Red Sox to promote top prospect Andrew Benintendi
When Carlos Febles, the Boston Red Sox Class AA manager, first laid eyes on Andrew Benintendi last fall in the Instructional League, he was surprised. He was expecting a more hulking presence. Perhaps somewhere around 6-foot-1 and weighing more than 200 pounds. The kind of physique that seems only fitting for a marvel that went seventh overall in the 2015 Major League Baseball Draft.
Instead, he saw a player whose reputation belies his size. “I’m like ‘Oh,’ Febles remembers thinking. Benintendi is just 5-10 and 170 pounds (officially), with a bushel of hair and a sweet left-handed swing. He is a hitting marvel who has shot up through the Red Sox organization. Less than 14 months after getting drafted out of the University of Arkansas, Benintendi will make his debut for Boston. According to a Boston Herald report, he is expected to join the team Tuesday.
It’s a steep climb for Benintendi but also a glowing review of the Red Sox’s farm system. Rather than make another booming trade ahead of Monday’s deadline, general manager Dave Dombrowski elected to keep his cache of top prospects and promote one instead. And, perhaps, not even his best one. While Benintendi is a consensus top-10 minor league talent in the sport according to the prospecting gurus, Yoan Moncada could be without a peer. Baseball America named him their No. 1 prospect in their midseason rankings last month.
"These guys are special players, and they're not far from the big leagues, either," Dombrowski told reporters Monday. "I do think we feel we have a club that can not only win now, but we want to be good for years to come. They're a really important part of what we're going to do."
That, more than anything else, speaks to the Red Sox’s wealth. While they own baseball’s fourth-highest payroll, their real strength lies in their minor league teams. It’s a reflection of baseball’s current ecosystem. Where the Red Sox and New York Yankees used to war with dollars, it’s now with young talent. Their arms race isn’t about who can sign the latest free agent star, but about who can build the best long-term infrastructure -- the kind the Yankees’ beefed up before the trade deadline and the kind Boston already had.
“It’s got to be that way these days,” Bobby Mitchell, the Trenton Yankees manager, said. “For one, it saves a lot of money in the long run.”
Despite depleting their collection to acquire Craig Kimbrel and Drew Pomeranz over the last few months, Boston still possesses high-end prospects like no other organization. Of Baseball America’s top 100 prospects in the sport, the Red Sox hold or have traded away seven of them. While Anderson Espinoza, a top pitching prospect, was a costly chip to get Pomeranz and Manuel Margot, a top-20 prospect, was part of the bounty exchanged for Kimbrel, Boston still has Rafael Devers, Michael Kopech, and 2016 first round pick Jason Groome -- all top-100 prospects by one publication or another -- still in the pipeline.
And, of course, there are Benintendi and Moncada, the headliners. Benintendi will make it to the majors without stepping foot in Class AAA. He has hit .312 with a .910 OPS this season between two different levels, and has as many strikeouts as walks. Despite his size, he has generated enough power to impress Febles.
“If you told me the guy can hit 20 homers I would say no because he’s very tiny but the ball jumps off his bat because of his bat speed,” Febles said. “That’s how he creates power -- his hands are so quick that when he makes contact the ball jumps off his bat.”
He added: “I’m amazed how much power he is able to provide with that little body he has.”
Yet, as good as Benintendi may be, Moncada is still the Red Sox’s crown jewel. The 19-year-old who received a $31.5 million signing bonus to sign with Boston last February after escaping Cuba is now a speed and power specimen. One scout who has seen him play this year compared him to Mariners star Robinson Cano. To Febles, Moncada is reminiscent of Carlos Beltran, his former teammate in Kansas City and a future Hall of Famer. It is the only player he could think of with same combination of talents.
Moncada’s path to this point has not been without some bumps. His first year in the United States and with the Red Sox was not easy. In close succession, he left his communist homeland, signed the largest contract ever for an international amateur, and was sent to the minors bestowed with newfound fame, a spotlight, and a glob of money.
That much change and pressure brought him, Febles said, stress and became overwhelming at times.
“Last year was tough,” he said. “We talked to him about. He’ll tell you that last year the transition was kind of hard. To put it in perspective, this guy signed for $30 million. The guy had nothing and now he has $30 million in his pocket. Now he has to deal with all the phone calls, all the media attention. He had a lot on his plate and he didn’t know how to handle it. But coming into the season, he knew exactly what to expect and he’s in a better place mentally.”
His performance is reflective of that. He has posted a .927 OPS between Single and Double-A, while swatting 12 home runs and stealing 44 bases. Last month, scouts in Trenton still buzzed days later about a home run he hit against the Yankees’ Double-A club. Moncada, a switch-hitter, clubbed two in one game -- the first went the opposite way, and he pulled the other, flashing his immense strength.
“How strong he is and how fast he is,” Febles said. “You don’t find a good with the physicality and how fast he is. To watch him do it, that first step quickness that he has is amazing. How much power he has, it’s hard to find a good with all those tools together and he has it.”