A look at potential pitching candidates to be added to the Red Sox 40-man to avoid Rule 5 draft exposure
The Red Sox will have roster decisions to make ahead in order to protect prospects ahead of the Rule 5 draft in December.
Boston has three pitching prospects that they need to seriously look at placing on the 40-man roster before the 6 P.M. deadline of Tuesday.
The Red Sox 40-man roster currently sits at 37 players, allowing new chief baseball officer Craig Breslow to potentially add pitchers Wikelman Gonzalez, Luis Perales and Shane Drohan.
Wikelman Gonzalez: The 21-year-old pitcher is ranked the No. 2 prospect behind Perales. He finished the season with Double-A Portland, where he’ll likely begin the season. There is a strong possibility he could rise quickly to Triple-A similar to Drohan last season.
Gonzalez will turn 22 in March, posted a 3.96 ERA in 25 starts between High A and Double A last year. The righty was second amongst Boston’s minor leaguers in strikeout percentage at 35.2% with 168 punch outs.
Luis Perales: The righty is ranked as Baseball America’s No. 1 pitching prospect in the system. Perales made eight starts last season for Low-A Salem. Overall he made 21 starts, posting a 3.91 ERA over 89 2/3 innings pitched. Perales stuck out 115 batters, went 4-7 with a 1.42 WHIP.
Perales offers a four-pitch mix, a fastball that sits between 94-96 mph and has topped out 99 mph. Cutter (88-91 mph), slider (81-85 mph) and changeup (85-87 mph). He projects as a possible back-end starter or a bulk innings pitcher, according to SoxProspects.
If left unprotected in the draft, teams like the Athletics, Nationals or even the Rockies could take a flyer on a young arm with potential while they’re still rebuilding their rosters.
Shane Drohan: The lefty is an interesting name to watch this winter as to whether the club will add him to the 40-man roster.
The 24-year-old dazzled for the Sea Dogs this season posting a 1.32 ERA with 36 strikeouts, nine walks over his first six starts. Boston named Drohan the organization’s starting pitcher of the month for April.
His performance earned him a promotion to Triple-A Worcester where he did not see the same success as he had with Double-A Portland. Drohan made 19 starts (21 games) going 5-7 with a 6.47 ERA with a 1.87 WHIP over 89 innings.
Despite his elevated ERA, Drohan flashed on the mound at times for the WooSox. One of his better starts for Worcester came at the end of May when he surrendered just one hit and no runs over six frames with three strikeouts against the Louisville Bats.
“I think this year for Dro was a really good development year in a to of different ways,” said Red Sox Scout Dante Riccardi to Beyond the Monster.
Riccardi is very familiar with the Drohan, he was the left-hander’s signing scout in Florida.
“I think he got to learn what it was like to have success, I think he learned what it was like to have to work to maintain success. I think he also learned what it was like to have success at a high level. He had a couple of games where he punched out more guys than innings pitched,” added Riccardi.
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Don't they have considerably more than 37 spots? I realize that the spots need to filled at some point, but all the FAs on the roster are open at the moment, no? https://www.soxprospects.com/40man.htm