Top 10 (Or So) Sox Prospects

At Bus Leagues Baseball, Extra P. and OMDQ spend baseball season trying to keep up with MLB’s murky substrata – the minor leagues. As a birthday gift to Center Field, the guys decided to delve into the world of Sox prospects past and present.

Yesterday, OMDQ took a look at the Top 100 Sox prospects of all time. Today, Extra P. delves into the current Top 10(ish) Red Sox Prospects. In addition to talking stats and numbers, he was also kind enough to evaluate each of the guys’ future prospects as Baseball Boyfriend material. Bless him!

Like my colleague before me, I am going to rely on Baseball America’s prospect rankings for the basis of my projections. In fact, if the good folks at Baseball America would like to just go ahead and hire us, we could cut out the middle man, which I believe would reduce the exorbitant cost of gasoline. Somehow.

Anyway, here’s the list, with one crucial addition from me, using my incredible powers of hindsight:

1. Clay Buchholz, RHP
2. Jacoby Ellsbury, OF
3. Lars Anderson, 1B
4. Justin Masterson, RHP
5. Jed Lowrie, SS
6. Ryan Kalish, OF
7. Michael Bowden, RHP
8. Nick Hagadone, LHP
9. Oscar Tejeda, SS
10. Josh Reddick, OF
10a. Che-Hsuan Lin, OF

Let’s get started.

Clay Buchholz – RHP, Boston Red Sox
If a guy’s thrown a no-hitter in the bigs, is it accurate to still call him a prospect? Clay joined the Sox organization out of Angelina College as the 42nd overall pick in the 2005 first-year draft, which is the sort of thing that can only happen in professional baseball.

His career path followed the classic pyramid look, with single As on the top, sitting on the shoulders of double As and a nice fat triple-A in 2007, the same year the then-22-year-old was called up, earning a 3-1 record with a 1.59 ERA. And apparently he had this one really good game in September. Whatever.

Baseball America Superlatives: Best Curveball, Best Changeup

2008 Stats:
Pawtucket Red Sox: 4W – 2L – 2.47 ERA – 17BB – 43K
Boston Red Sox: 2W – 5L – 5.88 ERA – 27BB – 51K

Clay is on a three-game losing streak, so this is a prime test of the team’s commitment to him. Will he be sent back to Pawtucket, or work out his problems in Boston?

Baseball Boyfriend potential: Clay ain’t a pretty boy, but he is from Texas, and may have another gem in him. I give him a 50-50 shot.

Jacoby Ellsbury – OF, Boston Red Sox
OMDQ thinks Jacoby is the fastest sportshuman alive. I think he has the name of a 19th-century vice-presidential candidate. The truth is somewhere in-between, I’m sure.

Zippy spent three years with the Oregon State Beavers, leaving just before the Beavs put together their back-to-back championships. Then again, a World Series ring is more than adequate compensation, I imagine. This guy isn’t going back down unless it’s a rehab assignment. His current slump is regrettable, but not career-changing.

Baseball America Superlatives: Fastest Baserunner, Best Athlete, Best Defensive Outfielder

2008 Stats:
Boston Red Sox (all season): .262 – 60R – 5HR – 27 RBI – 32BB – 35 SB – .362 SLG – .694 OPS

Baseball Boyfriend potential: I’m too lazy to comb Texy’s archives, but I imagine Ellsbury has already won this award 327 times.

Lars Anderson – 1B, Portland Sea Dogs (AA)
Lars has been on the Bus Leagues radar all season long. He tore up A ball throughout 2007 after being picked up in the 18th round of the 2006 draft. 77 more games for the high-A Lancaster JetHawks was enough, as Lars was recently called up to double-A. With just four games at Portland under his belt, Anderson is struggling to adjust.

Baseball America Superlatives: Best Hitter for Average, Best Power Hitter

2008 Stats:
Lancaster JetHawks: .317 – 58R – 13HR – 50 RBI – 46BB – 0SB – .513 SLG – .921 OPS
Portland Sea Dogs: .182 – 0R – 0HR – 0 RBI – 0BB – .273 SLG – .455 OPS

Baseball Boyfriend Potential: 6′4″, 210 lbs, lefty power hitter. If it weren’t for the slightly Elway-ish teeth, he’d rank higher. I still give him a 75% chance of some day reaching the pinnacle.

Justin Masterson – RHP, Pawtucket Red Sox (AAA)
Masterson is having a classic yo-yo season. He’s pitched 12 games in the minors, including eight for double-A Portland, four for triple-A Pawtucket, one coming in May, and the rest in July. He has twice been called up to the majors for one start, pitched fairly well, and then been sent back down immediately.

Terry Francona has announced that he will attempt to turn Masterson into a reliever instead of a starter, and his average of one inning of work over the past couple of weeks in triple-A would seem to indicate that the conversion process has begun in earnest.

Baseball America Superlatives: Best Fastball

2008 Stats:
Portland Sea Dogs: 1W – 3L – 4.23 ERA – 16BB – 37 K
Pawtucket Red Sox: 1W – 0L – 2.89 ERA – 1BB – 8K
Boston Red Sox: 4W – 3L – 3.67 ERA – 17BB – 45K

Baseball Boyfriend potential: Goofy grin, tilted cap, weak stuff. He’s in the lower quartile, I’m afraid.

Jed Lowrie – SS/3B, Boston Red Sox
Another Oregonian in the mix. Lowrie gets called up when someone goes on the DL. Being a switch-hitter probably doesn’t hurt.

Baseball America Superlatives: None

2008 Stats:
Pawtucket Red Sox: .268 – 35R – 5HR – 32 RBI – 31BB – 2SB – .434 SLG – .793 OPS
Boston Red Sox: .298 – 6R – 1HR – 9RBI – 5BB – 0SB – .421 SLG – .765 OPS

Baseball Boyfriend potential: Stanford boy, so he’s probably smart. Seems alright. Pretty consistent at the plate. Not knocking anybody’s socks off.

Ryan Kalish – OF, Greenville Drive
This guy’s just brand new. 20 years old, hit very well with the Spinners in 2007, and has spent all of this season at class A Greenville. This grade is based on potential, I’m sure, because he has a lot of guys to beat out and probably needs a couple years more seasoning. He’s a lefty, but without much power.

Baseball America Superlatives: None

2008 Stats:
Greenville Drive: .281 – 41R – 3HR – 26RBI – 41BB – 16SB – .363 SLG – .736 OPS

Baseball Boyfriend potential: High. Strong cleft chin and a direct gaze. Could set hearts aflutter.

Michael Bowden, RHP, Pawtucket Red Sox
Has pitched in 76 games while rising through the ranks, winning 20. Just 21 years old. Pitched his first game at Pawtucket on July 21st. Already reached the century mark in strikeouts in just 19 games in AA.

Baseball America Superlatives: Best Control

2008 Stats:
Portland Sea Dogs: 9W – 3L – 2.33 ERA – 24BB – 101K
Pawtucket Red Sox: 0W – 1L – 6.75 ERA – 0BB – 4K

Baseball Boyfriend potential: He’s got kind of a confident sneer, which is a good quality in a starter. Buckets of punchouts are always dead sexy.

Nick Hagadone – LHP, Greenville Drive
Again with the Pac-10 schools. This time it’s Washington, where he had six wins and eleven saves in the same season. Very raw, with only 10 games at Lowell before this season, and an injury-shortened start to 2008.

Baseball America Superlatives: Best Slider

2008 Stats:
Greenville Drive: 1W – 1L – 0.00 ERA – 6BB – 12K

Baseball Boyfriend potential: Too soon to tell. Hasn’t shown the kind of staying power that’s required just yet.

Oscar Tejeda – SS, Greenville Drive
Apparently, this 19-year-old is actually named Moises, which is the sort of name that would give him an air of experience. But he likes his middle name Oscar instead. Only 67 games under his belt. From the impressively-named Sabana Grande De Palen, DR.

Baseball America Superlatives: None

2008 Stats:
Greenville Drive: .240 – 24R – 1HR – 20RBI – 11BB – 3SB – .312 SLG – .592 OPS

Baseball Boyfriend potential: He doesn’t really know who or what he is yet, so that’s gonna hurt him in the short run. Sleepy Dominican act isn’t fooling anyone, though. He’s probably a tiger down deep somewhere.

Josh Reddick – OF, Portland Sea Dogs
Gets himself on base any which way he can. Had as many walks as home runs (17) with the Class A JetHawks. Has been promoted twice this season, so it’ll be interesting to see what he can do if he gets comfortable somewhere.

Baseball America Superlatives: None

2008 Stats:
Greenville Drive: .340 – 7R – 0HR – 9RBI – 5BB – 2SB – .491 SLG – .887 OPS
Lancaster JetHawks: .343 – 60R – 17HR – 57RBI – 17BB – 9SB – .593 SLG – .968 OPS
Portland Sea Dogs: .250 – 1R – 0HR – 2RBI – 0BB – 0SB – .250 SLG – .500 OPS

Baseball Boyfriend potential: Looks slightly nerdy, but he could grow into it by the time he makes the majors.

Che-Hsuan Lin – OF, Greenville Drive

Che-Hsuan is my bonus baby. He didn’t make the Baseball America list, but it’s hard for me to ignore someone who already has a bat in the Hall of Fame. The Taiwanese Lin knocked in two runs with a long ball to take home MVP honors in the Futures Game, so we’re expecting big things from him. Signed just over one year ago, so he’s got a lot to learn.

Baseball America Superlatives: Best Outfield Arm

2008 Stats:
Greenville Drive: .245 – 57R – 5HR – 36RBI – 41BB – 31SB – .357 SLG – .697 OPS

Baseball Boyfriend potential: Knows how to score, and gets to first base even when his stroke is off. Has the speed to steal 2nd or 3rd. If he gets a little more consistent, he could be a keeper.

Whew – that was lengthy. Hope you got some decent info in-between the cheap jokes. Happy birthday, Center Field!

And big thanks right back at you and OMDQ for these two excellent posts!