Boston Red Sox Prospect Watch: Who is stepping up?
By Hunter Noll
Red Sox High-A (Greenville)
Ceddanne Rafaela hasn’t played since May 25. They haven’t announced anything though so hopefully it’s nothing. The right-handed hitter is riding a five-game hitting-streak and slashing .316/.357/.573 with 13 doubles, two triples, and nine home runs. He’s driven in 30 runs, scored 35 more, and stolen 11 bases in just 39 games.
Gilberto Jimenez had some big games this week. Two three-hit games to be exact. The switch-hitter is now slashing .273/.320/.448 with eight doubles, one triple, and five home runs. He’s driven in 20 runs, scored 23 more, and stolen eight bases. Jimenez also cut back on the strikeouts this week, which is great to see.
Nick Yorke hasn’t played since May 26. Again, hopefully nothing serious. The right-handed hitter is slashing .245/.319/.361 with five doubles and four home runs. He’s driven in 18 runs and scored 25 more, stealing five bases.
Matthew Lugo had a cool week but he’s still putting up great numbers overall. The right-handed hitter has a .301/.360/.532 with 11 doubles, five triples, and five home runs. He has 29 RBI and 24 runs scored, to go along with six steals.
Alex Binelas has a .254/.392/.493 slash line with three doubles and 10 home runs. The left-handed hitter has driven in 31 runs and scored 30 more, stealing six bases. Binelas has a great eye to, already drawing an impressive 33 walks.
Tyler McDonough has done a little bit of everything so far this year. He’s slashing .236/.333/.412 with seven doubles, two triples, and six home runs. The switch-hitter has 23 runs batted in and 30 runs scored, to go along with 10 steals. He’s struck out a bit too much this year (54), but has drawn 20 walks as well – showing a great eye.
Nicholas Northcut slumped this week. The third baseman has been winning over a lot of fans with his ridiculous power. But he’s in a pretty steep 0-for right now, and suddenly has a .227/.280/.560 slash line. The five doubles and specifically 15 home runs are still ridiculous. He’s also driven in 33 runs and scored 20 more. A lot of strikeouts (61) and few walks (8) have led to problems. The insane power is there though and if he can start to draw a few more walks, Northcut could really be a menace.
Ryan Zeferjahn has been criminally underrated this year. The right-handed pitcher already has 23 innings out of the bullpen. He’s posted a 3.13 ERA, .214 BAA, and 1.26 WHIP in that time. Zeferjahn has 11 walks on the season, but has been mowing them down too – racking up 28 strikeouts.
Brian Van Belle’s numbers on the year aren’t great. But he’s been fantastic lately. The right-handed pitcher has allowed just three earned runs over 17 innings in his last three games. Van Belle has lowered the stats a bit in that time. He now has a 6.34 ERA, .343 BAA, and 1.63 WHIP in 49 2/3 innings. Obviously a lot of work still needs to be done, but it’s been promisingly lately. Another promising stat is the 45 strikeouts compared to just seven walks.
Shane Drohan with a phenomenal start this week, giving up just two hits and two walks while striking out six in five shutout innings. The left-handed pitcher is down to a 4.81 ERA, .246 BAA, and 1.35 WHIP this season. He has 50 strikeouts compared to 17 walks in 43 innings pitched.