Red Sox pitching prospect Frank German (Double-A to Triple-A)
Frank German came over to the Red Sox from the New York Yankees last year, just like Garrett Whitlock. While Whitlock was an immediate success, German struggled mightily. He spent the entire year in Double-A and finished with a 5.12 ERA, .285 BAA, and 1.53 WHIP over 84 1/3 innings.
However, at the end of the year he was converted to a reliever. In his last five appearances, German gave up zero runs on just one hit and one walk (compared to seven strikeouts) over five innings.
This season, the right-handed pitcher once again started the year in Double-A. Now he’s a full-blown reliever though. And the magic is still there.
In eight appearances this season, German has a 3.00 ERA, .133 BAA, and 0.67 WHIP. He’s struck out 17 batters compared to just two walks in nine innings. That’s three earned runs allowed in nine innings, and all three came in one appearances. That outing came on May 13 and it was the first time he had pitched in a game since April 26. So some rust was bound to be there.
The numbers are incredible though. He’s not walking anyone but striking them out in packs. Meanwhile, people aren’t getting hits off him. And even when they are he’s giving up weak contact. He’s only given up one extra-base hit all year.
Now, German does have a lot of Double-A experience already. However, the North Florida College product did just miss a couple weeks of action. Due to that, I wouldn’t be surprised if they decide to keep him at the level for a little longer just to ramp things back up. There’s no reason for him to stick around in Double-A for much more time if he keeps mowing down hitters the way he is though.
Politi just moved up to Triple-A, and German might not be far behind him.