Unknown Red Sox Prospect Leads Minor Leagues In Home Runs

There has been no shortage of power from Boston Red Sox prospect Nick Northcut this season.

Northcut is not one of the highly-touted prospects gaining league-wide attention, but he deserves some. The corner infielder, who has split time evenly between first and third base, has been absolutely hammering pitchers this season.

“Nick Northcut hit his fourth homer in two days for High-A Greenville, and he now has 20 homers for the season, tying Moisés Gómez and Kerry Carpenter for the minor league lead,” The Boston Globe’s Alex Speier tweeted Saturday.

The 22-year-old slugger is hitting .229 with six doubles and 45 RBI along with the aforementioned long balls. His average and 77-to-10 strikeout-to-walk ratio is concerning, but his power is a tool that MLB clubs are desperately searching for, especially in today’s era of baseball.

As an 11th-round pick (No. 340) in the 2018 MLB Draft by the Red Sox, Northcut has flown under the radar heading into the season. He’s jumped up to the No. 60 prospect on Sox Prospects after previously being unranked, but is still far from a top prospect.

His contact numbers are not extremely encouraging but he’s already surpassed his previous season’s home run total and has notably increased his pop year-over-year. After hitting three home runs combined in his first two seasons of professional baseball, he exploded for 17 a year ago. Now, he’s on pace to make that number look like a brief glimpse of his true abilities.

If his contact rates can increase at a similar rate, he’ll make his way up the pipeline in no time.