New Red Sox pitching prospect ranked No. 40 by Baseball America
The Red Sox and White Sox were trade partners twice during the offseason, one time acquiring left-handed ace Garrett Crochet and the other time sending reliever Cam Booser to the South Side for an 18-year-old pitcher.
Boston acquired Yhoiker Fajardo, a lottery ticket in the terms of prospects who made his professional debut for the White Dominion Summer League team and went 1-4, 3.91 ERA, with 64 strikeouts to just eight walks over 50.2 innings. He also earned a midseason DSL All-Star nomination.
Fajardo is not a top-ranked Red Sox pitching prospect, but Baseball America is recognizing the young hurler, ranking him as the No. 40 prospect in the system.
Baseball America lists Fajardo as a “good athlete without much effort to his operation; he has good arm action, and the ball comes out of his hand cleanly. There should be more velocity in the tank. His repeatable delivery helps him throw strikes with a willingness to pitch inside more than most his age. His low-80s slider has late bite when it’s on to help him miss bats. He shows some feel for a firm changeup as well.”
The righty is one of ten Red Sox prospects who fell out of the publication's top 30 prospects. Nazzan Zanetello came in at No. 31, left-handed reliever Chris Murphy, who is rehabbing from Tommy John surgery, was ranked at No. 32,, and Blaze Jordan came in at No. 37.
Fajardo is an interesting arm; his fastball sits at 92 mph while topping out at 95 mph this past season. He offers a slider that sits in the low 80s that pairs well with his heater. While pitching in the DSL, he threw a three-pitch mix, a fastball, slider, and changeup. His fastball has “run and sink and shows advanced feel for control of it for someone of his age,” according to his new SoxProspects scouting report.
According to The Boston Globe’s Alex Speier, a baseball evaluator described Fajardo as being in “a Clay Holmes-type mold.”
The Mets signed Holmes this offseason and are planning to turn him into a starter. Holmes has been a reliable reliever throughout his career, especially with his time playing for the Yankees.
It’s very early on in his development, and Fajardo is truly a lottery ticket, but with the new Red Sox pitching pipeline and focus, the team could help turn him into an effective hurler that’ll impact the lower levels of the system in the coming years. The righty is light-years away from Fenway Park, but the Red Sox trading a veteran reliever for a potential flamethrower is good business, and Boston should do more of this as they build out their pitching pipeline.
