Mound Talk

1. Clay Buchholz, RHSP, MLB. What’s not to like? He has the second best “stuff” of all baseball prospects with two plus pitches, his change and curve, to go with a low-90s fastball and a slider. Both of those pitches have potential to improve. In 2007 Buchholz solidified his mechanics and developed a very nice repeatable motion. He tired down the stretch and was shut down because of fatigue. Buchholz is one of the top prospects in baseball and holds much value for a fantasy team.
2. Jacoby Ellsbury, CF, MLB. Ellsbury is the subject of much debate amongst prospect followers. Some claim his MLB power is indicative of his development, others claim it is a statistical fluke. Regardless, he has incredible speed which plays nicely on the bases and in the field. He has very good control of the strike zone and won’t strikeout too often. He has decent discipline and should be able to post an OBP in the .370 range, subject to his batting average of course. His arm is sub-par to say the most. Ellsbury will be a very solid defensive center fielder with incredible range but won’t threaten anyone with being gunned down. Offensively, he should be a decent table-setter. He won’t hit for the power he displayed in very limited AA or MLB action but will make up for it with his feet. His fantasy baseball value exceeds his real baseball value.
3. Lars Anderson, 1B, A+. The Sox pulled in a nice haul in the 18th round of the 2006 draft by ponying up the cash to sign Anderson. His value is entirely derived from his bat which grades out very, very well. He has big time power potential, is very disciplined and recognizes pitches well. Defensively, he’s pretty good at first. He’ll start 2008 where he finished 2007, in High-A but will be in line for a quick promotion if he does well. Anderson is one of the best power hitting prospects in baseball.
4. Justin Masterson, RHSP, AA. Masterson throws from a deceptive three-quarters angle. He has a very good sinker that is his best pitch. His second best pitch is his slider which showed tremendous improvement over the course of the season. He has pretty good secondary stuff but needs to become more consistent. There are a lot of questions about Masterson but he also has nice potential. He’ll likely start in Triple-A but could be moved up to Boston if he does well. There has been talk of him moving to the bullpen where he would be much more effective with his hard sinker and the secondary pitches inconsistency would be mitigated.
5. Jed Lowrie, SS, AAA. Lowrie is a patient switch-hitter. Coming into this season there were doubts of his ability to play shortstop at the big league level but Lowrie has shown dramatic improvement this season. That said, he doesn’t look to be more than league average defensively. His bat should be good enough to play however. His time frame depends on when or if he gets moved and how long the Sox want to go with Julio Lugo.
6. Michael Bowden, RHSP, AA. Bowden has very good command and effectively controls his low-90s fastball and curve. His changeup shows good life. Unlike the pitchers ranked above him, Bowden is durable. However, he needs to get more consistent in his delivery and continue to work down in the zone. Bowden could be a #3 but is more likely to be an innings-eating #4.
7. Oscar Tejeda, SS, A-. Tejeda has all the tools you could want and has shown some production on that. He has a nice swing with little to no problems with it. His hands are very quick and very strong. He has nice speed. At just 18 years old, Tejeda is all about projection. His power could develop as his body fills out. Tejeda needs to learn more discipline at the plate and continue to work on his defense. There is speculation he’ll have to move off of short. For 2008 Tejeda will be in Low-A, working predominantly on his defense and discipline.
8. Ryan Kalish, OF, A-. Kalish showed very good plate discipline in 2007 and backed it with a very nice statistical season. Kalish projects to hit for a good average, draw plenty of walks, hit for some power and steal some bases. He is playing in center now, but looking at the organizational depth chart, Kalish will likely move to a corner at the big league level. He needs to work on his arm strength in the outfield. His 2007 season was cut short by a broken hamate bone. Look for a power outage in 2008.
9. Nick Hagadone, LHSP, A-. Hagadone is a well built, tall lefty with a low-90s fastball with good action. He throws a low 80s slider with decent movement and a changeup. His control is good but his delivery is fairly inconsistent. Not a big deal at this point but could be an issue down the road. Hagadone was a closer in college but is being tried out as a starter for the Sox. At Washington (NCAA) he was working in the upper-90s out of the bullpen. As a reliever, Hagadone should be able to move very quickly but clearly has more value in the system as a starter.
10. Brandon Moss, OF, MLB. Moss projects as a fourth outfielder and will be that in 2008. Moss is athletic, quick and boasts one of the strongest outfield arms in the system. He has good on-base skills and a good approach.
Flier. Jeff Natale, 2B/1B, AA. Natale is a very interesting prospect. He has incredible discipline, drawing an OBP over .417 in each of his five professional stints. He needs defensive work and doesn’t have great power, but with his on-base skills, a little power development would put him in line for a big league job.

The Red Sox have worked very hard to revitalize their farm system and they’ve succeeded by opening their wallet. In the past they’ve lost out on very solid players because they haven’t offered the kind of money they command. The two most recent cases are Pedro Alvarez, who will likely be the #1 pick in 2008, and Matt LaPorta, who was taken by the Brewers with the seventh pick in the 2007 draft. Now that the Sox are spending money, they’ve been able to snag guys like Lars Anderson.