June 23, 2016 at 10:40 AM
Sources: Mauricio Dubon promoted to Portland
SoxProspects.com Executive Editor Chris Hatfield is reporting that shortstop Mauricio Dubon (pictured) has been promoted to Double-A Portland following his appearance in Tuesday's Carolina-California League All-Star Game. He will join the recently promoted Yoan Moncada as well as outfielder Andrew Benintendi who both had strong starts to the year at Salem with Dubon. He becomes the fourth player to make the jump from Salem to Portland this week, joining Moncada, right-hander Ben Taylor, and left-hander Jalen Beeks, who is expected to also officially be called up today to start for the Sea Dogs.
Now ranked the 12th best prospect in the system in the SoxProspects.com rankings (and likely poised to rise even higher in next week's rankings update), Dubon's stock has been on the rise since 2014 when he began putting up impressive numbers in Lowell. He finally broke into the top 20 in the rankings midway through last year, a season where he hit .288/.349/.376 with 30 steals split between Greenville and Salem.
He returned to Salem to start the year, and yet at 21 years old, he was still a year-and-a-half below the average age for a position player in the Carolina League. Dubon has always hit for average as a career .298 hitter, and this year is no different, hitting .306/.387/.379 over 238 at-bats with a good approach producing more walks (33) than strikeouts (25). The .306 average is good for third in the Carolina League, and the on-base percentage ranks sixth. Speed has also continued to be a huge part of his game, stealing 24 bases in 28 attempts, sixth best in the league.
Dubon was selected as a Carolina League all-star this year and showed off the skills that have earned him the promotion in Tuesday's showcase. Starting at shortstop and batting third, he went 1-for-2 with a single, two RBI, and a stolen base as the Carolina League All-Stars went on to defeat the California League All-Stars by a final score of 6-4.
Dubon should immediately settle in as the starting shortstop for Portland, taking over the job from Tzu-Wei Lin who has only hit .233/.299/.311 over his first 55 games.
Photo Credit: Mauricio Dubon by Kelly O'Connor.
Will Woodward is a Senior Staff Writer for SoxProspects.com. Follow him on Twitter @SPWill.