Like infielder Yoeilin Cespedes, pitching prospect Gilberto Batista was recognized as the Red Sox’ 2023 Minor League Latin Program Pitcher of the Year at Fenway Park last month.
Batista made his professional debut in the Dominican Summer League this past June after signing with the Red Sox for a mere $10,000 as an international free agent last November. In 11 appearances (nine starts) for Boston’s DSL Red affiliate, the 18-year-old right-hander posted a 3.54 ERA with a team-leading 54 strikeouts to just eight walks over 40 2/3 innings in which he held opposing hitters to a .228 batting average against.
Batista’s best start of the year came on July 14. Going up against DSL Cubs Blue on the road, the Dominican-born hurler struck out seven (tying a season-high in that category) across four scoreless, no-hit frames. He took a bid for a perfect game into the bottom of the third inning before leadoff man Omar Ferrera reached on a Franklin Arias throwing error. Batista then struck out the side before retiring the last three batters he faced in the fourth.
Among 94 pitchers in the DSL who threw at least 40 innings this season, Batista ranked fifth in strikeouts per nine innings (11.95), 11th in walks per nine innings (1.77), fifth in strikeout rate (33.5 percent), first in swinging-strike rate (50.7 percent), 12th in walk rate (5.0 percent), 19th in WHIP (1.03), 11th in FIP (3.02), and first in xFIP (2.74), per FanGraphs.
Batista (right) pictured with fellow countryman Brayan Bello (left) at the club’s academy in El Toro
Listed at 6-feet and 165 pounds, Batista operates with a four-pitch mix that consists of a 93-94 mph fastball that touches 95 mph, a “true” curveball, a “hard” slider, and a changeup, according to Red Sox assistant general manager Eddie Romero.
“As he’s added 11 pounds since March, his velocity has started to tick up,” Romero said of Batista in a recent email exchange with BloggingtheRedSox.com. “After a sluggish start to his DSL season, he really excelled July and August. He’s an above average athlete with a lightning quick arm who loves to compete.”
Batista, who turns 19 in January, is projected by SoxProspects.com to make the jump to the United States and pitch in the rookie-level Florida Complex League at some point in 2024.
(Picture of Alex Cora, Gilberto Batista, and Yoeilin Cespedes: Kelly O’Connor/sittingstill.smugmug.com)
Red Sox infield prospect Yoeilin Cespedes reached plenty of milestones in 2023.
In January, Cespedes inked his first professional contract and received a hefty $1.4 million signing bonus, making him the highest-paid member of Boston’s 2023 international free agent class. The Dominican native then made his pro debut as a 17-year-old in the Dominican Summer League and was later recognized as the organization’s Latin Program Position Player of the Year.
Cespedes entered the professional ranks as the No. 24 prospect in Boston’s farm system, per Baseball America’s preseason rankings. Even before debuting with DSL Red Sox Blue in June, Cespedes had already generated plenty of buzz on account of what he was doing in extended spring training games at the club’s academy in El Toro.
Cespedes earned in-season DSL All-Star honors by batting a stout .338/.391/.552 with 12 doubles, three triples, five home runs, 28 RBIs, 30 runs scored, one stolen bases, 14 walks, and 17 strikeouts in 37 games (169 plate appearances) from June 5 through July 28. After drawing a walk and swiping one bag in the All-Star game itself on July 30, the right-handed hitter closed out the 2023 campaign by going 14-for-37 (.378) with one homer and 10 RBIs in his final nine games.
Altogether, Cespedes slashed .346/.392/.560 with 15 doubles, four triples, six home runs, 38 runs driven in, 37 runs scored, one stolen base, 14 walks, and 24 strikeouts in 46 total games (209 plate appearances). Among 66 hitters in the DSL who made at least 200 trips to the plate this season, Cespedes ranked third in batting average, 27th in on-base percentage, fifth in slugging percentage, seventh in OPS (.953), eighth in isolated power (.215), first in line-drive rate (28.1 percent), sixth in strikeout rate (11.5 percent), and ninth in wRC+ (145), per FanGraphs.
“He’s not pull-oriented,” added Romero. “He uses the whole field. He hits the ball hard everywhere. And he hits the ball hard to a lot of quadrants that are pitched to him too, which is good. He doesn’t strike out much. He makes a lot of contact. There’s a lot of good, positive indicators there.”
On the other side of the ball, Cespedes saw all of his playing time on the field this season come at shortstop. There, the 5-foot-10, 181-pounder logged 294 innings and committed seven errors in 139 chances, culminating in a .950 fielding percentage. He also turned 14 double plays.
“He’s become a lot more fundamentally sound,” Romero said of Cespedes’ improving defensive prowess. “In his base, being more flexible, being more athletic. He’s always had the arm strength. For us, it was working on his range, working on his first step, his agility side to side.”
Cespedes, who celebrated his 18th birthday last month, was honored alongside Gilberto Batista — Boston’s Latin Program Pitcher of the Year — and several other Red Sox minor-league award winners on Sept. 28. When speaking with reporters (including Smith) in the home dugout that night, Cespedes was asked about how Baseball America described him as “one of the top hitting prospects to come through the organization’s academy since Rafael Devers a decade ago.”
“It’s an unbelievable feeling to be compared to him,” Cespedes said of his fellow countryman through interpreter Carlos Villoria Benítez. “He’s someone I admire and follow a lot. For me to be compared with him, it’s very, very special.”
As a shortstop, however, Cespedes acknowledged that he grew up idolizing Xander Bogaerts and still tries to emulate the former Red Sox star to this day. Bogaerts, of course, left Boston via free agency by signing an 11-year, $280 million deal with the Padres about one month before Cespedes put pen to paper himself.
“One of the reasons was because Xander was here,” Cespedes said when asked about why he signed with the Red Sox. “And another one is because I love Boston. I love the Red Sox.”
Still a ways away from the big-leagues, Cespedes is projected by SoxProspects.com to make the jump to the rookie-level Florida Complex League in 2024. Even though the FCL season does not start until next June, Cespedes already knows what he needs to work on in order to get better.
“Definitely swing decisions is something I need to improve on because that aggressiveness makes me swing at pitches that might not be in the zone,” said Cespedes, who described his hit tool as a “super power” of sorts. “So that’s something I need to improve on and I’m already working on that.
“I improved on my defense,” he continued while reflecting on his 2023 . “I think it was day and night the difference compared to where I started and how I finished.”
Last month, Baseball America identified Red Sox catching prospect Johanfran Garcia as the top backstop to play in the rookie-level Florida Complex League this season.
Garcia, who Boston signed for $850,000 in January 2022, made his stateside debut in early June after appearing in 40 Dominican Summer League games last year. In 42 games for the Sox’ Fort Myers-based affiliate this summer, the right-handed hitting 18-year-old batted a stout .302/.408/.497 with 10 doubles, two triples, five home runs, 32 RBIs, 21 runs scored, three stolen bases, 19 walks, and 37 strikeouts over 179 trips to the plate.
Behind the likes of batting champ Natanael Yuten, Garcia posted the ninth-highest batting average among qualified FCL hitters. The native Venezuelan also ranked 11th in on-base percentage, sixth in slugging percentage, seventh in OPS (.904), eighth in isolated power (.195), and seventh in wRC+ (137), per FanGraphs.
Defensively, Garcia made a team-leading 22 starts at catcher for the FCL Red Sox. The sturdy 5-foot-10, 196-pounder logged 176 2/3 innings behind the plate, allowing only two passed balls and throwing out 12 of 33 possible base stealers. He also made nine starts at first base, where he did not commit a single error in 73 innings.
When evaluating Garcia, who he ranked as the No. 9 prospect to play in the FCL this year, Baseball America’s Josh Norris wrote: “[Garcia] showed plenty of upside on both sides of the ball, and was particularly intriguing for his combination of hittability and all-fields power. He showed a solid knowledge of the strike zone and bat-to-ball skills, though his in-zone whiff rates might be a touch higher than is ideal and scouts noted his swing could get a bit long every now and then.
“Behind the plate,” Norris continued, “Garcia shows plus-plus arm strength but will need to watch his conditioning to assure he maintains the flexibility to stay behind the dish.”
Shortly before the FCL season drew to a close in late August, Garcia and several other Red Sox prospects made the jump to Low-A Salem for the remainder of the 2023 minor-league campaign. Making his full-season affiliate debut on Aug. 15, Garcia limped to the finish line to some degree by slashing just .203/.279/.305 with one home run and five RBIs in 15 Carolina League Games.
With that being said, Garcia was at least able to end the year on a high note. He went 5-for-17 (.294) with two walks in five September contests and would have had the chance to do even more damage if it weren’t for Salem’s final two games of the season getting cancelled due to inclement weather. In that time, he got the chance to play with his older brother Jhostynxon, an outfielder who joined the Red Sox organization as an international free agent in 2019.
All told, Garcia hit .274/.373/.442 with 13 doubles, two triples, six homers, 37 runs driven in, 29 runs scored, six stolen bases, 24 walks, and 61 strikeouts in 57 games (247 plate appearances) between the FCL and Salem Red Sox. With Salem specifically, he allowed two additional passed balls and threw out seven of 27 would-be base stealers in the process of logging 83 more innings behind the plate.
Garcia, who turns 19 in December, is currently regarded by Baseball America as the No. 23 prospect in Boston’s farm system. That ranks third among catchers in the organization behind only Kyle Teel (No. 4) and Nathan Hickey (No. 10), who both made it up to Double-A Portland this year.
While Teel and Hickey already have some experience in the upper-minors, Garcia did “put himself on many teams’ radars” this year, according to The Boston Globe’s Alex Speier, which could make him a popular target in trade talks. If he does remain in the organization through the winter, though, Garcia is projected to return to Salem for the start of the 2024 season in April.
Nunez makes up an All-Star infield that includes Rockies prospects Ronny Ugarte (1B), Bairon Ledesman (2B), and Kelvin Hidalgo (SS). The switch-hitting 17-year-old is coming off a debut season in which he batted .325/.391/.479 with 12 doubles, three triples, four home runs, 34 RBIs, 32 runs scored, seven stolen bases, 17 walks, and 29 strikeouts in 49 games (215 plate appearances) for DSL Red Sox Blue.
Among 66 hitters in the Dominican Summer League who made at least 200 trips to the plate in 2023, Nunez ranked 14th in strikeout rate (13.5 percent), 10th in batting average, 30th in on-base percentage, 13th in slugging percentage, 16th in OPS (.870), 22nd in isolated power (.155), 23rd in line-drive rate (21.9 percent), and 16th in wRC+ (129), per FanGraphs.
On the other side of the ball, Nunez saw the majority of his playing time come at either second or third base this season. In 161 innings at the keystone, the projectable 6-foot, 155-pounder committed just two errors in 75 defensive chances. In 210 innings at the hot corner, he committed nine errors in 71 chances for a far-less favorable .873 fielding percentage.
Nunez, who turns 18 next week, is less than nine full months removed from signing with the Red Sox as an international free agent coming out of the Dominican Republic last January. A native of San Pedro de Macoris (the same city Miguel Bleis is from) Nunez received a bonus of $52,500 and is said to have above-average speed.
Other than that lone nugget, Nunez does not have an extensive prospect profile quite yet. That could change soon, though, as he is projected by SoxProspects.com to make the jump to the United States and the rookie-level Florida Complex League in 2024.
(Picture: Billie Weiss/Boston Red Sox/Getty Images)
Recognized alongside the likes of Yankees outfield prospects Willy Montero and John Cruz, Yuten enjoyed a productive summer in Fort Myers. The left-handed hitting 18-year-old batted a stout .336/.396/.483 with nine doubles, two triples, three home runs, 32 RBIs, 28 runs scored, eight stolen bases, 11 walks, and 36 strikeouts in 38 games (164 plate appearances) for the FCL Red Sox.
In addition to winning the FCL batting title, Yuten ranked 16th among qualified hitters in on-base percentage, eighth in slugging percentage, 11th in OPS (.880), 18th in isolated power (.148), 20th in speed score (7.0), and 11th in wRC+ (131), per FanGraphs.
Defensively, Yuten saw playing time at all three outfield positions in his time with Boston’s rookie-level affiliate. The lanky 6-foot-2, 143-pounder logged 52 innings in left, 52 1/3 innings in center, and 172 2/3 innings in right while committing a total of six errors and recording one outfield assist.
About one week before the FCL season drew to a close in late August, Yuten received a promotion to Low-A Salem alongside top catching prospect Johanfran Garcia and several others. He made his full-season debut on Aug. 15 but was never really able to get it going offensively and instead struggled to a .197/.240/.239 slash line in 18 Carolina League games. In that stretch, he made six starts in center field and nine starts in right field.
Despite limping to the finish line, it was still a strong year overall for Yuten, as he is now regarded by SoxProspects.com as the No. 42 prospect in Boston’s farm system after not being ranked previously. The Dominican native originally signed with the Red Sox for $400,000 as an international free agent coming out of La Romana last January.
Assuming he remains in the organization through the winter, Yuten — who actually turns 19 next week — is projected to return to Salem for the start of the 2024 minor-league season in April.
In 69 games with Boston’s Carolina League affiliate, Castro batted .247/.376/.378 with 20 doubles, two triples, three home runs, 29 RBIs, 39 runs scored, 15 stolen bases, 51 walks, and 54 strikeouts over 306 plate appearances. The 20-year-old then received a promotion to High-A Greenville in mid-July and debuted for the Drive immediately following the All-Star break.
With the eventual South Atlantic League champions, the switch-hitting Castro slashed a stout .283/.355/.446 to go along with 11 doubles, two more triples, four homers, 17 runs driven in, 23 runs scored, four stolen bases, 17 walks, and 26 strikeouts in 43 games (186 plate appearances). He also went 4-for-13 (.308) with a home run in four postseason games as Greenville went on to clinch its first Sally League title since 2017 last month.
Among 137 hitters who made at least 180 trips to the plate during the regular season, Castro ranked 21st in strikeout rate (19.4 percent), 17th in batting average, 39th in slugging percentage, 31st in slugging percentage, 27th in OPS (.801), 16th in line-drive rate (24.6 percent), and 29th in wRC+ (119), per FanGraphs.
Between Salem and Greenville, Castro saw playing time at all three outfield positions. With the Drive specifically, the 6-foot, 170-pounder logged 49 innings in left, 138 innings in center, and 127 innings in right. He committed a total of three errors while recording one outfield assist.
A native of the Dominican Republic, Castro originally signed with the Red Sox for $100,000 as an international free agent in July 2019. At that time, Castro was viewed as a middle infielder, but he had already transitioned to the outfield by the time he made his professional debut in the Dominican Summer League two years after signing as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Coming into the 2023 campaign, Castro was unranked by publications such as Baseball America and MLB Pipeline. He is now regarded by the former as the No. 27 and by the latter as the No. 30 prospect in Boston’s farm system. SoxProspects.com, on the other hand, now has Castro ranked 17th on its list after having him at No. 33 to begin the year.
Castro, who does not turn 21 until next May, can become eligible for the Rule 5 Draft this winter if he is not added to the Red Sox’ 40-man roster by the protection deadline in November. Given his lack of experience in the upper-minors, though, the likely outcome is that Castro is left unprotected, is not picked up by another team, and remains in the organization as an intriguing prospect with room to grow.
Barring a trade or any sort of other move, Castro is projected by SoxProspects.com to return to Greenville for the start of the 2024 minor-league season in April.
After drawing a walk and driving in a run in a Game 1 road win over the Hudson Valley Renegades on Sunday, Campbell recorded three hits in Greenville’s series-clinching victory at Fluor Field on Tuesday night.
Batting seventh and starting in left field for the Drive, Campbell went 3-for-4 with a massive three-run home run. The right-handed hitter struck out in his first plate appearances, then proceeded to reach base in the fourth, sixth, and seventh innings.
After registering a pair of singles for his first two hits of the night, Campbell came through in a big way in the bottom half of the seventh. Tyler Miller had just driven in Allan Castro to give Greenville a 4-2 lead and put runners at second and third with only one out.
Matched up against Hudson Valley reliever Matt Keating, Campbell worked a 2-1 count before clobbering a line-drive, three-run blast to deep left-center field. He then let out a celebratory yell as he rounded first base and pointed to the sky before crossing home plate to put Greenville up, 7-2, going into the eighth inning.
The Drive went on to defeat the Renegades by a final score of 7-3, claiming their first South Atlantic League title since 2017 and their second since becoming affiliated with the Red Sox in 2005.
Campbell played a major role for Greenville as it swept Hickory in the division series and Hudson Valley in the championship series en route to a perfect postseason. In four games against the Crawdads and Renegades, Campbell went 7-for-12 (.583) with one double, one home run, six RBIs, three runs scored, one walk, and three strikeouts. He also flashed the leather over the weekend by making an impressive diving catch in the left-center field gap.
Campbell, 21, was selected by the Red Sox with the 132nd overall pick in this summer’s draft, which Boston received as compensation for losing Xander Bogaerts to the Padres in free agency over the winter. The drat-eligible sophomore out of Georgia Tech signed for $492,700 and debuted in the rookie-level Florida Complex League last month.
A native of the Peach State himself, Campbell posted a 1.082 OPS (189 wRC+) in eight games for Boston’s Fort Myers-based affiliate before making the jump to Greenville (and skipping Low-A Salem) on August 24. He then batted .267/.400/.422 (132 wRC+) with two doubles, one triple, one homer, three runs driven in, five runs scored, one stolen base, seven walks, and 13 strikeouts in 14 regular season games (55 plate appearances) with the Drive.
Defensively, Campbell saw playing time at second base and both corner outfield spots at his two stops this year. With Greenville specifically, the 6-foot-3, 191-pounder logged 81 innings at second base, 17 innings in left field, and nine innings in right field. He did not commit a single error and recorded one outfield assist by throwing top Rangers prospect Wyatt Langford out at second base back on August 27.
Campbell, who does not turn 22 until next June, is currently regarded by SoxProspects.com as the No. 48 prospect in Boston’s farm system. He possesses an intriguing profile based on his athleticism and power potential and is projected by the website to return to Greenville for the start of the 2024 campaign in April.
(Picture of Kristian Campbell: Gwinn Davis/Greenville Drive)
The Greenville Drive, the High-A affiliate of the Boston Red Sox, were crowned 2023 South Atlantic League champions on Tuesday night.
Playing in front of a crowd of 4,393 on a warm evening at Fluor Field, the Drive defeated the Hudson Valley Renegades (Yankees’ High-A affiliate) by a final score of 7-3 to sweep the best-of-three series and take home their first SAL title since 2017.
Greenville carried with it a 1-0 series lead heading into Tuesday’s contest after getting six scoreless innings from top pitching prospect Luis Perales and blanking Hudson Valley, 2-0, in Game 1 at Heritage Financial Park in Wappingers Falls, N.Y. on Sunday.
Dalton Rogers got the start for the Drive in Game 2. The 22-year-old left-hander went the first three innings, allowing one run on two hits, two walks, and five strikeouts. He took a shutout bid into the top of the third before giving up a two-out RBI single to Jesus Rodriguez to put the Renegades up, 1-0.
Moments after Rogers’ night came to a close, though, the Greenville bats quickly retaliated while going up against Hudson Valley starter (and Northeastern product) Cam Schlittler. Gilberto Jimenez doubled to lead off the bottom of the third and then moved up to third base on a Nick Decker single.
With no outs and runners on the corners, Eddinson Paulino delivered with a go-ahead, two-run double down the right field line to drive in both Jimenez and Decker and give the Drive a 2-1 advantage. That lead did not last long, however, as Renegades first baseman Rafael Flores led off the top of the fourth by cranking a game-tying solo home run off newly-inserted reliever Zach Penrod.
Despite the rude greeting, Penrod — who posted a 2.18 ERA in four regular season starts for Greenville — settled in nicely. The 26-year-old southpaw retired 15 of the next 16 batters he faced after giving up the homer and watched his side re-take the lead in the process of doing so.
Ronald Rosario, Penrod’s battery mate, crushed a 424-foot, go-ahead solo blast to kick off the latter half of the sixth. An inning later, Tyler Miller provided some additional insurance with a sharply-hit RBI single through the middle of the infield. Kristian Campbell then broke it open by demolishing a three-run home run to deep center field off Matt Keating, giving the Drive a commanding 7-2 edge.
Penrod put up another zero in the eighth before allowing the first two batters he faced in the ninth to reach base on a double and a walk. That prompted Greenville manager Iggy Suarez to pull Penrod and bring in closer Felix Cepeda, who emerged as a steady presence in the back end of the bullpen for the Drive after earning a promotion to Low-A Salem in mid-July.
With the victory, the Drive are now two-time South Atlantic League champions (2017, 2023). Campbell, who went 3-for-6 (.500) with one home run and four RBIs in two games, should probably be considered the MVP of this series. Penrod, meanwhile, earned the winning decision on Tuesday after striking out seven over five solid innings of relief and inducing a game-high 19 whiffs.
The Drive, who have been affiliated with the Red Sox since 2005, punched their ticket to this year’s SAL playoffs by going 36-30 and clinching a first-half division title. Despite struggling to a 27-39 record in the second half, Greenville swept the Hickory Crawdads (Rangers’ High-A affiliate) in last week’s division series and wound up marching to a perfect 4-0 in the postseason.
From start to finish, Greenville received contributions from several of Boston’s top prospects this season. Nathan Hickey, Blaze Jordan, Chase Meidroth, Marcelo Mayer, Wikelman Gonzalez, Angel Bastardo, Isaac Coffey, Grant Gambrell, Christopher Troye, and Alex Hoppe were among the talented minor-leaguers who broke camp with the Drive in the spring but earned promotions to Double-A Portland at different points throughout the year.
Mikey Romero, Cutter Coffey, and Roman Anthony (the Red Sox’ first three selections in the 2022 draft) all started in Salem this season before making the jump to Greenville. Anthony, of course, performed so well with the Drive that he was promoted to Portland earlier this month. The same can be said for catcher Kyle Teel, who — like Campbell — was drafted by Boston this summer.
Other notable prospects who played for Greenville this year include Cepeda, Perales, Rogers, Yordanny Monegro, Noah Song, Brock Bell, Reidis Sena, Brainer Bonaci, and Allan Castro.
Red Sox third baseman Rafael Devers has been named the American League Player of the Week for the week of September 11-17, Major League Baseball announced on Monday.
In seven games against the Yankees and Blue Jays, Devers went 8-for-20 (.400) with four home runs, five RBIs, five runs scored, seven walks, and two strikeouts. He was also hit by a pitch on two separate occasions in the process of reaching base in 17 of his 29 plate appearances.
Though the Red Sox went just 1-6 in that stretch, Devers is hardly to blame. After going deep twice in Boston’s final series of the year against New York at Fenway Park, the left-handed hitting slugger homered in the final two games of its series with Toronto at Rogers Centre.
On Saturday, Devers launched a two-run blast off Blue Jays starter Chris Bassitt to give his side a 2-0 lead going into the bottom of the sixth inning. The Red Sox then went on to fall to the Jays in the bottom of the 13th as a result of a softly-hit, walk-off infield single off the bat of Whit Merrifield that Devers himself could not field cleanly.
On Sunday, Devers came through in the clutch once more, this time crushing a game-tying solo shot to the opposite field off Erik Swanson with two outs in the top of the ninth. Yet again, however, the Red Sox were walked off on by the Blue Jays as Matt Chapman played hero with a game-winning triple off Garrett Whitlock in the bottom half of the frame.
Following Sunday’s performance, Devers now finds himself batting .276/.355/.521 with 34 doubles, a team-leading 33 home runs, 98 RBIs, and 87 runs scored, three stolen bases, 57 walks and 115 strikeouts in 142 games (614 plate appearances) for Boston this season. The 26-year-old is slashing a stout .350/.458/.650 in 16 games since the calendar flipped from August to September.
Among qualified big-league third basemen coming into play on Monday, Devers ranks third in homers, second in RBIs, fifth in runs scored, fourth in batting average, third in on-base percentage, second in slugging percentage, first in OPS (.876), third in isolated power (.245), second in hard-hit rate (54.5 percent), first in wOBA (.369), and second in wRC+ (130), per FanGraphs.
With 172 homers for his major-league career, Devers is currently tied with Hall of Famer Jim Rice for the most home runs by a Red Sox player before turning 27 years old. He also became the 22nd player in franchise history to record 400 career extra-base hits over the weekend and is the first to do so before his 27th birthday.
Devers, who turns 27 late next month, is the third Red Sox player to earn American League Player of the Week honors this season, joining Masataka Yoshida (May 6) and two-time winner Adam Duvall (April 1, August 26). In the National League, Devers’ fellow countryman — Padres outfielder Juan Soto — took home the award.
With hits in seven of his last nine games, Devers will look to keep things rolling as the Red Sox open a three-game series against the Rangers at Globe Life Field on Monday night. Devers is batting second and starting at third base for Boston. First pitch is scheduled for 8:05 p.m. eastern time on NESN.
(Picture of Rafael Devers: Mark Blinch/Getty Images)
Johnson, who the Red Sox traded to the Giants for fellow reliever Mauricio Llovera in late July, made two appearances for San Francisco’s Low-A affiliate in San Jose in its most-recent series against the Stockton Ports. The right-hander struck out 10 and walked only one of the 17 batters he faced over five scoreless, one-hit innings of relief.
After joining the Giants organization ahead of the trade deadline, Johnson closed out the 2023 campaign by pitching to a 0.00 ERA and 3.40 FIP with 20 strikeouts to nine walks across 11 outings (18 1/3 innings) for San Jose in which he held opposing hitters to a .145 batting average against. He also converted his lone save opportunity, which came in a 14-1 win over Stockton on Friday.
A native of California himself, Johnson was selected by the Red Sox in the 11th round of last year’s draft out of Long Beach State. He signed with Boston for $122,500, but did not make his pro debut with Low-A Salem until this April. As a member of the Salem Red Sox, the 23-year-old righty posted a 6.55 ERA with 43 strikeouts to 24 walks over 28 appearances (34 1/3 innings) out of the bullpen.
While that ERA is far from eye-popping, Johnson produced a far more favorable 3.75 FIP with Salem. He had also been pitching much better in the weeks leading up to the trade, yielding just one earned run in his final seven appearances (9 2/3 innings) for Boston’s Carolina League affiliate. It appears as though those results carried over into the California League and Johnson now has some hardware to prove it.
Standing at 6-foot-2 and 210 pounds, Johnson throws from a three-quarters arm slot and operates with a three-pitch mix that consists of a 93-96 mph fastball that tops out at 98 mph and features high spin rates, an 83-85 mph slider, and an 86-88 mph changeup, per his SoxProspects.com scouting report.
Johnson, who does not turn 24 until next July, possesses intriguing potential if he can further refine his control and command of the strike zone. And while San Jose’s regular season is over, the Giants are slated to open a three-game playoff series on the road against the Modesto Nuts on Tuesday.
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