Boston Red Sox: Did Rafeal Devers get the call too early?

Yesterday it was announced that the Boston Red Sox have called up their number 1 prospect and third baseman, Rafael Devers from Triple-A Pawtucket.

These “early call ups” are anything but new to the Boston Red Sox who stand at 55-45, 10 games above the .500 mark and atop the American League East.

In August of last season, the Red Sox made a similar move in call up left fielder, Andrew Benintendi who was drafted the year prior to his major league debut.

Benintendi finished the season hitting .295. With the promotion came the establishment of Boston’s “killer b” outfield of Mookie Betts, Jackie Bradley Jr, and Andrew Benintendi.

We saw a similar move even longer ago with former Red Sox outfielder, Jacoby Ellsbury who was called up from Double-A, to Triple-A, to the Major League level within the span of a few weeks. Ellsbury came up following an injury to former Boston centerfielder, Coco Crisp.

This move resulted in a major payoff with Ellsbury providing the Red Sox with significant offensive and defensive contribution, most notably in their 2007 postseason run.

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In Boston’s quick 4-game sweep of the Colorado Rockies, Ellsbury batted .438 while going 7/16 with 4 doubles. While it was third baseman, Mike Lowell who carried off the Most Valuable Player Award at the end of Boston’s 7th World Series Title, the argument can most definitely be made in favor of Jacoby Ellsbury deserving the award.

Here the Red Sox stand 10 years later and Boston desperately need some offensive contribution and stability in the third base spot.

Red Sox Manager, John Farrell has been riding the Deven Marrero, Tzu-Wei Lin, and now Brock Holt platoon all season long. However while the three are all versatile infielders, they lack the at bat consistency and power in which the Sox deeply need.

The cheaper option

Boston has been linked to over half a dozen possible trade options around the league, with names such as T.J. Rivera, Josh Harrison, Asdrubal Cabrera, and Eduardo Nunez swirling around constantly.

However it appears as though Dave Dombrowski and the Boston Red Sox will use their farm system and give their number 1 overall prospect, Rafael Devers a shot at the hot corner. The 20-year old has been tearing it up in the minors as of late, hitting .300 in Double-A Portland and .400 in Triple-A Pawtucket.

We still cannot rule out the possibility of a trade at the deadline. Boston can still improve their bullpen as well as adding much needed power to the lineup. It’ll be interesting how Dombowksi and the Sox elect to approach the trade deadline in the coming days.

Next: David Price’s anger at Dennis Eckersley understandable yet misguided

Devers is set to make his major league debut on Tuesday, July 25th against the Seattle Mariners as the Red Sox wrap up their west coast road trip.

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