Boston Red Sox Prospect Watch: Top name returns to action

This week’s Red Sox prospect watch is highlighted by a major return

Well, at least the Boston Red Sox are playing a little bit better. I mean you probably wouldn’t know it if you saw their game on Sunday. But they won the first two games of their series against the Texas Rangers. So they actually won two games in-a-row at one point. And wow, a series win.

The team is pretty devoid of “prospect” type players in the Majors though. Which isn’t a bad thing obviously. And if I wanted to I could probably talk about someone like Garrett Whitlock here. He was in the Majors all last season too though. So that feels cheap to still count him on this list.

Especially considering he’s not only graduated from “prospect” status, but is one of the better pitchers in all of baseball right now.

Boston overall has been terrible in 2022 though. And despite having a lot of players struggle to produce any type of positives, they haven’t seemed all that interested in making call-ups to shake things up.

I do think those will be coming at some point barring a massive turnaround that happens pretty quick. So we could be seeing some more action in this portion of the article in coming weeks.

For now though, it’s sort of just a downer to talk about how bad the Major League team is doing. At least we got some exciting news in the minor leagues with top prospect Marcelo Mayer returning from injury.

And with a few top talents in Worcester balling out, those Triple-A call ups have a lot of flexibility. There are a number of players that could get called up at some point. It’s not like we’re just waiting on one name. So that at least adds some extra intrigue into everything.

Right now the best thing to do when watching the Red Sox is just focus on how good Rafael Devers is. That should keep most people from getting too upset.

Red Sox Triple-A (Worcester)

I’m very tired of people using his .244 batting average as the “Triston Casas clearly needs more time, why do you idiots think he should be called up” argument. Yes, the average isn’t great. The left-handed hitter also has nine doubles and six home runs though. And he’s got 22 runs batted in and 22 more scored. Oh, and sticking with 22, that’s how many walks he has. So sure, a .244 average isn’t great. But what about a .244/.353/.457 slash line? And the defense has been phenomenal. He’s doing everything at a high-level except the average. But he’s still getting on-base so who cares?

Ryan Fitzgerald is slashing .297/.368/.610 with seven doubles, three triples, and eight home runs. The left-handed hitter has driven in 28 runs and scored 15 more. He’s played every position except first, catcher, and pitcher already this season. And apparently he’s been taking some practice at first (he’s played three games there in his career). So it sounds like the Red Sox might be gearing him up for a promotion soon.

Jarren Duran has a .330/.404/.511 slash line with six doubles, two triples, and two home runs. The left-handed hitter has 13 RBI and 18 runs scored. He’s also stolen 10 bases. That’s great to see as he’s using his speed again after stealing only 16 bases in 60 games last year.

Jeter Downs has clearly improved from last season. However, he still needs to make a few more strides. Right now, the right-handed hitter has a .212/.331/.432 slash line. All of those numbers are strong jumps from last year but still not great. He’s hit three doubles, one triple, and a solid seven home runs. While he’s only driven in 13 runs, Downs already has 26 runs scored and five steals.

Connor Seabold got knocked around in his first start this week (five earned runs in three innings). But he bounced back with an absolute gem. The righty tossed six shutout innings, allowing just one hit and one walk while striking out 11. He has a 2.45 ERA, .179 BAA, 0.93 WHIP, and 37 strikeouts in 36 2/3 innings this year.

Josh Winckowski had an interesting week. The right-handed pitcher started on May 11. He pitched two shutout innings, giving up just one hit and one walk – striking out two. Was he hurt? It doesn’t appear so. Apparently it was more in case he was needed in the Majors. That makes sense too as Wink now has a 2.75 ERA, .181 BAA, 0.92 WHIP, and 19 strikeouts in 19 2/3 innings.

Eduard Bazardo continues to have a great May. In two appearances this week the righty reliever tossed 2 2/3 shutout innings. On the year, Bazardo is down to a 2.84 ERA. He still has a high .277 BAA and 1.42 WHIP but they are dropping. Baz also has 14 strikeouts in 12 2/3 innings.

Red Sox Double-A (Portland)

Brayan Bello tossed a no-no last week. So what did he do for an encore this week? Twirled another gem. This time, the right-handed hitter threw six shutout innings. He allowed just three hits and one walk in that time, striking out five. Bello has a 1.60 ERA, .138 BAA, and 0.83 WHIP in 33 2/3 innings on the year. He’s struck out 42 batters compared to just 12 walks. It’s just not fair when he’s on the mound right now.

Chris Murphy isn’t getting talked about because of Bello. And that’s criminal. The left-handed pitcher is barely behind him in every stat. Murphy has a 1.97 ERA, .152 BAA, and 0.97 WHIP in 32 innings this year. He’s struck out 41 batters in that time, walking 14. Murph has limited the home runs (just two so far), and that’s helped him dominate early on.

Brandon Walter made two starts this week and things didn’t go great for the lefty. Walter allowed 11 earned runs in 7 combined innings. All of his numbers sky-rocketed due to this week. That speaks volumes to just how dominant he’s been. Walter still has a 3.50 ERA, .218 BAA, and 0.94 WHIP in 36 innings. He’s struck out 49 batters compared to just three walks.

Jay Groome had a strong start this week, going 6 2/3 innings and giving up two runs on two hits while striking out seven (one walk). The lefty has a 4.26 ERA, .206 BAA, and 1.18 WHIP on the year. In 25 1/3 innings, he struck out 28 batters.

Chase Shugart has made three appearances in May. The right-handed reliever has tossed 6 1/3 shutout innings in that time. Shugart is down to a 2.25 ERA, .193 BAA, 1.06 WHIP, and 16 strikeouts in 16 innings. It’s still early but it looks like the move to the bullpen this season has done wonders for him.

Andrew Politi might be in Triple-A by the time you read this. The right-handed pitcher has a 2.03 ERA, .152 BAA, and 0.75 WHIP in 13 1/3 innings. Politi is 4-for-4 in save opportunities and has 20 strikeouts compared to just three walks.

Christian Koss is riding a six-game hitting-streak and has hits in nine-out-of-the-last-ten games. The right-handed hitter has a .279/.308/.405 slash line with three doubles, one triple, and three home runs. Koss has 19 RBI, 13 runs scored, and three steals.

David Hamilton has been insanely impressive. The second baseman was seen as mainly a speed guy. However, he’s proven to be able to do it all. The left-handed hitter has a .287/.381/.481 slash line with three doubles, three triples, and four home runs. He’s driven in 17 runs and scored 17 more, stealing 17 bases.

Devlin Granberg has a .333/.465/.494 slash line with six doubles, two triples, and one home run. The right-handed hitter has six RBI and 14 runs scored, stealing four bases. The home runs haven’t come yet like they did last year, but everything else has been phenomenal. It’s hard to see Granberg in Double-A for much longer.

Kole Cottam is slashing .289/.393/.421 with seven doubles and one home run. The right-handed hitter has driven in seven runs and scored 11 more. Cottam has been incredibly consistent in his career. He’s gotten so much better defensively too. In fact, Cottam might be leaping frogging his way all the way up to the number one spot when it comes to catching prospects in the Red Sox organization.

Nick Sogard has been on a tear lately. And suddenly the switch-hitter is putting up big numbers between Double-A and Triple-A. Sogard has a .292/.376/.360 slash line with three doubles and one home run between the two levels. He’s driven in nine runs and scored 16 more, stealing two bases.

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.