Boston Red Sox Prospect Watch: A lot of changes as season nears end
By Hunter Noll
Red Sox Double-A (Portland)
Triston Casas is your favorite prospect’s favorite prospect. The 21-year-old is slashing .286/.393/.484 in 71 games. He’s hit 10 doubles, two triples, and 12 home runs. Casas has 48 RBI, 51 runs scored, and six steals. The left-handed hitter has done all of this while also dominating in the Olympics during the middle of the season. Elite.
Ronaldo Hernandez is slashing .278/.320/.494 with 26 doubles and 14 home runs. This season’s getting kind of ridiculous. I’ve talked about it a bunch but just go back and look at his numbers just a few months ago. The catcher turned it around MASSIVELY. Hernandez has 44 RBI and 41 runs scored as well. Overall, one of his best years.
Kole Cottam mashed a home run on Sunday and reached 10 home runs for the first time. The catcher has a .273/.367/.500 slash line between High-A and Double-A. Cottam has 18 doubles, one triple, and 10 home runs. He’s scored 30 runs and driven in 33 more. Most importantly, he seems to be catching a whole lot of great games.
Hudson Potts had a strong week and continues to boost his numbers pretty quickly. The third baseman is up to a .220/.268/.392 slash line with 17 doubles and nine home runs. He’s driven in 43 runs and scored 30 more. That’s really solid run production for the slash line, especially in just 255 at-bats.
Ryan Fitzgerald’s power year continues. The shortstop is slashing .269/.353/.509 between Double-A and Triple-A. He’s absolutely MASHED with three triples to go along with career-highs in doubles (30) and home runs (15). Fitz has 52 RBI and 51 runs scored, as well as four steals.
Devlin Granberg’s played in both High-A and Double-A this season. In that time, the outfielder is working with a .287/.349/.497 with 21 doubles, two triples, and 15 home runs. He’s driven in 68 runs and scored 64 more, even stealing five bases.
Tyreque Reed had a good week and bumped up his numbers a little bit. Between High-A and Double-A, Reed is slashing .276/.382/.502 with 15 doubles, one triple, and 17 home runs. The right-handed hitter has tied his career-highs in both runs (57) and RBI (67), as well as steals (4). Overall, this will end up being his best season so far.
Cameron Cannon is picking it up. The shortstop is now up to a .285/.331/.445 slash line with 29 doubles and 11 home runs between High-A and Double-A. Cannon has solid run production with 49 runs driven in and 58 more runs scored. He’s stolen nine bases as well.
Jay Groome got called up to Double-A last week and has done nothing but dominate since then. The left-handed pitcher made one start this week and went six innings, giving up no runs on just two hits and one walk, striking out nine. Groome now has zero runs on four hits and one walk in 11 Double-A innings, striking out a ridiculous 19 batters. One of the best pitching prospects in baseball. Fight me.
Speaking of one of the best pitching prospects in baseball, Chris Murphy was lights-out this week. The left-handed pitcher gave up no runs on two hits in six innings. He walked no one and struck out 11 batters (tied for a career-high). Murph is down to a 3.86 ERA, .212 BAA, and 1.13 WHIP in 32 2/3 innings in Double-A. He’s struck out 128 batters in 101 total innings this season.
Rio Gomez continued his scoreless streak this week with another shutout inning. The left-handed reliever is now up to 23 straight scoreless innings since the start of July. This has helped Gomez get down to a 3.38 ERA, .243 BAA, and 1.23 WHIP in Double-A. He’s struck out 49 batters in 37 1/3 innings pitched.
Joan Martinez threw one inning this week, giving up no runs and picking up his fourth save of the season. Martinez now has a 2.62 ERA, 1.22 WHIP, and insane .189 BAA. He’s walked 19 batters in 34 1/3 innings but has just five in 19 innings since the start of July. Martinez has also racked up 47 strikeouts and has yet to blow a save.
Frank German continues his dominance since turning into a reliever. In fact, he picked up a save in each of his last two outings. In three outings since moving to the bullpen, German has allowed no runs on one hit in three innings. He’s struck out five batters in that time. The righty is down to a 5.25 ERA, .290 BAA, and 1.55 WHIP in 82 1/3 innings pitched this season.