Boston Red Sox Prospect Watch: Debut steals the headlines
By Hunter Noll
Red Sox High-A (Greenville)
Niko Kavadas hit another home run this week. He also drove in four runs and walked five times in four games. So you know, a bad week for him I guess? The left-handed hitting first baseman has been on another plate the last few months at the plate. He’s slashing .333/.500/.769 in 13 games for High-A.
On the season between two levels, he’s slashing .294/.461/.636 with 20 doubles, one triple, and 19 home runs. Kavadas has driven in 60 runs, scored 45 more, stolen one base, and drawn 65 walks. SIXTY-FIVE WALKS.
Phillip Sikes got the promotion to High-A after a really strong surge in Low-A. The right-handed hitting outfielder has responded by slashing .316/.333/.579 with one triple and one homer already in just five games at the level. Total on the year – Sikes has 18 doubles, five triples, and six homers. He’s driven in 32 runs, scored 39 more, and stolen 13 bases in 14 attempts.
Matthew Lugo’s average has dipped a bit this month. The last two games of this week saw the right-handed hitting shortstop add some more extra-base hits though. Lugo is now slashing .273/.328/.500 with 18 doubles and career-highs in triples (8) and homers (10). He’s driven in 45 runs and scored 44 more, stealing seven bases. I’ve said it a lot but it warrants repeat, Lugo’s power production this season has been a great development in his game.
Big news on the Big Joe Davis front this week. The right-handed hitting first baseman is slashing .255/.313/.562 with 15 home runs in just 153 at-bats this season. That’s not the news though. He hit a double. It was just the second of the season for the absolute unit. Not exactly speedy, when he doesn’t hit it out of the park it needs to be a legitimate gap shot for Davis to get the extra bases. A tank though, he blasts tons of homers and has 29 RBI and 28 runs scored in just 44 games.
Nathan Hickey hasn’t been the menace that Kavadas has been since they were both promoted. The left-handed hitting catcher has still impressed though and overall he’s having a great year. Between Low-A and High-A Hickey is slashing .267/.414/.503 with 15 doubles and eight home runs. He’s driven in 43 runs, scored 33 more, and walked 42 times (compared to 46 strikeouts).
Nicholas Northcut hit another nuke this week (of course). The right-handed hitting third baseman is slashing .217/.282/.513 with 10 doubles and 23 home runs. He’s driven in 51 runs, scored 38 more, and has drawn 19 walks (a low number but one he’s improved on a bit since the start of the year). Northcut already has six more homers than last season, when he set a career-high with 17.
Tyler Uberstine made his High-A debut this week and wow did he impress. The right-handed pitcher tossed 5 1/3 shutout innings. In that time, he allowed just two hits and one walk. Oh, and he struck out 10 batters. Those 10 strikeouts are a new career-high for Uberstine, who certainly opened some eyes with that outing.
Did anyone have “former outfielder Michael Gettys being Greenville’s most reliable pitcher over the last month” on their BINGO card? No? Of course not. The right-handed pitcher gave up just one earned run over 10 1/3 innings in June though.
And now in July, he’s thrown 2 1/3 shutout innings (just one hit) over two appearances so far. Gettys has a 3.45 ERA, .319 BAA,1.50 WHIP, and 23 strikeouts (compared to six walks) in 28 2/3 innings this season.
Shane Drohan’s lone start this week saw him allow two earned runs over five innings. The left-handed pitcher gave up five hits and one walk while adding eight more strikeouts to his high total. Drohan has a 4.14 ERA, .236 BAA, 1.32 WHIP, and 101 strikeouts over 76 innings pitched so far this season.