Portland Sea Dogs' fans got their first taste in a while of a hot prospect when last year's first-round pick Andrew Benintendi arrived at Hadlock Field in mid-May. Now, barely a month later, the crowds at Hadlock, home of the Eastern League cellar-dwellers, have three prospects inhabiting the top of the Sea Dogs' lineup. Top international prospect Yoan Moncada and a pleasantly surprising prospect in Mauricio Dubon have joined Benintendi and, despite the dismal performance of their team, are electrifying the crowds in Portland, Maine.
Andrew Benintendi busts out of slump, looks comfortable in Double-A
Andrew Benintendi had a rough start to his AA career. He slumped terribly to begin, disappointing the Hadlock crowds that had heard of Benintendi, and the comparisons to Jacoby Ellsbury. He started just 2-20 with the Sea Dogs. He slowly began to hit again after that tough start though, knocking out hits in his next five games. He is hitting at a torrid pace now, hitting to the tune of a .333 average in his last fourteen games. The streak has boosted his average up to .254 entering Sunday's game. Signs indicate that number will continue to climb for the speedy centerfielder, who has featured an incredibly quick bat and a beautiful swing. Benintendi has tagged opposing pitching for three home runs, and more home runs are likely as he continues to settle in at Double-A. He also puts together very professional at-bats.
In his first at-bat in Sunday's game, Benintendi fouled off five pitches with two-strikes. On the eleventh pitch of his at-bat, Bentintendi scorched a double to right-center field to score two runs. The ball came rocketing off his bat at 102 mph, traveling 372 feet in the air. Had he not hit it to the deepest part of Hadlock Field, it would have likely been a three-run blast for Benintendi. His second at-bat was another long one, concluding in a hot-shot single to right field. It was one of two singles on the day, the other of which started the game-winning rally in the eighth inning. He finished 3-4 with a walk and is now hitting .268.
Yoan Moncada starts off hot in Double-A
Possibly the only prospect creating more excitement than Benintendi in the Boston Red Sox system is Yoan Moncada, the touted Cuban prospect, who got a 31.5 million dollar signing bonus. Moncada has only been in Portland for five games, so it's not a large sample size. However, after five games, Benintendi was 2-20. Moncada is 8-24. through five games. He has already blasted his first AA home run, while playing very good defense at second base. He has handled every chance without an error, making several eye-opening plays. Moncada doesn't feature the same smooth swing as Benintendi, nor does he always work long at-bats. However, these are flaws that Moncada has time to work on.
As aforementioned, Moncada has played just five games. He has tendencies that have affected him both negatively and positively in his first few games. For example, Moncada has demonstrated a tendnecy to jump on the first pitch, and be very aggressive at the plate. And, while he has hit for a solid average thus far, Moncada has also struck out eight times, while not drawing a walk.
He has a good average, but when he is making outs, he's not making the pitcher work very hard to do it. This showed through on Sunday, when Moncada lined the first pitch he saw in his first at-bat for a hard single to center field. In his second at-bat, Moncada jumped on the second pitch...and grounded out to first base. He stroked another hard single off the right field wall, but faced a different challenge in his fourth at-bat. Facing a lefty, the switch-hitting Moncada batted right-handed. So far, he has fared 1-5 from that side of the plate. He has homered once but also struck out four times. It'll be interesting to see how Moncada's stats level out after a few more weeks in AA ball.
Dubon is Boston's surprise prospect
The Portland lineup card has Moncada, Boston's top international prospect, batting leadoff. Batting third is Benintendi, the seventh overall pick in last year's draft. So who's batting second? The answer is Maurico Dubon, a 26th round pick out of Capital Christian High School in California. High school prospects in general, even first and second round picks, are considered a risk because they have not been tested by the college game. Although there have been some great names drafted straight out of high school (Bryce Harper), there have been some huge flops.
First round picks that seemed destined for fame have flopped, unable to make it in the majors. So 26th round picks out of high school are really, really high risks. In fact, most high school players drafted that late opt to play in college, rather than go straight to the pros. Howerver, Dubon went straight into the Red Sox system and the move has paid off. After struggling in 2013, Dubon hit .320 in Low A ball. This earned him a promotion to Single A, where he continued to hit well. In 2015, between Single A Greenville and High A Salem, Dubon hit .288 while stealing 30 bases in just 37 attempts. He started the 2016 season in Salem, hitting .306 with 24 stolen bases in 62 games.
After an appearance in the All-Star Game, Dubon made the trip up to Portland, apeparing in his third AA game on Sunday. He has shown no problems adjusting to the new level. He was 3-8 with a walk in his first two games. On Sunday, Dubon produced a very solid game. He reached base in his first two at-bats, getting hit by a pitch and nearly taking off the pitcher's head with a line drive shot to center field for a single. On his next at-bat, he featured his ability to hit it the other way, sending a ball rolling all the way to the wall in right-center field for an RBI double. He also worked a walk in the sixth inning. He finished the day 2-3 with a walk and a RBI. After three games, his average is .455 with an on base percentage of .529. In just a few games, Dubon is looking mature at the plate with the ability to produce in clutch situations. He doesn't have much power but his speed and high batting average should be enough to make up for that.
The Portland Sea Dogs may be in last place in the Eastern League. But, they continue to draw large crowds to Hadlock Field, thanks to the fireworks provided by the top three batters in their lineup. And maybe, before too long, these fireworks will be electrifying Fenway Park, not Hadlock Field.