Boston Red Sox Prospect Watch: Home runs and injury scares
By Hunter Noll
Home runs and injuries headline this week’s Red Sox Prospect Watch
Honestly, it’s been a pretty wild week for the Boston Red Sox organization. The Red Sox have been not so great lately. Meanwhile, in the organization, we’ve seen some returns, some injuries, and quite a few home runs.
Did the positives outweigh the negatives though? It’s always tough to tell, especially when the Major League team is losing. That always makes things seem a little bit bleaker.
Chris Sale returned and already got hurt again on a freak come backer destroying his pinky. Nathan Eovaldi and Garrett Whitlock are back too though, so that’s nice. The big issue though, is that we saw some returns and injuries in the Majors. So that makes it even more difficult to decide what type of a week this was.
Jeter Downs managed to give the team a positive to look at right now. The right-handed infielder smacked his first-career Major League home run on Sunday against the New York Yankees. Downs has made some plays in the field and while the overall offensive numbers don’t look great, he’s only appeared in a few games and he’s put together enough to give you some excitement.
Kutter Crawford gave up three runs on six hits in six innings this week. His lone appearance saw the right-handed hitter strike out six batters while walking none. Crawford has a 4.50 ERA, .241 BAA, 1.36 WHIP, and 44 strikeouts (compared to 15 walks) in 36 innings pitched in the Majors this season.
Josh Winckowski allowed three runs on four hits and two walks while striking out five batters in his only start of the week. The right-handed pitcher looked a lot better this week than he did in his previous start. He now holds a 4.38 ERA, .273 BAA, 1.43 WHIP, and 26 strikeouts (compared to 14 walks) over 37 Major League innings pitched so far this year.