit at the moment, but still has really good overall numbers. The 20-year-old is hitting .308 with six doubles, one triple, and one home run. He’s driven in 15 runs and scored 18 more, stealing four bases. As good as he is and as incredible as he’s going to be (superstar potential) this slump shows that the prospect is still working on his game, he’s just scratching the surface.

Nick Yorke is figuring it out. Entering May 30, the 19-year-old was hitting .177. Since then, he’s rocking a six-game hitting-streak, four of which are multi-hit games. Yorke is now up to .248 (.330 OBP) with four doubles and one triple. He’s driven in nine runs and scored 11 more, stealing four bases. It’s exciting to see the second baseman finding his swing.

Joe Davis should not be in Full-A. There is no reasonable explanation for why he hasn’t been promoted yet. He was really strong in 2019 and is even better this year. The first baseman is slashing .357/.417/.583 with seven doubles and four home runs. He’s driven in 22 runs and scored 17 more. That call-up has to be in the works, right?

Ceddanne Rafaela is my dude. The 20-year-old is going to be a star, you can’t convince me otherwise. Rafaela is slashing just .229/.286/.313 at the moment, that’s mainly thanks to a 1-for-13 to start the month of June. That one hit came on Sunday though and it was his first homer of the year. The right-handed hitter has two doubles, one triple, and one home run. Meanwhile, he’s driven in eight runs and scored 15 more, converting on all nine of his stolen base attempts.

Matthew Lugo’s steady climb continues, as he now has a .229 average. The shortstop has three doubles, one triple, and one home run to go along with nine RBI, 12 runs scored, and three steals. Lugo’s only 20 and the fact that he’s gotten his numbers to rise over the last few weeks is certainly encouraging.

Jaxx Groshans had another great week. The catcher is now slashing .314/.456/.514 with five doubles and three home runs. He has 11 RBI and 19 runs scored, as well as one steal. Most impressively, the right-handed hitter has more walks (19) than strikeouts (17).

Jeremy Wu-Yelland made one start this week, throwing four shutout innings. In those four innings, the left-handed pitcher allowed just three hits and no walks, while striking out eight. Wu-Yelland now has a 1.96 ERA, .185 ERA, and 1.15 WHIP. He’s struck out 27 batters over 18 1/3 innings.

Aldo Ramirez had his best start of the year this week. The 20-year-old righty threw five shutout innings, allowing just one hit and no walks while striking out five. This lowered Ramirez’s ERA to 2.86, to go along with a .236 BAA and 1.18 WHIP. He has 21 strikeouts compared to five walks in 22 innings pitched so far.

Jordan DiValerio threw 2 1/3 perfect innings this week, striking out two. The right-handed pitcher now has a 2.20 ERA, .161 BAA, and an absurd 0.67 WHIP. He has walked just two batters over 16 1/3 innings pitched, while striking out 21.