Red Sox to promote prospect Matthew Lugo to Triple-A Worcester after scorching hot start at the plate
The Red Sox are promoting outfield prospect Matthew Lugo from Double-A Portland to Triple-A Worcester, per The Boston Globe’s Alex Speier.
Lugo is currently enjoying an impressive start to the season batting .315/.405/.664 with 10 doubles, four triples, 11 home runs, 35 RBIs, 27 runs scored, nine stolen bases, 20 walks, and 36 strikeouts in 43 games.
The 23-year-old is currently ranked as the No. 50 overall prospect by SoxProspects.com after beginning the year unranked.
Among the qualified hitters in the Eastern League, Lugo sits atop the leaderboard in total bases (97), batting average, slugging percentage, and OPS (1.069), according to MiLB.com’s stat leaders.
Lugo has spent the majority of his time playing left field for the Sea Dogs. He has committed just two errors and recorded two outfield assists in 318 innings. The versatile fielder has made one start in center field and all infield positions with the exception of first base.
The former second-round pick during the 2019 MLB Draft saw his stock plummet after struggling last season. Lugo slashed .242/.297/.381 slash line over 83 games for the Sea Dogs.
Lugo has been performing at a high level, while fans and the media have been focusing on the likes of the “Big Three”: Roman Anthony, Marcelo Mayer, and Kyle Teel. One of the reasons Lugo has been tormenting Double-A pitching is because he changed his approach at the plate during the offseason.
“I worked on my swing decisions,” Lugo said to Matthew Crory of the Pesky Report Podcast. “That was the first priority for me. When I went into the off-season, I worked a lot on my swing decisions, like attacking the pitches where I do damage.
“I feel like last year, I got myself out a lot by swinging pitches out of the zone and pitches that I really can't do much with those pitches. So the biggest difference for me was just concentrating on attacking the pitches where I do damage and laying the pitches where I can't do much with those pitches.”
Lugo credited his focus on working on his load as a hitter. The load is the squat before the jump, the stretch before the snap, and the tension before the release, according to Rogue Baseball Performance.
“I worked on my load,” said Lugo. “So last year, my load was I had a lot of like hand movement, and it made me consistent on my load. And this year, I made my load more simple and more compact.
“And that makes me stay more on time with the pitcher. And then obviously I recognize the pitch faster out of the hand, and that makes me make a better decision of the play.”
Lugo is now a step away from the bigs and will provide tremendous versatility for Worcester. Skipper Chad Tracy utilizes his infield and outfielders all over the diamond. Lugo’s bat will be a welcome to the WooSox, who just saw Jamie Westbrook promoted to the Red Sox 26-man roster over the weekend.
