Expect Gilberto Jimenez to flash some leather once he reaches Boston.
MLB.com’s Jim Callis, Jonathan Mayo and Mike Rosenbaum named the Red Sox prospect as the best defensive player in the team’s farm system Thursday. Jimenez starred with the Single-A Lowell Spinners in 2019, and excitement over his skills only will grow if he continues to progress against higher-level competition.
“Jimenez has 70-80 speed on the 20-80 scouting scale and covers a lot of ground in center field, where he has improved his reads and routes in two seasons as a pro,” Callis, Mayo and Rosenbaum wrote. “A $10,000 bargain signed out of the Dominican Republic in 2017, he skipped a level last year and won the short-season New York-Penn League batting title (.359) in his U.S. debut.”
MLB.com’s glowing review of Jimenez’s defensive prowess is among the reasons why the website named him earlier this month as the Red Sox prospect “set to break out” in the 2020 season.
Of course the 19-year-old speedster has plenty of work to do in order to convince the Red Sox to tab him as their center fielder of the future. Besides, Boston already has a Gold Glove-winning player at that position in Jackie Bradley Jr.
