Boston Red Sox pitching prospect Yordanny Mongero made three starts in the FCL this season. After dominating in those three starts, he earned a promotion to Single-A.
On Sunday, Monegro made his Single-A debut. The 20-year-old righty put on a masterclass of a performance.
Monegro tossed five shutout innings on Sunday, only needing 74 pitches to do so. He allowed two hits and walked no batters. Meanwhile, Monegro racked up an eye-popping 11 strikeouts.
It wasn't just a good game in the box score, either. Monegro was toying with hitters out there. He did so with some disgusting-looking pitches. The righty had 50 strikes in those 74 pitches. He picked up an impressive 17 swinging strikes and had only one three-ball count.
Monegro threw a few changeups and sliders, but it was the other two pitches that should get you excited.
The Dominican Republic native featured a live fastball that was hitting 97 MPH quite a few times. Then there was a curveball, and oh boy, that thing is going to visit me in my dreams.
Monegro was regularly throwing that high-70s curveball to end at-bats. He dropped it in the zone for a couple of looking strikeouts. Then he started burying it in the dirt, getting hitters to look silly.
Speaking of those curveballs in the dirt, catcher Enderso Lira deserves a shoutout. He did a great job all day of keeping those pitches in front of him and helping Monegro rack up those 11 strikeouts.
We had heard a bit about Yordanny Monegro before Sunday, but there's only so much information you can get when someone is in the DSL and FCL. With Monegro, we finally get a chance to see him in action in Single-A. His first impression was certainly a good one.
Contrary to the belief of some, the Boston Red Sox have a lot of talented pitching prospects, especially at their lower levels. It never hurts to add a few more names, though. And it looks like Yordanny Monegro is ready to join the fun with a lethal fastball/curveball combination.