Boston Red Sox Prospects: Candidates for early season promotions
By Hunter Noll
Red Sox outfield prospect Devlin Granberg (Double-A to Triple-A)
Devlin Granberg started the 2021 season in High-A. He spent 27 games there looking like he was just head-and-shoulders better than everyone else. That led to a promotion to Double-A.
This season, the right-handed hitter started in Double-A. He’s now spent 23 games there this year (and 69 last season). And once again, Granberg looks too good for the rest of the competition. To the point he has to be getting bored.
Drafted in 2018 out of College, Granberg always looked like a very solid professional hitter. 2021 saw him take a big leap though. Not only was he hitting for contact (finished the year with a .297 average) but his 17 home runs and .515 slugging percentage were both massive upgrades to his previous career-bests. Those were accompanied by new highs in RBI and runs scored as well.
2022 has seen a dip in the power. So far, he has just one home run (the six doubles and two triples are nice though). However, other than that he’s absolutely killing it. The Dallas Baptist University product is slashing .333/.465/.494. Yes, you saw that OBP correctly. He’s walked (17) a lot more than he’s struck out (10). And although he only has six RBI, he’s scored 14 runs and stolen four bases.
Granberg is simply too good for Double-A pitching. The most damning stat is those walks compared to strikeouts. He’s not having any issues at the level. And Granberg has now played more games in Double-A (92) than he did in High-A (52) and nearly as many as he did in Low-A (99). He’s clearly proven he is ready for a jump. At 26 there’s no reason for Boston to not give him a promotion to get him closer to the Majors. No need to be patient when he’s dominating like this.