Red Sox pitching prospect Henry Owens will be called up to make his Major League debut on Tuesday at Yankee Stadium, Sox manager John Farrell told reporters (including the Providence Journal’s Brian MacPherson). Owens gets the call to replace Rick Porcello, who was placed on the 15-day DL today with a right triceps strain. By coincidence, Owens will pitch a day before Yankees prospect Luis Severino makes his own much-anticipated debut.
Owens, 23, was chosen with the 36th overall pick of the 2011 draft and the lefty has since become not only Boston’s top pitching prospect, but one of the more well-regarded young arms in baseball. Owens rated highly on preseason top-100 prospect lists from MLB.com (19th), ESPN’s Keith Law (20th) and Baseball America (44th). The 2015 Baseball America Prospect Handbook described Owens as showing “an advanced feel for pitching that exceeds his age” in terms of reading and adapting to hitters’ swings. Owens can touch 94mph on his fastball through he usually works in the 89-92mph range, with an “excellent” changeup and a promising curve that needs some more development.
Despite this praise, however, Baseball America actually downgraded Owens on their midseason prospect list, slotting him at #47. The list, published on July 7, may have reflected Owens’ somewhat rocky start to his Triple-A season, though he has an overall 3.16 ERA in 122 1/3 innings. Owens only has a 7.6 K/9 rate, a notable drop from his K/9 over his first three pro seasons, and he has continued to have some control issues. He has a 4.1 BB/9 this season, in line with the 4.0 BB/9 he has posted over 518 career innings.
The next big Red Sox prospect flop in the making.
How long did that joke take you to come up with? A real masterpiece. Now, who was president last time the Cubs won?
I believe it was Roosevelt.. The first one.. Could have been Taft though.
Yes because they’ve been so terrible with developing prospects, he’s sure to fail
Must be mistaken. Betts has done a fine job, as has Bogaerts and Swihart, who barely got a chance to play at AAA was acceptable. Eduardo Rodriquez has done fine as well. That’s 4 in a row. How has the last batch of Cubbie kids done? Baez is a K machine and that “Solar powered” must refer to his K numbers? About all it possibly could.
Better start looking in the mirror with regards to flops. Not in Boston.
You’re judging Soler 72 games into his first full season? I guess if we take a look at Bogaerts first full season… Baez can strike out a ton, he still has 30 HR pop.
If a few top prospects pan out (Russell, Schwarber, Soler) (Betts, Swihart, Erod) a few can fail. (Baez, Almora) (JBJ, WMB)
Main point still stands.. Last 4 have been solid for Boston… Narry a flop…
Swihart has not been close to solid.
Erod wasn’t a Boston product… He was developed by Baltimore.
But he turned it around once he got to Boston. His stock was failing. Boston played a pretty decent role in his development.
*yawn*
Besides His early season struggles with walks he’s done well this year, although I expected them to wait until September to call him up. Porcello’s injury must have accelerated his promotion
I kind of wish he was debuting against Severino. The top pitching prospect in both systems face off to kick off their careers. That would have been an awesome story to follow
I was just about to say the same thing.. Would have been a game to watch, for sure..
Agreed. Erod would have been cool too but we get Wright/Severino.
That would be so hype!
Actually, Brian Johnson is ranked one spot ahead of Owens.
On the latest list from MLB.com. because Owens has struggled this season, but that does not change the point that Owens has a higher potential ceiling and is considered the better prospect over Johnson on every list before the season, and several midseason lists have them flipped also
Kinda feel like Owens will be a bust. He has solid minor league stats but has never really dominated, and a young pitcher with a big decline in K rate is a terrible sign. He’s got a 1.8 K/BB ratio. How is he such a high ranked prospect?
Because of the old saying that a stat line doesn’t decide talent. I’ve seen him pitch in person once, reminded me of a young Barry Zito in a way, except Owens is taller. Big tall lefty with great stuff and gets weak contact (6.8 hits per 9). Don’t think hes an ace, but could be a great 1-2-3 with EROD and Porcello down the road.
didnt you hear? every red sox prospect is automatically a bust, as goes the narrative
I mean it’s not like they really have a great track record of success. Allen Webster, Matt Barnes, Will Middlebrooks, Anthony Ranaudo, Lars Anderson, Casey Kelly, Garin Cecchini, Trey Ball, Jackie Bradley Jr. were all top 100 prospects over the past four years. Swihart, Castillo, and Erod all haven’t performed too well either, although they have time. I guess you can hang your hat on Betts, Bogaerts, and Holt but that’s pretty much it over the past five years or so.
So yea, more likely than not a Red sox prospect is probably gonna be a bust.
I think it all comes down to how good his changeup actually is. If it proves to be a great pitch (Law recently mentioned him having a grade 70 changeup, though others have that grade lower), then I think he will prove to be a highly effective pitcher, given he uses it often. His numbers aren’t great because he has been forced to go to his slider and curveball in pitcher’s counts in order to make them more effective (as you generally cannot be an effective starter using just two pitches). The only major concern I have is his groundball rate which is low, but that mightn’t prove to be an issue if he generates a lot of weak contact.
Have to hand it to Red Sox upper management. With the worst starting pitching in the American League, waiting until you’re 13 games out to call up your top pitching prospects is the safe play. It’s clear that Owens and Johnson weren’t ready, while Joe Smelly, Justin Blasterson and Dick Porcello were ready to take the bump every five days. Nothing like developing young talent in a losing and toxic environment.
The baseball reference link to Severino in this post is incorrect. It refers you to Luis Galva Severino, who pitches in the Braves’ minor league system. Here is the correct link: baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=severi…
Since I (somehow) can’t edit my comment: The link will not show in the commenting system. You guys will have to google it. Note that the BronxPinstripes blog has also got the incorrect link…
They also have the wrong Henry Owens
I hadn’t even noticed that (I have seen him pitch twice this year so I more or less know his stats). Both of them got corrected now.
Gausman, Norris, Sanchez, Pompey, Erod, Swihart, Sano, Buxton, Rodon, Lindor, Correa, McCullers, Heaney, Gallo, Chi Chi, Joc, Duffy, Tomas, Brady, Piscotty, Grichuk, Russell, Soler, Bryant, Schwarber, Ross, Taylor, Thor, Matz, Conforto, Wisler, Foltynewicz, Realmuto, Nicolino, Nola, Severino, Franco… and now… Henry Owens.
The game is in great shape for the future, isn’t it?
You forgot Boston’s big Johnson.
Also forgot Austin Hedges.
Everyone criticized the Tigers for trading Rick Porcello to Boston for “only” Yoenis Cespedes, who couldn’t even receive a QO. To make matters worse, Boston was able to extend Porcello while Detroit did not extend Cespedes. Now, although they were not able to contend this year, now the Tigers have flipped Cespedes for 2 great pitching prospects, while Boston is saddled with what already looks like an 80MM albatross contract. Baseball is a funny sport.
I don’t know of anyone in the Detroit media or posters on boards there that were sorry to lose Pick Porcello. When Red Sox people thought that guy could be TOR pitching home games in Fenway Park when he couldn’t do it in a pitcher park like Comerica is beyond me and anyone that saw him pitch a fair amount. The Tigers waited for him for 5 years. They got almost 1/2 a season at the beginning of 2014, before he reverted to what he’d always been. Teams are giving out far too many long-term contract to players that don’t have a long enough track record to deserve them.
Teams have totally been doing just that. I personally was happy the Tigers got Cespedes for him, but many in Detroit thought it was a bad deal at the time, for the following reasons.
1) We already had a great offense with great RH power with Miggy, VMart, JD Martinez.
2) It was pretty clear Scherzer was gone so why deal another above average pitcher (at the time)?
3) Cespedes was coming off a down year, while Porcello was coming off a great year and much younger.
4) Porcello could be offered a QO at the end of the season, while Cespedes could not. So basically if the Tigers had stayed in contention, but not won the WS and lost Cespedes after the season, they would get nothing for him.
The Sox should take a look at their kids for awhile to see if they show enough promise or if they can be used in off season trades.
It’s worth mentioning that Owens doesn’t have the best numbers in AAA this year mostly because the Sox asked him not to use his great changeup so he could focus on developing his other pitches, especially the curve. If he were pitching normally, his numbers would almost certainly be much better.
The Red Sox are heading in the direction of slowly playing more young guys. They need to trade literally every veteran on that roster – other then Ortiz and Pedroia out of respect for their past contributions and to pass the torch – and play their young guys for a few years. They’re in last place now. The difference if they lose is that they’re allowing a team to grow together, and finding out who can adjust and be productive in major league ball.
Quit pussyfooting around. The team is in a rebuild, let them play the young guys. It’s worked well for the Astros, Cubs and Twins this year.
The Red Sox have now graduated 7 picks from the 2011 draft to the majors. JBJ, Swihart, Barnes, Betts, Shaw, Noe Ramirez and now Henry Owens
I’m excited for Henry Owens making his Major League debut at the Stadium.
Hopefully it will be a good performance-RS Nation will be watching. I’m actually looking forward to Brian Johnson’s 2nd start maybe next weekend in Detroit.
I saw Owens in the Spring Vs Toronto. Great stuff, looked major league ready, but he acted flustered with himself, giving up a bomb to Joey Bats. He couldn’t seem to shake that off. He has to wrap his head around the fact that Home Run hitters hit Home Runs, just like a hitter who gets K’ed 3 or 4 times by Randy Johnson, that’s what he does. I really thought he was just a bit of maturity away from pitching at the ML level. Maybe he’s got that now. Too bad Varitek isn’t around to lead him through the process.