Watch Boston Red Sox prospects taking batting practice

Boston Red Sox prospects are on the field for batting practice

The Boston Red Sox opened training camp for minor league players this week. While the big league players are banned from team facilities during the lockout, prospects who are not on the 40-man roster are providing us with a glimpse of baseball activities to tide us over until the labor dispute is resolved.

Several prospects were on the field for batting practice this morning while beat writers who cover the team were in attendance. MassLive’s Christopher Smith shared video clips of several noteworthy prospects who were taking some swings.

The first thing you notice about Triston Casas is that he looks enormous in the box. He’s listed at 6-foot-4 and he carries an intimidating frame that will make pitchers fear hanging anything over the middle of the plate.

Casas hasn’t topped 20 home runs or reached a .500 slugging percentage at any level of the minor leagues but that’s partially due to the first baseman primarily focusing on reaching base. You can see from this batting practice session that Casas doesn’t need to swing out of his shoes to generate hard contact. The power numbers will come without coming at the expense of his plate discipline.

Blaze Jordan has been hitting 500-foot homers since he was barely a teenager so you know he can put on a batting practice show.

We can’t tell from this angle in the clip how far Jordan was hitting them. The last swing seems like he must have given it a good ride based on how he looked up to watch it travel as he strolled out of the batter’s box.

Marcelo Mayer has a long journey ahead of him to reach the big leagues considering the 2021 first-round pick will begin the season in Single-A but he’ll draw plenty of attention this spring as the top prospect in the Red Sox farm system.

The 19-year-old shortstop lacks the size of the aforementioned corner infielders but Mayer has sneaky strength for his frame. He gets good extension on his swing and has shown the ability to drive the ball. His smooth swing looks designed to target the gaps but as his body matures, some of those doubles will turn into home runs.

David Hamilton isn’t rated as highly as the above trio of Red Sox prospects but he’ll garner some attention this spring since he was one of the pieces acquired from the Milwaukee Brewers in the Hunter Renfroe trade.

Hamilton takes some good cuts in this clip but the one thing that isn’t on display during this batting practice session is his greatest tool – speed. The young infielder swiped 53 bases in 101 games split between High-A and Double-A last year. He won’t bring much power to the table but he has the speed to stretch hits into extra bases and he’s a threat to steal anytime he settles for a single.

This is only a brief taste of baseball action but watching these exciting prospects get some work in on the field is a comforting distraction from the ongoing lockout.