Boston Red Sox Prospect Watch: Stars getting hot at the right time

BOSTON, MA - SEPTEMBER 20: Tanner Houck #89 of the Boston Red Sox pitches during the first inning against the New York Yankees on September 20, 2020 at Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts. It was his debut at Fenway Park. The 2020 season had been postponed since March due to the COVID-19 pandemic. (Photo by Billie Weiss/Boston Red Sox/Getty Images)
BOSTON, MA - SEPTEMBER 20: Tanner Houck #89 of the Boston Red Sox pitches during the first inning against the New York Yankees on September 20, 2020 at Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts. It was his debut at Fenway Park. The 2020 season had been postponed since March due to the COVID-19 pandemic. (Photo by Billie Weiss/Boston Red Sox/Getty Images)
1 of 5
Red sox INF Bobby Dalbec
PHILADELPHIA, PA – MAY 23: Bobby Dalbec #29 of the Boston Red Sox bats against the Philadelphia Phillies at Citizens Bank Park on May 23, 2021 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Phillies defeated the Red Sox 6-2. (Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images)

This week’s Red Sox prospect watch sees some stars heating up

The Boston Red Sox are in a weird position. They have a great record, but they have a lot of holes. Their starting rotation has not been great, the bullpen has a number of non-contributors, and the lineup has plenty of those as well.

With that being said, they still have just two prospect type players up. However, we might be seeing more in the not-so-distant future. There are quite a few players that we will be talking about in a little bit that could get a promotion to the Majors at some point this season. In fact, there are a few players that could get a promotion very soon. The Red Sox have some very specific needs and certain prospects could be immediate fixes.

However, for now it is just Bobby Dalbec and Garrett Whitlock in the Majors. And Dalbec is finally getting hot. Last week, his average rose from .195 to .198. This week it saw a much bigger jump. The first baseman is now hitting .219 thanks to a current four-game hitting-streak. Dalbec now has nine doubles, three triples, and nine home runs on the year. Meanwhile, he’s driven in 32 runs, scored 19 more, and stolen one base. The production is there and now the average is rising fast.

Whitlock just continues to be one of the best bullpen arms in all of baseball. He threw another 3 1/3 innings without allowing an earned run this week. That puts the right-hander at a 1.57 ERA over 34 1/3 innings. He holds a 1.19 WHIP and .240 BAA while striking out 36 batters in that time. Whitlock has a 2-1 record and one save on the season. It’s crazy to think where the Red Sox would be without him this year, he’s been that important.

Schedule