Red Sox player power rankings: a familiar face tops the list
Dustin Pedroia continues to tear it up.
COMMENTARY
The final month can feel like a sprint, but it’s really just the part of the race when the racers are beginning their finishing kick. One needs to muster all the energy they can for such a kick. Metaphorically speaking, a baseball team does this by calling in reinforcements, also known as September call-ups. The team currently has 35 players on the active roster – easily its most of the season. And few teams – if any – got to call up someone as good as Yoan Moncada. He has the potential to send the Red Sox streaking into the postseason. Whether he does or doesn’t, the Red Sox are realizing the “scouting and player development machine” dream of Theo Epstein, Ben Cherington and those who took the baseball operations mantle when John Henry and Co. purchased the Red Sox.
35. Deven Marrero (Not Ranked): There’s nothing wrong with having him around of course, but he should be limited to the pinch runner/defensive replacement role.
34. Ryan Hanigan (28): He’s back. Yey?
33. Bryan Holaday (25): He’s still here. Yey?
32. Noe Ramirez (NR): He’s back, but probably just for mop-up duty. Still, he did really well in Triple-A, for what that’s worth.
31. Matt Barnes (14): He’s not good right now, and putting a relief pitcher with a walk rate of greater than 10 percent on the postseason roster is a huge risk.
30. Robby Scott (Not Ranked): He’s a bit of an unknown. Whether he gets the chance to be more than that this month remains to be seen.
29. Travis Shaw (21): Manager John Farrell says he is committed to finding playing time for Shaw. He shouldn’t be. Since June 1, Shaw has hit .215/.282/.386, which equates to a 69 wRC+ — ie, he’s been 31 percentage points worse than league average. That’s not the kind of guy you find a place for. That’s a bench warmer.
28. Marco Hernandez (NR): He plays all the infield positions, can be deployed as a pinch runner and can play shortstop. That makes him a valuable player to have around on a playoff roster.
27. Christian Vazquez (NR): He went down and hit better, and now he’s back. Hopefully he hits well enough to move Hanigan and Holaday to the periphery.
26. Joe Kelly (NR): Like Biggie, he is getting one more chance. Let’s hope he makes the most of it.
25. Heath Hembree (20): He was higher the last time around, but then he was sent back to the minors and then recalled in a later wave of September call-ups, which is a good indicator that the team doesn’t value him that highly.
24. Fernando Abad (24): He figures to be around in October because he throws a baseball with his left hand, though theoretically Scott could usurp him.
23. Aaron Hill (18): His usefulness to the Red Sox was dwindling before Moncada’s call-up. Now…now it’s time for him to start hitting, because his playoff roster spot would seem to be in jeopardy.
22. Brock Holt (22): In 2014 and 2015, Holt was worth 2.3 and 2.4 wins above replacement (WAR), respectively. This season, he has been worth 0.0 WAR. In other words, he’s been a replacement-level player – no better or worse than anyone you could call up from Triple-A in a pinch. Holt is still valuable in theory because he is capable of playing many positions on the field. The question is can he play them well? Lately, the answer has been no.
21. Junichi Tazawa (23): He’s strung together three scoreless appearances, and his velocity has ticked back up ever so slightly. It’s not much, but it’s better than what was happening previously.
20. Steven Wright (12): Thought experiment #1 – Is Steven Wright not that good, or is this the injury? Thought experiment #2 – Does it matter right now? Can you honestly say that he is one of the four best starting pitchers on the Red Sox at this very moment? I can’t.
19. Robbie Ross Jr. (19): He’s been fine.
18. Koji Uehara (26): He’s back! Let’s see if Farrell can utilize him in a way that doesn’t end up with him back in the infirmary.
17. Chris Young (27): With his pinch-hit homer Sunday, Young provided a good reminder that he is always money against lefties, and to not forget about him.
16. Brad Ziegler (17): The flu has had him sidelined, but prior to that he had gotten back on track.
15. Clay Buchholz (16): He’s allowed runs in his last two relief appearances, and hasn’t pitched since Tuesday. Overall, he has a 3.57 ERA and a 3.77 FIP in 22.2 innings pitched as a reliever, with just 13 strikeouts and nine walks. That’s decent, but is it good enough to be anchoring the bullpen in high-leverage innings?
14. Andrew Benintendi (15): Oh, the horrible timing. He was hitting so well before his unfortunate knee injury, but there’s still a chance he could be back soon, and by the end of the regular season, he should be back to being the starting left fielder.
13. Jackie Bradley Jr. (7): He’s slumping. It happens. But even during his terrible, horrible, no good, very bad August, he still managed to knock five homers. He’s still a good hitter, and he’ll come out of his slump soon.
12. Sandy Leon (5): Just as soon as he heated up, he began to cool down. Leon isn’t the next Carlton Fisk, but he’s still all the Red Sox have at this point.
11. Yoan Moncada (NR): The number-one prospect in baseball has a month to impress the brass enough to secure the starting job in October, if they get there. He reached base in five of his first 11 plate appearances before striking out three times on Sunday. The strikeouts are definitely the chink in the armor, though if he hits like he’s capable, it won’t matter. When Mike Trout won the American League Most Valuable Player Award in 2014, he struck out 26 percent of the time.
10. Drew Pomeranz (9): If the strikeout count in his last two starts are an indication of the things to come, then Pomeranz is going to be a force in October (if they get that far).
9. Craig Kimbrel (11): The further we move away from his knee surgery the more comfortable fans can feel about his performance, which as of late has been very good.
8. Xander Bogaerts (10): He’s picked it up since his dismal first few weeks of August, but those dog days have put a damper on what looked like it could be a banner season – though obviously there’s still time for a great finish.
7. Eduardo Rodriguez (8): Any time you carry a no-hitter into the eighth inning, you move up at least one spot in the power rankings. His 2.73 second-half ERA makes his 8.59 first-half ERA seem like a lifetime ago.
6. David Price (13): He’s been at his best as we move closer to the postseason, and if you had to choose a time of year to be at your best, this is the time for it.
5. David Ortiz (2): There is nothing really Ortiz is doing poorly at this point, it’s more the four guys ahead of him just performing really well right now. Ortiz is putting up numbers that would be good for a player of any age. That he’s putting them up in his 40s is pretty remarkable.
4. Hanley Ramirez (4): His torrid second half continues. Over the last two weeks, he’s roped a team-high four homers.
3. Rick Porcello (3): He just keeps doing his thing. He’s not going to get much Cy Young Award love even with the 19 wins – or at least, he shouldn’t – but Porcello’s performance the last few months has allowed the team to not miss a beat when Wright struggled.
2. Mookie Betts (1): Before its memory gets lost in a sea of important September pennant race games, let’s take one more look at his awesome throw in Tampa Bay:
1.Dustin Pedroia (6): From Aug. 24 through Sunday, he reached base at least twice in nine consecutive games. That ended on Monday in San Diego, but this red-hot stretch from Pedroia has been the cherry on top of a vintage season.
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