Jeter Downs is finishing the season strong.
Downs, who joined the Red Sox organization in 2020 as part of the Mookie Betts trade, began his first full year in the system ranked pretty high on some evaluator’s boards. In February, ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel had him as the No. 42 prospect across Major League Baseball and estimated he would debut in Boston this season.
But Downs didn’t quite live up to the hype. He entered Saturday’s game hitting a meager .179 with 123 strikeouts and just 33 RBIs through 91 games with Triple-A Worcester — and that’s including the two home runs he launched this week.
That said, the 23-year-old hit his third home run in four games Saturday as the WooSox shut out the Syracuse Mets 4-0. His second-inning blast opened the scoring and gave Worcester a 1-0 lead.
Hopefully Downs can carry this momentum into 2022.
