Red Sox Full-A (Salem)
Nick Yorke is currently on a three-game hitting-streak and just had his best game of the year on Sunday. The 19-year-old went 3-for-4 with a double, an RBI, three runs scored, and two steals. He’s now hitting .250 with six doubles and one triple on the season. Yorke has driven in 10 runs and scored 14 more, stealing seven bases in eight attempts. First-round pick for a reason.
Gilberto Jimenez has been slumping pretty hard recently. It makes sense as the 20-year-old clearly wasn’t going to hit .400 all year. He’s dropped all the way down to .282 but there’s no need to be worried. Like I just said, he’s 20. Jimenez still has a lot of growing in his game, so slumps are expected. It will be interesting to see how he bounces back.
Ceddanne Rafaela might be one of my favorite players to watch. Just the other night he hit a triple and showed off his absolute wheels, then hit a double on a pop up to the pitcher. Seriously, it landed next to the pitchers mound. No one decided to catch it and Rafaela showed off his speed, hustle, and awareness and legged it to second. It was impressive to see the 20-year-old not just put his head down after popping it up, he was sprinting out of the box and I love that. On the year, the right-handed hitter has a .245/.310/.363 slash line with three doubles, three triples, and one home run. He’s driven in nine runs and scored 18 more, stealing nine bases in nine attempts.
Jaxx Groshans is slashing .299/.432/.494 with five doubles and four home runs. He has driven in 15 runs and scored 21 more. The catcher is absolutely having a career-year and at just 22 is making a name for himself at the position. It’s a loaded spot for the Red Sox but it’s getting really hard to ignore Groshans.
Joe Davis continues to just absolute mash Full-A pitching. The first baseman is slashing .340/.391/.544 with nine doubles and four home runs. He’s driven in 24 runs and scored 18 more. Davis seems to have mastered this challenge, maybe it’s time for a promotion.
Wil Dalton is quietly having a very solid overall year. The outfielder holds a .256/.352/.411 slash line with five doubles and three home runs. He has driven in 16 runs and scored 10 more, while stealing two bases. Dalton has clearly made strides from his first season and the 23-year-old could develop a nice all-around game.
Matthew Lugo continues to have an up-and-down season. At the moment the shortstop is hitting just .224. However did just see the end of a nice little four-game hitting-streak. If he can piece some more of those together it could help him find his swing and get hot. It’s also important to remember he is still just 20. The right-handed hitter has two doubles, one triple, one home run, 10 RBI, 14 runs scored, and six steals on seven attempts.
Aldo Ramirez is a stud. He’s a star. An ace. The 20-year-old is too dominant for Full-A. Ramirez now holds a 2.03 ERA after two fantastic starts this week. Those two starts saw him combine for nine shutout innings, allowing just six hits and three walks compared to 11 strikeouts in that time. In fact, Ramirez has yet to allow a run in 14 innings in June so far. He’s given up just seven hits and three walks compared to 16 strikeouts in the month. The right-handed pitcher now has a 2.03 ERA, .221 BAA, 1.13 WHIP, and 32 strikeouts over 31 innings.
Jeremy Wu-Yelland had his first bad start of the year this week. The 21-year-old left-hander gave up six runs on three hits and four walks over 2 1/3 innings. That ballooned his ERA from 1.96 to 4.35. Still not terrible honestly. Meanwhile, his BAA is still a fantastic .200 and his WHIP is 1.35. Wu-Yelland has struck out 27 batters in 20 2/3 innings pitched.
Cody Scroggins must be having fun. The 24-year-old threw three shutout innings this week, allowing just three hits and no walks while striking out four. That has dropped Scroggins ERA to 1.00. Meanwhile, he has a .227 BAA and a 1.33 WHIP. The right-handed pitcher has 18 strikeouts over 18 innings so far this year.