April 6, 2023 at 11:00 AM
2023 SoxProspects Pre-Season All-Stars Pt. 1 - Position Players
The 2023 Triple-A campaign is underway and the rest of the full-season league, and the SoxProspects.com team has chosen its annual slate of All-Stars. The class represents a large turnover from the 2022 class, with only five players (two pitchers and three position players) repeating honors. We begin with the position players, with all nine players ranking among the top 20 prospects in the system.
A fifth-round pick in 2021, Hickey repeats his spot as the catcher on the All-Star squad after a strong 2022 campaign. He hit .271/.429/.507 in an initial assignment to Salem, following that up with a .252/.397/.539 after his June promotion to Greenville. He tallied 18 doubles and 16 homers between the two levels while working a 19.2 percent walk rate. Hickey returns to the Drive to start 2023, where his pop and advanced approach should lead to continued strong production. He is currently ranked 19th in the system.
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For the first time since 2018, this spot is filled by someone other than Triston Casas. Kavadas, sitting immediately behind Hickey at 20th in the system's rankings, was probably the system's top offensive performer in 2022. The Notre Dame product hit .280/.443/.547 across the three levels, leading the system in OBP, slugging, walks (102), and RBI (86). Kavadas produced one of the best months the system has seen when he hit .390/.529/1.026 with 14 homers in June. He was challenged more after a late-season promotion to Portland, where he is back to begin the 2023 season.
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Paulino was a 2022 post-season All-Star in the utility position, but he figures to spend the bulk of his time in 2023 at the second base position. It was an adjustment to full-season ball for Paulino, but he began to heat up in May and spent the rest of the year as one of the organization's most consistent players. He finished the season strong, reaching base in his final 36 games (.329/.424/.555). Paulino, Marcelo Mayer, and the Mets' Alex Ramirez were the only teenagers with at least 30 doubles, 10 triples, and 15 steals. Paulino opens 2023 as the organization's 10th-ranked prospect.
Like Paulino, Lugo was a shortstop by trade who figures to spend 2023 at another spot on the infield. Bigger than the rest of the shortstop crew, the 2019 second-round pick has the arm and lateral movement tools to potentially excel at the hot corner. Despite a consistent spot in the organization's top-30 rankings, this marks Lugo's first appearance as a pre-season All-Star. This follows his best professional campaign, as he hit .288/.344/.500 with Greenville before going 1 for 12 in a late cup of coffee with Portland. He is currently ranked 13th in the system.
The fourth overall pick in the 2021 draft, Mayer is the top-ranked player in the system and a consensus top-15 player in the game. The 20-year-old doesn't have an obvious standout tool, but he does everything well and many things very well, combining a potential plus hit too, solid power, an advanced plate approach, strong shortstop defense, and high baseball IQ that has endeared him to coaches and scouts. Assigned to Salem to start 2022, he hit .286/.406/.504 in 66 games, including a 1.077 OPS in his final 30 contests at the level. He started 1 for 18 with six strikeouts in his first four games following an early-August promotion to the Drive but went 3 for 4 on August 13 and went on to finish .265/.379/.449 in High A.
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The SoxProspects.com 2022 Player of the Year earns his first pre-season All-Star recognition. Rafaela was known primarily for his defense prior to last season, but he had a breakout campaign at the plate to vault into the national conversation. He raked in his initial assignment to Greenville, hitting .330/.368/.594 and getting promoted to Double-A after just 209 plate appearances. He held strong against the more advanced pitching, delivering a .278/.324/.500 slash line. Across the two levels, he hit 32 doubles, blasted 21 homers, and stole 28 bases. Rafaela had appeared in more of a utility role lower in the minors but saw over 80 percent of his starts come as a center fielder, where he flourished. Ranked 4th in the system, he will return to Portland to continue to fine-tune his approach at the plate.
Still just 19, Bleis saw notable time with the big league club in spring training after an electric stateside debut in 2022. Bleis appeared in 40 games in the Florida Complex League, hitting .301/.353/.543 with 14 doubles, five homers, and 18 steals on his way to being recognized by Baseball America as the top player in the league. Signed to a $1.5 million bonus in January 2021, Bleis shows all five tools and presents arguably the highest upside of any player in the system. He begins the year as a consensus top-100 prospect and the third-ranked player in the system.
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Anthony joins Bleis to give the Salem outfield two out of the three spots on this list. The only member of the 2022 draft class to earn pre-season All-Star honors, Anthony will attempt to build upon an impressive pro debut. He arrived with unquestionable power but some concern about his hit tool, but none of that concern showed in a quick visit to the FCL. Anthony went 15 for 35 in his quick 10-game jaunt to the level, striking out just four times. The Carolina League presented a bit more of a challenge, as he went just 7 for 37, but the contact proclivity continued, as he drew more walks (5) than strikeouts (4). He is knocking on the door of the top ten prospects in the system, currently sitting in the 11th spot.
There are questions about where on the field Valdez will fit, but the hope is that his bat forces its way into the lineup somewhere. Acquired at the trade deadline in the deal that sent Christian Vazquez to Houston, Valdez was in the midst of a breakout campaign at the plate. Across three teams and two levels, he hit .296/.376/.542 with 35 doubles, 28 homers, and 107 driven in. Added to the 40-man roster in the offseason, Valdez saw significant time in major league spring training, going 6 for 28 with a pair of homers. The only Worcester position player to earn All-Star recognition, Valdez is currently ranked 15th in the system.
Photo Credit: All photos by Kelly O'Connor