Boston Red Sox 2017 Player Previews: Andrew Benintendi

Andrew Benintendi took the Boston Red Sox by storm after his call-up in August. A stint on the disabled list kept his rookie status in tact, allowing for a potential Rookie of the Year run in 2017.

After Chris Young and Blake Swihart suffered injuries, the Boston Red Sox were forced to use a platoon of Brock Holt and Bryce Brentz in left field. Meanwhile, top prospect Andrew Benintendi was hitting .295 with eight home runs and an 11.4% strikeout rate in Double-A Portland. In the middle of a west coast road trip at the beginning of August, the Red Sox made the move to bring Benintendi straight to the majors to join them in Seattle.

Benintendi immediately contributed, hitting .323 with a home run and five doubles over his first twenty games. In his twenty-first game, Benintendi suffered a knee sprain and missed three weeks. When he returned, he promptly went on a five game hitting streak, which included another home run. Benintendi finished his first major league stint at .295 with those two homers and fourteen runs batted in.

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Though he has not played more than 63 games at any professional level, Benintendi has still shown incredible plate discipline in his walk and strikeout rates. Across 54 games in Low-A and A ball in 2015, Benintendi had a 14.6% walk rate and a 10% strikeout rate. In raw numbers, Benintendi walked 35 times compared to 24 strikeouts. In 34 games at High-A in 2016, Benintendi only struck out nine times and in Double-A, he had a 1.25 strikeout to walk ratio. That was the first time in his professional career that he struck out more than he walked.

It was simply a matter of adjusting to higher level competition, though, considering the same thing happened to Benintendi when he was promoted to the majors. He struck out 25 times compared to only ten walks. To be fair, he did only have four multi-strikeout games. He was still able to make more productive outs in most situations. Part of this disciplined approach comes from Benintendi’s ability to lay off pitches outside the zone. He only swung at 25.9% of the pitches he saw outside of the strikezone, though he did still make contact on 71.9% of those pitches.

Benintendi’s power is still a bit of a work in progress, which is to be expected when a player completely skips over the highest level of minor league competition. He made medium contact 42.7% of the time and hard contact 32.9% of the time, a great sign for a young player. Benintendi has a quick swing and an excellent ability to at least hit the ball. Even if the power never develops to the levels of a consistent home run threat, he can certainly settle in as a doubles hitter.

Coming into 2017, Benintendi is still considered a rookie by Major League Baseball standards. Due to his time on the DL, Benintendi only accumulated 105 at-bats, far below the threshold of 130 that exceeds rookie status. He is considered the number one prospect in baseball by MLB.com and Baseball Prospectus‘ 2017 lists and comes in as a heavy favorite to win the American League Rookie of the Year.

The rookie class is much stronger in the National League this season, so Benintendi should have an easier competition ahead of him. His likely rivals will be former Red Sox and current White Sox prospect Yoan Moncada and Yankees rookie Aaron Judge. Benintendi had the most productive season of the three in their brief appearances last year and he has the added benefit of a definite starting spot going forward.

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More importantly then any awards, Benintendi looks like he is ready to contribute fully to a first place ballclub.

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