Two Red Sox position players, Andrew Benintendi and Rafael Devers, feature prominently on Jim Callis of MLB.com’s list of the MLB rookies with the most potential. Benintendi, Callis writes, “combines pure hitting ability, power, speed and defense in a manner reminiscent of former Boston star Fred Lynn.” In fact, three of the top four players on the list are Red Sox products, with Chicago’s Yoan Moncada squeezing in between Cody Bellinger and Devers. Here’s more from the American League.
- With the Tigers miles from contention, the rest of their season provides opportunities for veterans to showcase their skills for other clubs, MLive.com’s Evan Woodbery writes. Some, like Anibal Sanchez, are likely to become free agents (Sanchez has a $16MM option that the Tigers are all but certain to decline, likely opting instead to pay him a $5MM buyout.) Others, like Ian Kinsler and Jose Iglesias, are trade candidates. (Jeff Todd discussed the possibility of a Kinsler deal in his recent Three Needs piece on the Tigers.) Still others, like Bryan Holaday and Tyler Collins, are currently on the fringes of the Tigers’ 40-man roster.
- The Athletics’ new ballpark won’t open for several more years at a minimum, but the team’s future that far down the horizon could still be very bright, Bruce Jenkins of the San Francisco Chronicle writes. The team has a solid young core that includes Matt Chapman, Matt Olson, Franklin Barreto, Marcus Semien, Chad Pinder and Ryon Healy, along with prospects like A.J. Puk, Jorge Mateo, Dustin Fowler, Austin Beck and Lazaro Armenteros. Of course, it’s far from clear which of those players will be keys for the A’s five-plus years down the line — in fact, some of them, like Semien, could well depart via free agency by then. But Jenkins points out that, unlike with the nearby Giants, it’s already possible to imagine good future Athletics lineups based around the players they already have.
Devers will turn out to be the LH Maikel Franco..
Why would you say that?
Because his Yankee fandom makes him biased.
Yup
He’s a typical overhyped Sox prospect. Now Benitendi is the real deal though…
Devers has been pretty good since his call up. He did have that cool stretch where he came back to earth but he’s bounced back nicely. I think the sox should be set at third base for years.
And the Yankees never overhype any of their prospects….
And senior Cheerios speaks rapidly becoming almost as bad comments as Mikeyank the clown.
As for Devers he looks real good crazy fast bat speed he will go through his ups and downs like all young players but he looks real good.
As a yankee fan…i will admit he does look pretty good….he might become an allstar in the future. But I did not like the Judge ranking…let’s see where he is after his third season.
We don’t know how he’s going to be. Let’s give him a few years. When I see him play, I see incredible bat speed… Which is impressive and hard to teach
A generous Yankee fan??? Good on you, sir!
Yes! Much appreciation.
He’s 20 years old. Same age Bogaerts was in 2013. Needs to learn how to play 3B was what scouts said at the beginning of the year but he’ll hit.
As to the breakfast guy, jealousy is obviously showing. Pretty amazing considering the Yankees’ young talent. Having both the Yankees and Red Sox overstocked with young talent is great for the game and fun for NE fans (unless you root for the Phillies or Mets).
Oakland has some duplicate talents in Triple A that need to be traded. Joey Wendle, Renato Nunez, and Raul Alcantara come to mind. Any and all would easily make the SF Giants a less than 100 loss team. There is just nothing in the Giants farm system to reciprocate letting these guys go to them.
Maybe if we get our San Jose territorial rights back…….
A’s getting anew stadium in Oakland so they don’t need San Jose rights anymore. Nunez is the type of player the giants need since they lack any power at all but the giants never trade with the A’s.
I am from Detroit and have great family and friends in Boston. Devers is the real deal and nothing more evident than the first Lefty guy to hit a homer off of Chapman. Anyone trying to bring him down is just a loser and has no idea of what a talented ball player looks like. Root for your team but don’t hate the players that make our game great.
Can’t really say that Homer was all that impressive. Chapman is the new Pablo Sandoval. Overpaid player who will just be mediocre.
I agree to an extent, I think Chatman will come back strong next year, but he does have a lot of high leverage miles on that arm
Chapman**
what!! why put Chapman in the same sentence as Pablo he hasn’t been great and I’m not stoked about that contract but that’s a little much right.
Don’t know about that, but his slider is average at best. Didn’t want the yanks to pick him up
the ESPN list was so bias for Bosox players. Chapman will have a better career than Devers. Devers is not that good at 3B and will eventually move to 1B very soon. Chapman will be a gold glove winner if not this year next year.
Agree 100% on Chapman..Devers big bust second time through the leagues.
I think you guys forget that Devers came into the league at 20 yrs old. Give him a couple years before you call him a bust. I don’t think he’s going to be an all star but definitely an above average hitter
Amazingly stupid comment by the cereal guy on Devers. 20 friggin years old. Of course scouts will figure out how to pitch to him. He also will rely on others and learn to adjust. The scouting on him in August before being called up was his offense was years ahead of his defense. Time will tell whether the right move was keeping him over Moncada. He may turn out to be a superstar or he may be the next Will Middlebrooks. Just give him a chance. He’d still likely be in the minors if Boston wasn’t committed to staying under the luxery tax this season.
Don’t worry they will teach you sentence structure when you get into the ninth grade
Jim Callis doesent even work for ESPN. While i agree benintendi over bellinger is ridiculous that doesn’t mean they are biased toward the red sox.
It’s not that ridiculous. Better fielder. More speed. The only advantage right now is power. Bellinger is amazing but not the all around player Benintendi is and will be.
Now that’s the epitome of bias.
Bellinger is not an all around player? He plays 4 different positions in the field at a high level. His bat is by far better this season and he is just getting started. At some point results matter and cody is already passing most of if not all the guys that was ranked ahed of him
Exactly,but since Benitendi is a Red Sox player he’s got the keys to the hall. How much more of a complete player can Bellinger be? Plus Bellinger is younger and he’s rated to have good speed..omfg
Bellinger is having a phenominal first season as are many. It will take years to determine “the better player”. t
The problem in my view today is with fantasy leagues and overhyped stat categories, too many think they could be a GM. How many were criticizing Dombrowski last year for the Pomerantz trade? Where would the Sox be without him today? The only complaint I have is whether or not they could have gotten a minor leaguer back from San Diego when the injury issue surfaced? It was too late to rescind the trade. Now I’m being a GM…
An interesting question actually. I think I’d take Chapman over Devers based on the defensive disparity, although Devers should end up a better offensive player. What was particularly strange to me was that Judge was still ranked 5th. Obviously, he’s quite a bit older than the rest, but he’s already established himself as an elite offensive player, which none of those other guys (except maybe Bellinger) have done. He’d have to be #1 for me at this point, but they largely just restated their preseason rankings
Devers will be a better average hitter than Chapman but both should hit 30 home runs. Chapman is superior defense to Devers gives him a big nod over him. Just the same Belliinger will be a better power hitter than but Bento but Bento is superior defensively. Surprised how low they ranked Judge because his defense is adequate in RF and will be a 30+ power guy.
I disagree about putting Chapman ahead of Devers overall… but agree about Chapman being well ahead defensively. Eventually Devers will be moved to 1B- possibly sooner than later. Still, his potential is off the charts offensively.
As for Judge, I agree- the rookie of the year has established himself this year. Will be interesting how he plays next year. Will it be closer to his second half slump… a sub .250 hitter with power? Or does he have legit MVP potential?
Yeah it’s close. I don’t think it’s crazy to prefer Devers, who’s also 3 years younger, but Chapman should be a top 3 defender at 3rd, while I agree that Devers seems likely to be moved to first. Devers needs a major offensive edge to come out ahead overall if that happens
Arc89, there is someone named Machado who also plays third in the AL.
What does that have to do with anything nelson? I don’t think anyone is saying these guys are better than Machado.
Really?
link to baseballprospectus.com
Top 3 defensive 3B’s, in order: Chapman, Arenado, Machado
Those talented young A’s players… Don’t be surprised if they contend soon, very soon… And they have the one of best VP/GM in baseball, Billy Beane…
Oakland needs a stud pitcher and his name is Derek Holland
Devers is fat
Devers will be a 280 hitter 15 to 20 homers and arond 85rbi
That’s low on the homers in my opinion.
Devers will be an adrian beltre type player
Beltre is one of the best third basemen of all – time, and arguably the best defense ever at the position. Pretty high bar there. I’d advise you to expect Devers not to make the Hall of Fame
Haven’t watched enough of Bellinger to make an argument one way or the other have watched AB almost every game this year and he is clearly going to be an outstanding player. He has one of the sweetest swings in the game the sky’s the limit for that kid. Trying to say who will be better down the road is tough thing to do and this just one persons opinion.
Devers has 12 errors so far since call up but can work on that part of his game in off season