2011 Draft Retrospective: The picks

We welcome you to the 2011 edition of the SoxProspects.com Draft Retrospective series. Over the next several weeks, we will revisit each Red Sox draft going back to the start of the SoxProspects.com era. Each retrospective will come in two parts: The first will be a pick-by-pick recap of each selection with very brief comments, including their peak rank on the SoxProspects.com Top 60, as well as some of the notable players the team passed on to make those picks. Players who signed are in bold, those who did not are in italics. Bonus numbers are included where available.

Fans did not know it at the time, but the 2011 draft was the end of an era. In November 2011, Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association announced a new collective bargaining agreement that changed the draft landscape for the foreseeable future. Starting in 2012, teams would be subject to a bonus pool that was determined by draft position and number of picks, with severe penalties if a team exceeded their pool by any significant amount. The 2011 draft was Boston's last chance to flex its financial muscle.

Read full post ...

Weekly Notes: Draft retrospective series continues, Mata impresses

Here are Monday's minor league notes:

• Over the past couple of weeks, the SoxProspects.com team has broken down and reflected on the drafts from 2008, 2009, and 2010. Check out each year's "The Picks" post, which includes a pick-by-pick recap of each player taken. The Sox drafted 52 players in 2008, 50 in 2009, and another 52 in 2010. The most notable players selected in these three years were Brandon Workman, who is the big league team's current closer, and Christian Vazquez, who is following up his great 2019 season with a hot start to 2020.
• The second part of the Draft Retrospective series is a more in-depth analysis of each draft. The 2008 piece focused on the lack of MLB production from the players the team drafted and signed that year, as well as a look at the team's decision to take six catchers in this draft. The Sox also used a handful of players in this draft to trade for major league players. The 2009 portion highlighted Jason McLeod's final draft as the team's Scouting Director. It also highlighted the lack of talent this draft had, as only three selections in this draft even made it into the SoxProspects.com's Top 10. The 2010 draft was the first for Amiel Sawdaye as Scouting Director, and the team ended up missing out on some terrific players, as the 2010 draft was loaded with talent. 

Read full post ...

Revisiting the 2010 draft: The great draft that wasn't

Thank you for checking in on the newest entry in our draft retrospective series. Yesterday was a pick-by-pick rundown of 2009, while today we will dig a little deeper into a few of the more interesting and prominent draftees. For a quick list and links to player pages, check out our Draft History page.

2010 Draft

Background

Ten years gone, the 2010 draft as a whole looks like one of baseball’s best. Bryce Harper was seen as an exceptional talent at number one, but additional first-rounders such as Manny Machado, Chris Sale, and Christian Yelich emerged as franchise players. With four picks in the first two rounds, including three of the first 39 overall, Red Sox were in an excellent position to bounce back from a pair of weak draft crops. Under new scouting director Amiel Sawdaye, Boston turned to an approach that had historically served them well: a focus on polished college players.

Read full post ...

Scouting Report Updates: Triston Casas, Brayan Bello and more

The latest SoxProspects scouting report update sheds light on members of last year's Greenville Drive and Salem Red Sox, including number one prospect Triston Casas and number twenty-two prospect Brayan Bello. Other reports updated today include Eduard Bazardo, who made a solid impression in major league spring training this year, and 2017 second-round pick Cole Brannen.

SoxProspects.com scouting reports are written by our scouting report team, led by Director of Scouting Ian Cundall.

Triston Casas, First Baseman

Physical Description: Strong, imposing frame. Thick, fully developed lower half. Some remaining projection in his upper body, but strong already. Will have to work to maintain body and athleticism. Very long limbs.

Hit: Starts slightly open in a slight crouch. Quiet pre-pitch. Utilizes a leg lift timing device and gets his foot down in time. Easy load, hips really fire through. Plus bat speed; whips the bat through the zone. Smooth, fluid swing, especially given his size. Strong feel for hit for a high school draftee. Utilizes all fields. Will always have some swing-and-miss and holes in his swing. Has shown willingness to try adjustments to swing and to abandon them if they are not working. Will widen his stance and choke up on the bat with two strikes. Potential to develop strong plate discipline skills in the future. Needs to continue to refine approach and pitch recognition, but has the potential to develop an above-average hit tool.

Read full post ...

2010 Draft Retrospective: The picks

We welcome you to the 2010 edition of the SoxProspects.com Draft Retrospective series. Over the next several weeks, we will revisit each Red Sox draft going back to the start of the SoxProspects.com era. Each retrospective will come in two parts: The first will be a pick-by-pick recap of each selection with very brief comments, including their peak rank on the SoxProspects.com Top 60, as well as some of the notable players the team passed on to make those picks. Players who signed are in bold, those who did not are in italics. Bonus numbers are included where available. 

The 2010 draft was the first of the Amiel Sawdaye era, as he took over as Amateur Scouting Director when Jason McLeod left to become Assistant GM in San Diego under Jed Hoyer. The Red Sox were in the midst of a frustrating, injury-plagued 2010 season, but had the chance to restock a farm system that was now very depleted due to graduations, injuries, and a pair of less-than distinguished drafts. As in 2005 and 2006, the Red Sox used the free-agent compensation rules to their advantage, netting three of the top 39 picks of a draft that observers saw as being very deep. The team shifted its focus back to college talent, using its top four picks on college players. While it was a strategy that generally served the team well throughout the SoxProspects.com era, it resulted in some heartbreaking misses this season.

For a quick list and links to player pages, check out our Draft History page. 

1 (20). Kolbrin Vitek. 3B, Ball State

Bonus: $1,359,000

With the pick the Red Sox got for the loss of Type A free agent Billy Wagner, they made Vitek their top pick after a monster career at Ball State. As will be discussed in greater detail tomorrow, it was an exceedingly rare miss by the player development staff on a college bat, a type of pick they have generally done quite well with this century. Vitek was falling dangerously into tweener territory with solid on-base numbers but insufficient power to man a position where his bat would’ve been expected to carry him, but a back strain and bursitis in his shoulder halted his development and he retired before the 2014 season.  

SoxProspects.com peak rank: #6

Notable players passed on: Christian Yelich (23)

Read full post ...

Revisiting the 2009 draft: McLeod era ends with a thud

Thank you for checking in on the newest entry in our draft retrospective series. Yesterday was a pick-by-pick rundown of 2009, while today we will dig a little deeper into a few of the more interesting and prominent draftees. For a quick list and links to player pages, check out our Draft History page.

2009 MLB Draft

Background

The 2009 campaign started to mark what seemed to be a transitional season for the organization. The major league team continued to excel, winning 95 games and reaching the playoffs once again. However, the unceremonious loss to the Angels in the Division Series that fall marked the end of a seven-year stretch in which the Red Sox made the playoffs six times. Over the next six years, the team would make the playoffs only once: The odd, fluky, magical 2013 championship season. The farm system, so strong in the winter following the 2007 championship, had thinned considerably due to graduations and trades. Back-to-back mediocre drafts and some awful luck helped continue that slide.

Read full post ...

2009 Draft Retrospective: The picks

We welcome you to the 2009 edition of the SoxProspects.com Draft Retrospective series. Over the next several weeks, we will revisit each draft going back to the start of the SoxProspects.com era. Each retrospective will come in two parts: The first will be a pick-by-pick recap of each selection with very brief comments, including their peak rank on the SoxProspects.com Top 60, as well as some of the notable players the team passed on to make those picks. Players who signed are in bold, those who did not are in italics. Bonus numbers are included where available.

2008 and this draft, 2009, can be seen as the "boring" part of the history of Red Sox drafts during the SoxProspects.com era. They lack notable misses, but they also lack nearly any hits. They didn't alter the direction of the franchise positively (like 2011) or negatively (like 2013). The 2009 class is headlined now by the second-round pick, Alex Wilson, who went on to have a roughly four-year stretch as a good-to-very good setup man for the Tigers. Otherwise, any value from these players came in trades, and many of those (in addition to deals for Adrian Gonzalez and Andrew Bailey/Ryan Sweeney discussed in earlier entries) were for names you probably forgot once graced the Red Sox roster: Mike Aviles, Matt Thornton, Alex Castellanos. No prospect drafted in 2009 ever ranked higher than ninth on the SoxProspects rankings.

But that doesn't mean there aren't plenty of interesting stories to tell. There's a college pitcher who the team learned it liked better as a hitter when following him that summer for the purpose of determining what kind of bonus to offer him. There are relatives of Carlos Beltran and Daniel Bard (and current Red Sox stalwart John Andreoli). There's another draftee named Blaze, even. And to top it off, an undrafted free agent who came in to work as a Lowell backup and wound up making it to the Bigs. And as we'll get to in our second part, it was the close of Jason McLeod's tenure as scouting director.

For a quick list and links to player pages, check out our Draft History page.

1 (28). Reymond Fuentes, OF, Fernando Callejo HS (P.R.)

Bonus: $1,134,000

While the Red Sox did not pass on Mike Trout like 22 other teams did (with some passing twice), reports are that if Fuentes and Trout were both on the board at pick 28, the Red Sox would have selected Fuentes. The cousin of Carlos Beltran, Fuentes had a huge amount of helium leading up to the draft, and it was no secret that the Red Sox were enamored with his tools. With plus-plus speed, excellent contact skills, and wiry strength, the Red Sox fell in love with his upside. After hitting .270/.328/.377 with 42 steals in Low A as a 19-year-old in 2010, Fuentes was traded along with Casey Kelly and Anthony Rizzo to San Diego in exchange for Adrian Gonzalez that offseason. He made his major league debut with the Padres in 2013, but he hit only .152 in 33 at-bats. He spent most of the next three years in the minors with some success, but he never hit more than 10 home runs in a season despite playing in some of the most hitter-friendly environments in professional baseball. He got the most run in the majors with Arizona in 2017, hitting .235/.278/.338, and by 2019 he was playing with Long Island in the Atlantic League. 

SoxProspects.com Peak Rank: 10

Notable players passed on: James Paxton (37), Tyler Skaggs (40), Garrett Richards (42)

Read full post ...

Podcast Episode #187: Happy Season Eve

Baseball games are starting at last. Chris and Ian drop in to set the stage for this most unusual of seasons. They lead off with the latest additions for the club. Welcome to Boston, Dylan Covey and Zack Godley. Then the guys go deep on the difficult decisions in staffing the big league club. The last draft signings were officially announced. And finally, news out of Los Angeles, Mookie Betts has a contract extension in place that will enable him to finish his career in Dodger Blue. And we conclude with more of your terrific emails.

Read full post ...

Revisiting the 2008 draft: A small step back

Thank you for checking in on the newest entry in our draft retrospective series. Yesterday was a pick-by-pick rundown of 2008, while today we will dig a little deeper into a few of the more interesting and prominent draftees. For a quick list and links to player pages, check out our Draft History page.

2008 MLB Draft

Background

The Red Sox won their first World Series in a long three years in 2007, leading the team to pick at the back end of the draft. While Boston is typically active in the free agent market, Theo Epstein took a different approach and focused on bringing the band back together for 2008, re-signing Curt Schilling, Mike Lowell and Doug Mirabelli, in addition to picking up the options for Tim Wakefield and Julian Tavarez. Matt Clement and Eric Gagne were the only major league free agents to depart the squad and only Gagne was a Type A or B free agent, netting the Red Sox the No. 45 overall pick in the first supplemental round. Boston also did not sign Hunter Morris, its third-round pick in 2007, which gave the organization the No. 85 overall pick.

Read full post ...

2008 Draft Retrospective: The picks

We welcome you to the 2008 edition of the SoxProspects.com Draft Retrospective series. Over the next several weeks, we will revisit each draft going back to the start of the SoxProspects.com era. Each retrospective will come in two parts: The first will be a pick-by-pick recap of each selection with very brief comments, including their peak rank on the SoxProspects.com Top 60, as well as some of the notable players the team passed on to make those picks. Players who signed are in bold, those who did not are in italics. Bonus numbers are included where available.

The Red Sox won the World Series for the second time in four seasons in 2007, meaning the team would select at the end of each round. With young talent like Dustin Pedroia and Jonathan Papelbon and veterans including Daisuke Matsuzaka and Josh Beckett under team control for the foreseeable future, the team was largely ready to stand pat into the new season, not losing any picks to free agent signings. This left Theo Epstein and Co. a full stable of picks, including two compensatory selections, to stock the minor league system.

For a quick list and links to player pages, check out our Draft History page.

1 (30). Casey Kelly, RHP/SS Sarasota HS (Fla.)
Bonus: $2,631,000
Kelly (pictured, above) tore up area hitters as a high school senior and showed ability with the bat as well. While the club preferred him as a pitcher, the player preferred hitting, so the Red Sox came up with a unique development plan that allowed him to split his season between the two in 2009 (after only hitting after signing in 2008, mostly to rest his arm). He moved to the mound full-time for the 2010 campaign after having far more success as a pitcher the prior season, and the 20-year-old was challenged with an assignment to Double-A Portland. Kelly battled the level to a draw, posting a 5.35 ERA while striking out 81 in 95 innings, before he was dealt to San Diego along with Anthony Rizzo, Reymond Fuentes, and Eric Patterson to acquire Adrian Gonzalez. The right-hander struggled in the major leagues through 85 2/3 innings between 2012 and 2018, with a Tommy John surgery in 2013 for good measure, Kelly has found greater success abroad, carving out a role for himself for the LG Twins in the Korean Baseball Organization, where he is in his second season.
SoxProspects.com Peak Rank: 1
Baseball America Top 100: 24 in 2010; 31 in 2011; 76 in 2012; 45 in 2013
MLB.com Top 100: 50 in 2012; 69 in 2013; 87 in 2014
Notable players passed on: Jake Odorizzi (32), Conor Gillaspie (37), Lance Lynn (39)

Read full post ...

Weekly Notes: Baseball set to return & 2007 draft retrospective

Here are Monday's minor league notes:

• The new draft retrospective series kept rolling this week covering the 2007 draft. The first part covered all the draft picks, detailing every Red Sox pick, from University of Washington righty Nick Hagadone with the 55th overall pick to Liberty University outfielder Garrett Young in the 46th round. Overall, the Red Sox selected 47 players, signed 28, four of them turned into Baseball America Top 100 Prospects, and six players who signed went on to play in the major league.
• The second part focused on some overarching themes from the 2007 draft. This included a focus on players who were drafted - first baseman Anthony Rizzo (pictured, above) who signed and catcher Yasmani Grandal who didn't - who turned into future stars. Other narratives were on the developmental success of the 2007 Red Sox high school draft selections, draftees who went on to be top prospects in third baseman Will Middlebrooks and right-hander Drake Britton, and high school starters who developed into good relievers with Ryan Pressly and Hunter Strickland.

Read full post ...

Revisiting the 2007 draft: Anthony Rizzo & success with mid-round prep players

Thank you for checking in on the newest entry in our draft retrospective series. Yesterday was a pick-by-pick rundown of 2007, while today we will dig a little deeper into a few of the more interesting and prominent draftees. For a quick list and links to player pages, check out our Draft History page.

2007 MLB Draft

Background

It was too early to know that the 2005 and 2006 drafts would be successful ones for the Red Sox, but Scouting Director Jason McLeod had to know the task would be tougher in 2007 after the Red Sox sacrificed their first-round pick to sign shortstop Julio Lugo. The departure of free agents Alex Gonzalez and Keith Foulke in free agency did help to offset this loss, netting two supplemental round picks. Gonzalez hit .245/.286/.401 over the rest of his career and Foulke, made expendable by Jonathan Papelbon's breakout 2006 season, threw only 31 more innings for the Athletics before retiring. The class's depth took another hit when second-round pick Hunter Morris went unsigned after disagreements on pre-draft agreement. 

Read full post ...

2007 Draft Retrospective: The picks

We welcome you to the 2007 edition of the SoxProspects.com Draft Retrospective series. Over the next several weeks, we will revisit each Red Sox draft going back to the start of the SoxProspects.com era. Each retrospective will come in two parts: The first will be a pick-by-pick recap of each selection with very brief comments, including their peak rank on the SoxProspects.com Top 60, as well as some of the notable players the team passed on to make those picks. Players who signed are in bold, those who did not are in italics. Bonus numbers are included where available.

After strong seasons in 2003-2005, the Red Sox had their first sub-par year in 2006, finishing the season 86-76 and third in the AL East with a team focused on newly acquired third baseman Mike Lowell and right-hander Josh Beckett. After getting sub-par performances out of Alex Gonzalez and Alex Cora, the Red Sox made a move in free agency, signing 30-year-old Julio Lugo. That series of moves combined with prospect promotions would build the foundation for yet another World Series Championship team.

Lugo had strong years with Tampa before being traded to the Dodgers, but the move cost the Red Sox the 20th overall pick in the 2007 draft. However, the Red Sox were also able to add two supplemental round picks as a result of Gonzalez signing with the Cincinnati Reds and Keith Foulke signing with the Cleveland Indians. Those moves will be discussed more in tomorrow's part two of our look back at the 2007 draft. 

For a quick list and links to player pages, check out our Draft History page.

1 (20). (Pick surrendered as compensation for signing Julio Lugo)
This was the only pick surrendered in 2007 as they moved towards what would be a World Series Championship team. This pick went to the Los Angeles Dodgers who selected Chris Withrow, a right-handed pitcher out of Midland Christian High School (Texas).
Notable players missed out on: Rick Porcello (27), Todd Frazier (34), Brett Cecil (38), Sean Doolittle (41), Josh Donaldson (48).

1s (55). Nick Hagadone, LHP Washington
Bonus: $571,500

Hagadone (pictured, right) was selected in the 36th round by Seattle in 2004, but really didn't see his stock skyrocket until his junior year with Washington, where he added velocity and refined his mechanics. Despite pitching mostly out of the bullpen while at Washington, the Red Sox drafted Hagadone with the intention of turning him into a starter. He was initially very successful, dominating at stops at Lowell and Greenville before being traded to the Indians as part of a package for Victor Martinez. He made his major league debut in 2011, and overall threw 118 innings out of the bullpen through 2015 with a 4.72 ERA.
SoxProspects.com peak rank: 6
Baseball America Top 100: 44 in 2010.
Notable players passed on: N/A

Read full post ...

Minor Notes: Draft Retrospectives continue; Rankings updated

Here are Monday's minor league notes:

• On July 3, the rankings on SoxProspects.com were updated, with some significant movement for several players. The main piece of the update was the inclusion of the 2020 draft class, but that was far from the only major change. Executive Editor Chris Hatfield outlined the thought process behind the re-rank which helps give readers some more insight to process and help interpret some of the big moves. 

• Chris and Ian talked more about the rankings update on the most recent episode of the SoxProspects.com Podcast, while also covering some other relevant news and answering some interesting mailbag questions. 

Read full post ...

Revisiting the 2006 draft: Josh Reddick and the heartbreakers

Thank you for checking in on the newest entry in our draft retrospective series. Yesterday was a pick-by-pick rundown of 2006, while today we will dig a little deeper into a few of the more interesting and prominent draftees. For a quick list and links to player pages, check out our Draft History page.

2006 MLB Draft

Background

Depending on your perspective, 2006 could be regarded as either outstanding or disappointing, one of the best drafts, talent-wise, in team history, or a huge missed opportunity. The Red Sox again had a bevy of high draft picks due to free agent departures, with four picks in the top 44 and seven of the top 103, giving them a shot to replicate the franchise-altering 2005 edition. On top of that, the team had a newfound commitment to spending money later in the draft on players who dropped due to signability issues rather than talent. 

The influx of talent to a system that had already greatly improved its regard in the game was immense. Boston signed only 29 players that it drafted, but 16 of those received six-figure deals, and nine signed for more than $400,000. For comparison’s sake, due to the capped pool system implemented in 2012, the team signed nine players to deals worth more than $400,000 in the 2018 and 2019 drafts combined.

Read full post ...