Boston Red Sox Prospect Watch: A week with the Portland Sea Dogs

Red Sox Double-A (Portland)

Okay disclaimer here. I’m going to have a lot of articles over the next week or so about the team. Things I picked up on while I was at the games. This slide is going to remain mostly the same as usual. Don’t want to get things all messy.

Ceddanne Rafaela continues to be that dude. He literally created fans at an away stadium. People would talk when he stepped up to the plate. There’s reason for that too. In 12 games in Double-A, Rafaela is slashing .327/.358/.755 with five doubles, two triples, and four home runs. He’s driven in 12 runs, scored nine more, and stolen a base. His numbers on the year total are somehow even crazier. Superstar.

Pedro Castellanos hits every single ball like it’s the Joker and he’s Batman in that one interrogation scene in Dark Knight (sick reference Hunter, super up-to-date … thanks Hunter). Seriously though, it looks like everything flies off the bat at 200 MPH. He’s also riding a 16-game hitting-streak and suddenly has a .283/.307/.465 slash line with 16 doubles, one triple, and eight home runs. Castellanos has already driven in 42 runs and scored 22 more.

Christian Koss is putting together a really strong year with a .282/.325/.437 slash line. The right-handed hitter has seven doubles, four triples, and six home runs. He’s driven in 37 runs, scored 24 more, and stolen seven bases. Koss has good pop in his bat, and I always thought he had “plus” speed. After watching him in person though that has to get a bump, dude is an absolute BURNER.

Kole Cottam has been getting a lot of bad luck balls lately. Getting good wood on it, but hitting the ball right to someone. Sunday gave the signs of a breakout though. Three hits (two bullets and one bloop) and boy was it good to see one fall. He’s slashing .262/.344/.345 with nine doubles and one home run. Meanwhile, Cottam’s driven in 13 runs and scored 15 more. The defense is great, but that’s for another article.

David Hamilton’s down to a .220/.290/.368 slash line with four doubles, six triples, and five home runs. He’s driven in 20 runs and scored 25 more. The headline with Hamilton is the speed though. And he has 24 steals in 27 attempts so far. If he can get that average and OBP up a little bit, Hamilton’s speed is impossible to deny.

Chris Murphy made two appearances this week, and looked great in both. The home run bit him a bit, giving up three in the 11 innings (and accounting for four of the five runs he allowed). But the left-handed pitcher only gave up 10 hits and three walks in that time, striking out eight. Murph now has a 2.80 ERA, .179 BAA, 1.03 WHIP, and 83 strikeouts in 70 2/3 innings pitched.

Jay Groome tossed an absolute GEM this week. The lefty went seven shutout innings, giving up just two hits and four walks while striking out five. A little worrisome that he’s walked four batters in three straight games, but it’s easy to overlook it when he dominates like this. Groome is down to a 3.67 ERA, .221 BAA, and 1.30 WHIP this season. He’s walked 27 batters in 56 1/3 innings but piled up 52 strikeouts as well.

Victor Santos had another great outing this week, giving up two runs over seven innings. The right-handed pitcher boasts a 3.89 ERA, .232 BAA, and 1.05 WHIP on the year. He’s only struck out 54 batters over 74 innings, but limits the walks with just 13.

Jake Thompson had two more scoreless outings this week, and it’s sort of getting ridiculous at this point. The right-handed pitcher has a 0.90 ERA over 20 innings this season. He holds a .159 BAA and a 1.00 WHIP with 23 strikeouts compared to nine walks.

Brian Van Belle made his Double-A debut after a nice stretch in High-A over his last few outings. The right-handed pitcher gave up three runs on three hits in five innings, striking out four batters. His numbers on the year aren’t great but Van Belle does a lot of things right and it’s good to see him getting a serious look.