As the 2020 Major League Baseball season approaches, the future is beginning to look brighter for the Boston Red Sox.
Spring training games are underway, and they’ll offer fans a look at some of the organization’s top prospects. The Athletic’s Keith Law on Monday released his top 100 prospects for 2020, and two Red Sox farmhands landed on the list: Jeter Downs at No. 70 and Triston Casas at No. 90.
Here’s what Law wrote about Downs, a middle infielder acquired in the trade that sent Mookie Betts and David Price to the Los Angeles Dodgers:
Downs was part of the big trade that sent Alex Wood and Yasiel Puig to the Reds a year ago, just a year and a half after the Reds took him with the 32nd overall pick in the 2018 draft. He took a big leap forward with the Dodgers last year, leading the California League in doubles (with 33) and homers (with 19) at age 20, even though he was promoted to Double A for the last two weeks of the season — and hit five more homers there. He’s really not a shortstop, but should be above-average at second base or third. And the power he’s shown now, especially after the Dodgers helped him better understand how to manipulate the barrel to drive the ball when he gets the right pitch, will play anywhere. Even after an awful April where he hit .213/.276/.371, he showed no panic at the plate and kept improving his approach, making swing adjustments as the season went on. He’d probably be a star if he could handle shortstop as an everyday player, but even at second or third he should be an above-average regular for a long time.
Here’s what Law wrote about Casas, a corner infielder drafted by the Red Sox in the first round in 2018:
Casas was Boston’s first-rounder in 2018 out of a Florida high school and spent 2019 in Low A, where he hit .256/.350/.480 at age 19, good for fifth in all of Low A in slugging percentage. Casas has a solid swing where he can get to real power when he rotates his hips, but he can get locked up on pitches up the zone. He has a real two-strike approach, similar to Juan Soto’s, where he widens his stance substantially and chokes up on the bat to go for contact, which also reduces his power. He has a very good eye for his age, and his approach gets him into a lot of counts where he can hit for power, giving reason to think he’ll get to 30-plus homers in time. He started the season by trying to hit from an extreme crouch, resulting in a .208/.284/.364 line in April, but went on a tear after reverting to his usual stance, showing the power and patience required to profile as at least an above-average regular at first base.
While there’s no promise either will reach the majors in 2020, there’s plenty of optimism surrounding these two Red Sox prospects moving forward.
