Boston Red Sox Prospect Watch: A lot of changes as season nears end
By Hunter Noll
Red Sox Low-A (Salem)
Tyler McDonough is slashing .310/.408/.464 in 21 games for Salem. The utility-man has three doubles, two triples, and two home runs in that time. Meanwhile, the switch-hitter has 12 runs driven in and 18 more runs scored. He’s even stolen three bases. A great start to his career.
Let’s stick with the Tyler’s, as Tyler Miller is slashing .400/.438/.867 in three games in Low-A. The third baseman has already hit two doubles, one triple, and one home run in those three games. He’s driven in three runs and scored five more, stealing one base.
Gilberto Jimenez continues his strong season, as he hit a home run this week. The outfielder is slashing .306/.346/.405 with 16 doubles, six triples, and three home runs so far. His run production has been elite too, with 56 RBI and 64 runs scored. The switch-hitter has 13 steals as well, showing off some of his phenomenal speed.
Nick Northcut is on a tear right now. The third baseman is now up to a .249/.346/.492 slash line with a fantastic 29 doubles, two triples, and 15 home runs. He’s driven in 70 runs and scored 64 more runs in 90 games. Northcut’s shown power all year, and now he’s starting to get that average up nicely.
Ceddanne Rafaela is elite defensively at multiple difference positions. He’s also incredibly fast with 21 steals. Those are two things we talk about a lot. The whole package is there though. Rafaela is slashing .249/.304/.431 with 19 doubles, nine triples, and 10 home runs. Meanwhile, he’s driven in 49 runs and scored 68 more. That’s a season.
Matthew Lugo is now slashing .271/.339/.359 with 20 doubles, three triples, and three home runs. The shortstop has driven in 48 runs and scored 57 more, stealing 15 bases. Those are fantastic offensive numbers and he’s really brought that average up nicely. There’s a lot to love about his game, and Lugo showing this much growth mid-season at just 20 speaks volumes.
Nick Decker’s strong campaign continues. The outfielder has a .273/.376/.458 slash line with 16 doubles, one triple, and eight home runs. He’s scored 50 runs and has 36 RBI, stealing three bases. Most impressively, Decker’s done that in just 227 at-bats.
Wilkelman Gonzalez is insane. The 19-year-old pitcher is now up to three starts in Low-A. In that time, he has thrown 13 2/3 innings pitched. The right-handed pitcher has a 0.66 ERA, .208 BAA, and 1.10 WHIP so far. Gonzalez has struck out 13 batters and has looked really strong and very mature in a short amount of time.
Chih-Jung Liu once again went out and did his thing. The right-handed pitcher gave up one run on three hits and one walk (compared to four strikeouts) in five innings. He’s now down to a 4.50 ERA, .263 BAA, and 1.33 WHIP in Low-A. Liu has 48 strikeouts compared to 15 walks in 46 innings for Salem.
Jacob Webb has now thrown six innings for Salem. In that time, the right-handed pitcher has allowed zero runs on just two hits and four walks, while striking out six batters. That comes out to a 0.00 ERA, 1.00 WHIP, and .100 BAA. Webb was drafted in the 14th-round in 2021 and is already looking really good.
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Wyatt Olds has a .313 BAA and a 1.75 WHIP. However, his other numbers haven’t suffered due to that. In eight innings, Olds has two holds and a 2.25 ERA. Oh, and he’s made a lot of batters look stupid with 16 strikeouts already. For those that don’t want to do the quick math, that’s an 18 K/9. Wild.