Boston Red Sox prospects: Eddinson Paulino is the next breakout star
By Hunter Noll
Eddinson Paulino is the Boston Red Sox next media darling breakout prospect
2022 was a breakout year for Boston Red Sox prospect Ceddanne Rafaela. The center fielder wasn’t even in the team’s top 30 prospects (according to MLB) at the end of 2021, and by the conclusion of the next season, he was ranked third in the system and was in the top 100 in all of baseball.
Don’t say I didn’t try to warn you, either.
Rafaela has become not only a fan favorite, but he’s also getting national love. He’s officially out of the shadows. So which prospect has the best chance to take that leap in 2023?
There’s a pretty obvious answer, honestly. Eddinson Paulino is much higher in the rankings than Rafaela was at the end of 2021. Paulino is already at number 13 in the Red Sox system. Due to that, you might not think it’s a big jump.
Think about it this way, though. Rafaela is the third-ranked prospect in Boston’s system. He comes in at number 96 in baseball’s top 100 prospects and is the last Red Sox prospect on the list. With that in mind, Paulino is still pretty far off from getting all that much national attention.
Paulino is in an eerily similar situation to Rafaela, too. They’re both undersized (Rafaela is 5’8″, 152 lbs and Paulino is 5’10”, 155 lbs) utility men with great defensive potential.
Both enjoyed strong initial (under-the-radar) breakout campaigns in Low-A in their age 20 seasons. And both showed plenty of versatility to go along with great speed and surprising pop in their bats.
You could argue that a rise like Rafaela’s doesn’t just come out of nowhere. It would be hard to replicate that one season later. Paulino’s ahead of the game, though.
Rafaela slashed .251/.305/.424 with 20 doubles, nine triples, and 10 home runs in his 2021 season. The right-handed hitter drove in 53 runs, scored 73 more, and stole 23 bases in 102 games for the Salem Red Sox that year.
Maybe the numbers weren’t crazy, but if you were watching, you saw the obvious progression he made throughout the season, hinting at a major breakout year in 2022.
Last season, Paulino slashed .266/.359/.469 with 35 doubles, 10 triples, and 13 home runs in Salem. The left-handed hitter drove in 66 runs, scored 96 more, and stole 27 bases in 114 games.
Like Rafaela, if you were watching, you could see the obvious progression of Paulino in 2022. He put up pretty undeniable numbers. That’s a lot of extra-base hits. The run production was phenomenal as well.
This is a prospect that already grades out average at worst in every category across the board. If he builds off the progression we saw as last season went on, things could get scary. He already possesses a solid eye, which will help to keep him out of severe slumps. If his power builds a bit, we could have another 20/20 prospect (like Rafaela was in 2022) on our hands.
Paulino will start the 2023 season in High-A. He doesn’t turn 21 until July 2. There’s a legitimate chance he’s already found his way into Double-A at that point.
The Red Sox have a lot of talent in their farm system to get fans excited as well as garner attention across the baseball world. And Eddinson Paulino could shine brighter than them all in 2023.
