Boston Red Sox Prospect Watch: Top name returns to action
By Hunter Noll
Red Sox High-A (Greenville)
Nick Yorke collected at least one hit in all six games this week (and is on a seven-game hitting-streak). This has helped to raise his averages nicely as he’s added some extra bases in there as well. Coming into the week, Yorke was slashing .238/.319/.345. He’s up to .252/.336/.396 with four doubles and four home runs. The right-handed hitter has 17 runs driven in and 21 more runs scored, stealing five bases.
Gilberto Jimenez ended the week with a bang, going 5-for-9 in his last two games. Overall, May has been very kind to him. And now on the year the switch-hitter has a .276/.321/.467 slash line with six doubles, one triple, and four home runs. Jimenez has 13 RBI and 17 runs scored, stealing eight bases.
Ceddanne Rafaela is just so good at everything. Every time I tweet about him I feel like it must be getting annoying. Then he does something awesome again and I simply don’t care if it’s annoying, I’m going to tweet more. The right-handed hitter has a .294/.338/.515 slash line with nine doubles and seven home runs. He’s driven in 24 runs and scored 25 more, stealing 10 bases. In 31 games that’s just stupid good run production.
“Nick Northcut hits nukes” is a tweet I’ve been sending out a lot this year. That’s because Nicholas Northcut has 14 home runs this season. The right-handed hitter is slashing .250/.300/.661 with four doubles and a ridiculous 14 homers. He’s driven in 30 runs and scored 19 more – in 28 games.
Tyler McDonough snapped a nine-game hitting streak on Sunday and it was still a great game. He went 0-for-2, sure. But the switch-hitter had three walks and scored two runs. His numbers have taken a pretty big jump too. On the year he’s slashing .242/.350/.458 with seven doubles, two triples, and five home runs. McDonough has 19 RBI and 20 runs scored, stealing seven bases.
Matthew Lugo is slashing .293/.357/.500 with eight doubles and two triples. He’s also already tied his career-high with four home runs. The right-handed hitter has 20 runs driven in, 16 runs scored, and five steals.
Alex Binelas slumped a bit this week. The third baseman is down to .250 now but still has great numbers overall. He has a .411 OBP and .490 slugging percentage. The left-handed hitter has three doubles and seven home runs. He’s driven in 16 runs and scored 21 more, stealing six bases.
Stephen Scott was hitting .188 going into May 5. A six-game hitting-streak has reversed his fortunes though. The left-handed hitter now has a .231/.381/.415 slash line with six doubles and two home runs. He’s driven in nine runs and scored 11 more, stealing two bases.
Jaxx Groshans continues to boost his numbers. The catcher is now slashing .217/.345/.500 with two doubles, one triple, and three home runs. He’s driven in seven runs and scored six more. It’s a slow start for the right-handed hitter following a breakout year in 2021. But he’s starting to figure it out.
Ryan Zeferjahn is having an interesting month of May. The right-handed pitcher has only given up one earned run in 6 2/3 innings this month. However, he’s also walked six batters and hit one – but struck out 12. Zeferjahn has a 3.45 ERA, .182 BAA, 1.21 WHIP and 18 strikeouts in 15 2/3 innings pitched.