After a week away, we are back for another look at the top prospects in the Red Sox’ system, including a glimpse at a red-hot Ryan Kalish and a debut for recent top pick Kolbrin Vitek.
- 1
Last week: No. 1
Casey Kelly, RHP
The struggles continue to dog Kelly, who has an 8.38 ERA over his last four starts and has seen opponents raise their batting average against him to .307 for the season. Included in the latest rough patch is five home runs allowed in 19 1/3 innings.
The organization, however, has seen plenty of progress and believes the statistics mean little.
“In a lot of the outings, the stuff has been electric,” Red Sox Director of Player Development Mike Hazen recently told the Providence Journal. “There’s been a lot of things that have happened in almost every outing that has skewed the stat line.
“This guy is a click away from dominating.”
Indeed, Kelly shows flashes of dominance in most outings but simply gets done in by a bad inning or a rough sequence. He has struck out 21 over the 19 1/3-inning span, and his stuff has been there all along. The 20-year-old will one day benefit from these mild bumps in the road.
- 2
Last week: No. 2
Ryan Kalish, OF
If you have not caught wind of Kalish’s recent hot streak, take in these impressive numbers from his last eight games: 17-for-33 (.515), three doubles, three walks, eight runs scored, 5-for-5 in stolen base attempts.
It is a run made even more impressive because it began one game after Kalish came off the disabled list. There have been seven multi-hit efforts in the streak, including Thursday’s 4-for-5 performance against Rochester.
With numbers like these, the 22-year-old could get a call-up before September, if and when the Red Sox need more reinforcements in the outfield.
- 3
Last week: No. 3
Lars Anderson, 1B
The massive slump Anderson endured in June has been left behind. He is hitting .292 (7-for-24) with four doubles, four RBIs and five walks over his last seven games. Even more encouraging is that some of his recent success has come against left-handers, against whom Anderson was completely ineffective after his promotion to Triple-A Pawtucket.
At one point with the PawSox, the 22-year-old was hitting .048 (2-for-42) with 18 strikeouts vs. southpaws, but since he has gone 5-for-11 (.455) with just one K.
- 4
Last week: No. 4
Anthony Rizzo, 1B
Rizzo has a modest six-game hitting streak heading into the weekend, during which he is hitting .333 (8-for-24). After a little bit of a rough patch in June, Rizzo, 20, has posted a batting average of .297 and an OPS of .813 in the month of July.
- 5
Last week: No. 6
Felix Doubront, LHP
While rumors have surfaced that Doubront will be a candidate to take a role in the Red Sox’ struggling bullpen, he remains with the big club. The young lefty allowed two runs in 5 2/3 innings in a 3-2 loss to Tampa Bay in his second major league start and may be available for a relief stint over the weekend before the All-Star break.
If and when he returns to Pawtucket, Doubront will resume work on his 3-2 record and 2.36 ERA with the PawSox.
- 6
Last week: No. 5
Jose Iglesias, SS
Out since May 29 with a broken right hand, Iglesias is slated to resume baseball activities soon. The injury was mostly a concern when he needed to throw, so this is a good sign. Stay tuned.
- 7
Last week: No. 8
Luis Exposito, C
Like Rizzo, Exposito has maintained a consistent, if not spectacular, pace at the dish of late. He is hitting .289 with eight RBIs over his last 10 games and remains third in the Eastern League in RBIs with 61 even though the power has yet to completely arrive — Exposito has six home runs on the year.
- 8
Last week: No. 9
Stolmy Pimentel, RHP
One issue for Pimentel this year has been a lack of consistency. He has twice thrown six no-hit innings in a start and then has been hit hard in other outings, including three starts ago when he gave up nine runs in 2 1/3 innings.
At the very least, the 20-year-old righty has been a bit more even of late. He has given up three runs on five hits in each of his last two starts.
Keep an eye on Pimentel on Sunday when he represents the Red Sox in the Futures Game at Anaheim.
- 9
Last week: No. 7
Josh Reddick, OF
Perhaps the three trips up to Boston and back down to Triple-A have hampered Reddick a bit, as he simply cannot get it going. Although he went 5-for-12 over a three-game stretch this week, the 23-year-old is still batting just .212 and has only two extra-base hits (both doubles) this month.
With the way Kalish has been playing aside Reddick, and with Daniel Nava’s big splash in Boston, Reddick, the player once considered by some to be the top positional prospect in the system, has been completely overshadowed in 2010.
- 10
Last week: NR
Kolbrin Vitek, 2B/3B
We reserved the last spot for the debut on the list of Vitek, the team’s top pick from the June draft who is currently starring for the Lowell Spinners. After going 4-for-5 with three doubles on Friday night, the Ball State product is batting .279 in 20 games since signing with the organization.
Vitek, who will be featured at the Futures at Fenway event Saturday, has also drawn an impressive 15 walks and is 5-for-5 in stolen base attempts with the Spinners. The 21-year-old figures to have what it takes to climb this list.
Dropped out: Reymond Fuentes, OF
