Red Sox High-A (Greenville)
Andre 3000 will almost always have the best verse on a song he’s featured in, and Ceddanne Rafaela will almost always be the most electric player on any roster he’s on. These are constants. Rafaela’s great year continues. The average dipped a little but again, no one was expecting him to hit near .400 all year. Rafaela has a .310/.362/.586 slash line with six doubles and six home runs so far. The right-handed hitter has given insane run production to this point. He has 19 RBI and 18 runs scored, stealing seven bases in 20 games. All that and elite defense?
Nicholas Northcut doesn’t have the highest average (.239) or OBP (.292) but his slugging percentage is off the charts (.627). That’s due to two doubles and an organization-high eight home runs. Nick Northcut hits nukes. The right-handed hitter has driven in 16 runs and scored nine more.
Matthew Lugo is slashing .321/.354/.513 and has been an absolute doubles machine. The shortstop has eight doubles, two triples, and one home run. He’s driven in 12 runs and scored 10 more, stealing three bases. The right-handed hitter struggled a bit this week, but like Rafaela you couldn’t expect him to hover around .400 for the year.
Alex Binelas is right behind Northcut in the nuke section. For Binelas, they’re bombs though. Alliteration is key baybeeeeeee. The left-handed hitter has a .269/.398/.627 slash line with three doubles and seven home runs. He’s picked up 16 RBI and scored 15 runs, even stealing two bases.
Gilberto Jimenez put on a lot of muscle before last season. That led to a lot of people expecting a massive power jump. The jump didn’t happen though as he hit just three home runs (tied for his career-high). Actually, let me correct that. The jump didn’t happen – then. Jimenez is slashing .254/.265/.493 this season. That slash line comes with four doubles and an already career-high four home runs. The switch-hitter has 11 RBI, nine runs scored, and three steals.
Nick Yorke struggled this week but had a big three-hit day on Sunday to get back on track. The right-handed hitter has a .262/.357/.311 with three doubles. He’s driven in six runs and scored 13 more, stealing three bases. Yorke started off slow last year so I’m the furthest thing from worried.
Tyler McDonough is slashing .220/.273/.390 with five doubles and three home runs. The switch-hitter has driven in 12 runs and scored 11 more, stealing three bases. He has a lot of versatility on defense and has only played 50 games in the minor so far. So a slow start isn’t a problem.
Joe Davis is hitting just .200 at the moment. The first baseman has five hits in 25 at-bats. Four of those five hits have been home runs though. Davis has a .680 slugging percentage. He’s driven in seven runs and scored five more.
Jordan DiValerio has been one of the few consistently good pitchers for Greenville so far this year. The right-handed pitcher has give up just one run in 7 2/3 innings. That is a 1.17 ERA, and he pairs it with a .207 BAA and a 0.78 WHIP. DiValerio has 10 strikeouts compared to zero walks.
Jacinto Arredondo has appeared in five games, tossing 11 2/3 innings this season. The right-handed pitcher has a 3.86 ERA, .239 BAA, and 1.29 WHIP in that time. He’s only struck out seven batters so far, but has limited the walks decently with just four. Definitely needs to cut back on the home runs though, giving up three early on.