October 2, 2023 at 7:00 AM
2023 SoxProspects.com All-Stars: Position Players
Welcome to the 2023 SoxProspects.com Awards week! Over the next five days, we will present our annual awards on the news page, recognizing the standout performers from the season. The schedule will be as follows:
Monday: All-Star position players
Tuesday: All-Star pitchers
Wednesday: Graduate of the Year; Homegrown Player of the Year; Ex-Prospect of the Year
Thursday: Rookie of the Year; Breakout Player of the Year; Comeback Player of the Year
Friday: Player of the Year; Pitcher of the Year
We kick things off with the position players selected by the SoxProspects.com staff for their All-Star performances. While we consider factors such as age advancement and opponent quality, these awards recognize the players' in-game performances rather than a commentary on any status as a prospect. While injuries kept players like Marcelo Mayer and Miguel Bleis from reaching All-Star status, several other top players had excellent seasons. Eight of the system's top 22 prospects are highlighted below, with the ninth player being a former top-5 prospect who graduated in May of 2021.
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It is difficult for a recent draftee to be recognized as an All-Star due to the smaller sample size compared with players who have been in the organization for the whole season. But Teel was that good in his six weeks in the system. Teel was drafted with the 14th overall pick out of the University of Virginia and debuted in the FCL on August 3rd. After reaching base in five of his nine plate appearances over three games, he was promoted to High-A Greenville. The South Atlantic League offered little challenge for the 21-year-old as he hit .377/.485/.453 over 14 games. This earned him a promotion to Double-A Portland, where he finished the year by batting .323/.462/.484 in nine games with the Sea Dogs. He hit .363/.483/.495 across the three levels, with 21 walks to 22 strikeouts over 114 plate appearances. Maybe most importantly, he looked like a plus defensive catcher with pop times consistently around 1.9 seconds. He is already a top-5 prospect in the system, and he has an outside chance to help the major league team as soon as next year if his bat continues to develop.
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First Base: Blaze Jordan
Jordan split his time between first base and third base, with about 56 percent of his playing time coming at first. The 20-year-old opened the season with Greenville, hitting .324/.385/.533 with 12 home runs in 73 games. He struck out in just 16 percent of his at-bats and drove in 55 runs. His numbers did tail off after being promoted to Portland, but that is not unexpected for a player almost four years younger than the league average. He hit .254/.296/.402 over 49 games, though his strikeout rate remained around 15 percent. This is Jordan's third straight SoxProspects.com All-Star selection, and he was also named a 2023 South Atlantic League Season-End All-Star. A fan favorite due to his plus-to-better raw power, Jordan needs to show he can handle advanced pitching and velocity next year to win this award for a fourth straight season.
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After an injury-plagued 2022 season, Yorke bounced back in 2023. He spent the season in Portland, where he was named the team's Most Valuable Player. He was also named a 2023 Futures Game All-Star, where he went 1 for 3 with a double. The former first-round pick had a hot start to the year, batting .294/.397/.492 over his first 50 games. He won the SoxProspects.com Player of the Month award in April and continued to play well in May and early June. His next 25 games were different as he struggled to a .596 OPS. He walked only four times while striking out 34 times in 106 at-bats. He picked things back up over the last 35 games of the season, though not quite at the pace he started the year. His final triple-slash of .268/.350/.435 is a solid showing for the 21-year-old as he played 110 games. His OPS was 16 percent above league average while being almost three years younger than the average player in the Eastern League. Yorke does not need to be added to the 40-man roster until after the 2024 season, but he will likely start the season on the doorstep of the big leagues in Worcester.
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Third Base: Chase Meidroth
While the first three players were high on the prospect or draft radar coming into the season, Meidroth saw his stock rise significantly in 2023. He entered the year as the 30th-ranked prospect in the system after signing for $272,500 as a fourth-round pick in 2022. He had a good showing at the end of 2022 in the FCL and Salem, but that was just a 22-game sample. He proved it was not a fluke, combining to hit .271/.408/.391 in 111 games between Greenville and Portland. He played about 55 percent of his games at third base while splitting the other games between second base and shortstop. He was named the 2023 Portland Sea Dogs Defensive Player of the Year and beat out Yorke to be the Red Sox Minor League Hitter of the Month in April. His April line of .320/.521/.400 earned him a promotion to Portland less than two weeks later. Now ranked 16th, Meidroth has shown the contact skills and plate approach to succeed at the next level. If the 22-year-old can tap into higher exit velocities, he could see his prospect status rise even more in 2024.
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It looked like Marcelo Mayer would cruise to a repeat after hitting .290/.366/.524 in two months with Greenville, but a left shoulder injury hampered his play and ultimately ended his season on August 2nd. Cespedes filled the void with a tremendous showing in the DSL. The 18-year-old hit .349/.399/.566 with six home runs and 38 RBI in 47 games. Cespedes was Boston's top prospect in the 2023 International Free Agent class as he signed for $1,400,000 out of the Dominican Republic. His outstanding play made him a 2023 Dominican Summer League All-Star and the 2023 Red Sox Minor League Latin Program Position Player of the Year. He struck out just 24 times in 189 at-bats, which is even more impressive as he led the team in isolated power and slugging percentage. Now rated as a top-10 prospect, Cespedes will likely open next season in the FCL, with a stint in Salem a distinct possibility.
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Outfield: Roman Anthony
Anthony opened the year just outside the top 10 and got off to a slow start in Salem. He hit .200 with a .613 OPS in April but bounced back in May with an .868 OPS. He went 4 for 29 to start June, but the Red Sox still promoted him to Greenville. His .228/.376/.317 line Salem does not jump off the page, but the underlying metrics show a player who was breaking out. In addition to great control of the strike zone, Anthony showed some of the top age-adjusted exit velocities in the minor leagues. Everything clicked once he started with the Drive, and that batted-ball data translated into top-tier production. Anthony hit .294/.412/.569 in 54 games in Greenville with 12 home runs. He was a 2023 South Atlantic League Season-End All-Star and ended the year with a two-week stint in Portland. He did not slow down, ending with a line of .343/.477/.543 in 10 games with the Sea Dogs. The 19-year-old was named the 2023 Red Sox Minor League Offensive Player of the Year and is now the second-ranked prospect in the organization.
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One of the most hotly debated prospects in the system, Rafaela undoubtedly had a great season that culminated with an extended run with the major league squad. Entering the year as a top-100 prospect according to a few publications, Rafaela hit .294/.332/.441 with 30 steals in 60 games in Portland. He stepped things up upon promotion to Worcester, batting .312/.370/.618 with 14 home runs in only 48 games. The 22-year-old was so good in Triple-A that he became a logical choice for Boston after Jarren Duran and Pablo Reyes went down with injuries in late August. He hit the ground running, with an OPS of .819 over his first 20 major league games. He has cooled off over the last week, with his strikeout rate becoming a concern. After striking out just over 20 percent of the time in Portland and Worcester, that number has spiked to over 30 percent in Boston. He will need to adjust against big-league pitching, but it was another fantastic year for Rafaela. Fans will need to wait until the end of the week to see if he can repeat as SoxProspects.com Player of the Year.
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Outfield: Wilyer Abreu
Abreu has been one of the few bright spots for Boston in what has been a disappointing end to the season. Abreu is hitting .316/.388/.474 with the Red Sox after slashing .274/.391/.538 in Worcester. His August numbers with the WooSox were Ruthian when he hit .424/.528/.949 with nine home runs in 17 games. Acquired from Houston with Enmanuel Valdez for Christian Vazquez at last year's trade deadline, Abreu is doing everything he can to force his way into Boston's long-term plans. While his batting average on balls in play of over .400 is due to regress, he has been one of the team's best hitters since he debuted on August 22nd.
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Utility: Bobby Dalbec
Dalbec tied for the International League lead with 33 home runs, though he also finished fifth with 169 strikeouts. In his 114 games with the WooSox, Dalbec saw 39 starts at third base, 36 in right field, 25 at first base, and six at shortstop. Though he mostly played first base in his 21 games in Boston, his defensive versatility was a big boost for Worcester. All the time at different positions did not affect Dalbec at the plate, as his line of .269/.381/.557 gave him the second-highest OPS on the team. He only trailed Rafaela while he slightly edged out Abreu. His line in the major leagues of .204/.264/.306 was disappointing but in a small sample size of 49 at-bats. Strikeouts continue to be concerning, as he struck out in 34 percent of his plate appearances with Worcester, and 53 percent with Boston. Finding a way to cut down on his strikeouts while keeping his elite exit velocities will help give Dalbec another extended look in the major leagues. Whether that comes with Boston or another organization.
Photo Credit: All by Kelly O'Connor