The Red Sox announced on Wednesday evening that they will promote top prospect Yoan Moncada to the Major Leagues on Friday.
The 21-year-old Moncada is widely regarded as one of the top prospects in all of baseball, if not the top prospect. The switch-hitter was one of the most highly sought after international free agents in history when he left Cuba last year, prompting the Red Sox to agree to a $31.5MM bonus — far and away the largest ever for a player that is characterized by an amateur under Major League Baseball’s international prospect rulings. That bonus came with a 100 percent luxury tax, meaning that the Red Sox effectively spent $63MM simply to get Moncada into their farm system. That figure doesn’t account for any of the future salaries that Moncada will begin to earn as he works his way toward arbitration, but the early returns look to have been worth it for Boston.
In 486 plate appearances between Class-A Advanced and Double-A this season, Moncada is batting a scintillating .298/.411/.518 with 15 home runs, 31 doubles, six triples and 45 stolen bases (in 57 attempts). While the majority of his time in the minors has been spent as a second baseman, he recently began seeing some time at the hot corner in Double-A Portland, which is where he figures to fit into the Red Sox’ short- and long-term plans, thanks to the presence of franchise cornerstone Dustin Pedroia at second base.
Moncada ranked No. 1 on the midseason top prospect lists of both Baseball America and MLB.com, while Baseball Prospectus ranked him second and ESPN’s Keith Law rated him fifth (though it’s worth noting that three of the players ahead of Moncada on Law’s Top 50 are now in the Majors).
Regardless of who you root for, this will be entertaining 🙂
Good move, hopefully his short experience at 3B in Portland will help him start ahead of Shaw in this September
Yoan, show us what you got.
Another Puig in the making
Yeah I’m a sox fan here, I was at his first game against Phillies double a team waiting with other diehards for an autograph and blew everyone off. Everyone else there was more than happy to sign besides him.
Just from his scouting reports, on the 20-80 scales he was consistently rated in the 50-60 range. He doesn’t do anything spectacular like Chris davis’ power, Adam eatons defense or Yasiel puigs arm, he’s just well rounded in all his aspects. There’s nothing wrong with that.
Damn wrong spot
He’s got 80 speed, or damn close to it.
80 grade speed
Speed is a 90
Moncada came to Lexington to play the Legends last year. With a big smile he autographed my Red Sox hat and gave me and my friend his batting gloves. He has a strong character and a lot of support helping point him in the right direction from what I’ve read over the years as well.
Only creepos and losers ask for autographs tbh
I saw him go yard in Portland. The kid can swing it
What will his role be? Pinch runner? I doubt you’ll want to throw him straight into the fire in a pennant race. Anyways, Moncoda is a guy that can’t do anything great, but all his tools are good. Gives him a high floor and if he busts, he’ll still be a decent bench guy/MLB caliber player
“Moncoda is a guy that can’t do anything great, but all his tools are good.”
I’d say that’s extremely arguable. He’s a second baseman that has gotten on base at a 41% clip and has slugged over .500 this year. Yes, it’s only between A and AA, but those are GREAT numbers, especially for a second baseman. He’s also stolen 94 bases in the last 2 years while only being caught 15 times. It looks like he does at least a few things great. At worst, his on base skills and speed are VERY good tools at this point, and I’d argue that they are great.
Dombrowski said on WeEI cpl days back he was looking for a pinch runner for september and the playoffs. Boston usually does carry a pinch runner, from Dave Roberts, Pedro Ciriaco, Quinton Berry etc.. Might not have been able to drag one up, tho think berry is floating around ATM
Not a fan of calling him up. It won’t be for playoff roster, just 40 man and means starting to burn options. Don’t think he’s ready after watch some of his games. Maybe mid 2017-late next year.
You really think Dombrowski is worried about if he’ll he able to send Moncada to the minors in 2020? If so, you don’t think he’s the kind of talent that everyone else does.
He is eligible for the playoff roster. All you have to be is with the organization by September first to qualify.
This evaluation is way off, you don’t become the top prospect in baseball by not doing anything great. The guy is an elite talent, that’s how he reached the majors by 21 yo, even if he is possibly being rushed a little.
I don’t see why people are mad at this. I’d rather have a complete player than someone who excels at one thing and is average or worse at every thing else. Goldschmidts one of those complete players, that’s hardly a knock on moncoda
“Moncoda is a guy that can’t do anything great, but all his tools are good.” That type of comment applies more to a player like Ben Zobrist or Brock Holt. It implies (as you’ve seen by the reactions of many other readers) that Moncada will simply be an average to solid major leaguer, nothing special.
And you seem to think that same line applies to Paul Goldschmidt. Goldy, of course, has four straight .300+ seasons. He led the NL in home runs and slugging a few years back and hit over 30 last year. He has two Gold Glove awards and finished second in NL MVP voting twice. He leads the MLB in walks this season and now has two straight 20+ stolen base seasons.
Perhaps you meant to say he has no “elite tools”, like Joey Gallo’s power, or Billy Hamilton’s speed, or Andrelton Simmon’s glove, but then again, very few players have an 80 tool. The way you said it, you make it seem as if Moncada will be nothing more than an average player.
Moncada has the potential to become a .300+/.400+/.500+ player with 40 doubles, 25+ home runs, 40+ stolen bases while playing Gold-Glove quality defense with, an above-average arm, good baserunning skills, and positional versatility. That would make him an elite player, among one of the best in the game.
I think it’s with your wording more than anything.
Should have been called up tonight so could be on postseason roster if they make it.
He can be because he’s part of the organization as of August
He’s not on the 40 man yet. He will be tomorrow (September 1st) , so he won’t be postseason eligible
He still can be if there is an injury.
Yep. It’s pretty safe to say that either Holt, Shaw, or Hill will come down with a “sore shoulder” or “tight hamstring” prior to having to turn in playoff rosters. Then Moncada can be there.
Pablo is on the 60 day, so Moncada can take his spot on the post season roster.
Perfect timing to give him a little time at the major league level while maybe lighting a fire under shaw and some of the others. Also will allow some of us sox fans to get excited about the future while hopefully making Moncada a little hungrier when he gets sent back down
OMG. Why would they rush him like this?! Not even a single game at AAA? They are ruining his development and starting his service time for no reason.
(sarcasm)
Right….. Just like they did with Benny and he was only hitting at a. 326 clip coming from AA himself.
So the people who are saying that don’t know what there talking about.
With this being Ortiz’s last year did you expect anything less? It’s all hands on deck right now.
Hopefully we get Benny back this season all so
Go Sox !!!
I know it’s sarcasm but his service clock likely won’t matter. He still needs time at AAA to work on his RH swing and and defense meaning he’ll likely start 2017 down in the minors long enough to gain that extra year of team control anyways.
didn’t he sign a contract anyways, so service time wont be an issue. Couldn’t he be in the minors the whole time and then become a free agent without ever being called up?
He didn’t sign a contract, he simply got $31 million as a signing bonus. And every minor league player can become a free agent after I believe 4 years of not being on the 40-man roster(not 100% sure on the years). However, service time won’t be an issue simply because its the Red Sox. They aren’t going to let their young studs leave, and they have the money to make that so.
Farrell post game tonight said he’d like to use Moncada at 3rd vs right handers to start. I’m sure just like Benintendi was going to platoon in left to start.
He’ll be the next Jurickson Profar. The Red Sox do not have a spot for him in the big leagues. So he will fester in the minors until he ends up broken like Profar. They should have traded him in a package for Chris Sale or another top arm.
What are you talking about? Profar got hurt. Moncada will probably play third.
So he’ll miss 2 years with shoulder injuries like Profar?
That is irrelevant to my point. My point was that BEFORE Profar’s injuries, his position of shortstop was already filled for the Rangers. Yes, they tried to change him to 2nd, but it met with minimal success. The injuries happened after that and didn’t help matters, but it’s not like Profar was setting the world on fire before his injury troubles either.
The Red Sox will try to change Moncada to 3rd base and it might or might not work, but it would a whole lot easier for Moncada’s development by not having him learn a new position while adjusting to the majors.. Trading him as the #1 prospect in the league would have virtually guaranteed a top of the rotation arm like Sale. To me, that is much more desirable than having him switch positions and make his ascension to the majors that much more difficult.. But I don’t like the Red Sox anyway, so I hope they do screw it up.
It’s worth mentioning that he played 3rd base his entire young life before he switched to second base. Plus second base is generally a more difficult position than third and most high end athletes can handle the change. Profar was more the exception than the norm. Sale would have been great, but it’s not like they were asking for just Moncada straight up anyway. He would have been a ridiculous price tag.
To suggest that any prospect who switches positions will wind up like Jurickson Profar is absurd. It seems like you’ve forgotten about the many, many prospects that didn’t end up like Profar.
Remember when Mookie switched from second to just the outfield without a problem? Or Donaldson went from primarily catching in the minors to playing third? Or how Manny Machado played two games of third base before being called up to play that position in the majors? Bregman at short. Baez at short. Miguel Sano used to be a shortstop, too. Wil Myers and Bryce Harper were catchers. Todd Frazier saw some time at second. Neil Walker was a second baseman. Alex Gordon and Ryan Braun were at the hot corner. Both Upton brothers were shortstops.
Haha. Pretty comprehensive list here. Basically completely shoots down that Jurickson Profar theory huh? Unless someone wants to counter with 10 other names still in the league. No?
You are misinterpreting my argument. I said changing a position during a first call up made it more difficult. Of course players can change positions after they first become acclimated either during ST the next year or even further down the road AFTER they have had their initial adjustment period in the majors. I also never said it was impossible to do, I said it made it more difficult. Of course it can be done. But for the sake of argument, let’s look at your list in further detail.
1. Betts started changing to an outfielder in the minors before he was promoted.
2. Donaldson played more games at catcher than anywhere else his first season.
3. Bregman is not exactly lighting it up so his inclusion is completely irrelevant.
4. Baez played more games at short than anywhere else his rookie year.
5. Sano played at DH in almost 90% of his games his rookie year so his inclusion is meaningless as well.
6 Myers changed from catcher long before he made the majors.
7 Harper did not play catcher for a single inning in the minors.
8. Todd Frazier was basically a super utility player in the minors, but he played third a lot.
9. Walker was a third baseman in the minors and that is where he played in his first big league year..
10 Gordon was a third baseman for his first three big league seasons.
11. Braun was a third baseman for his entire rookie year.
12. Justin Upton never played a single inning at shortstop in the minors.
13. B.J./Melvin Upton played more games at short his rookie year than anywhere else.
So basically you are left with one player in Machado. So yes, if he becomes the equivalent of Manny Machado, then he should be successful. But since Machado is one of the best 5 players in the game, that seems to be a lofty goal. But if that’s what you want, then go for it. I consider my theory “un-shot down” now.
Fair enough point, but a few counter arguments.
Bregman has absolutely been lighting it up. Of course, he struggled upon being called up – he was 2-38 in his first ten games. But excluding that poor start, in the 24 games since, he’s slashing .307/.360/.545 with 22 runs, nine doubles, five home runs and 20 RBI’s. He’s reached base safely in every single one of those games, and seven of them were multi-hit performances.
And apart from them, Odubell Herrera is another one. He had rarely played any outfield before being selected by the Phillies in the Rule 5 Draft. He’s only played center for them and he’s done excellent (at least relative to his expectations as a prospect).
But more importantly, I’m not sure the logic behind the argument is sound. You can’t point to Jurickson Profar and say “hey, see what happens when you throw a guy into a new position?”, any more than you can point to Manny Machado and say the same thing. You can’t honestly believe that a healthy Profar would have lived up to his potential if he was kept at shortstop. Besides, he did play a decent amount at second before being called up. He played a couple dozen games there at Frisco before being called up and then split time at both positions in the 2012 Dominican Winter League and at Round Rock in 2013.
I’ll agree with you in that I don’t see why Boston isn’t playing him at third – or at least splitting time between second and third – in the minors if that’s where they plan to use him long-term. But I strongly disagree that throwing him into a new position is going to automatically make him a flop. It’s certainley add another adjustment he’ll have to make while trying to adapt to big league pitching; I believe his defense will certainley suffer, but I don’t see how it would significantly affect his bat or baserunning ability, which is his where his real value lies.
Once again, fair points. A couple of things.
Bregman I’ll honestly admit that I haven’t kept up with him. I don’t follow the Astros that much and I rarely even see AL games. I was basically just remembering how he started. Good for him.
Herrera had Spring Training to adapt to the OF, so he had a little bit of time to prepare for the change as opposed to Moncada getting called up midseason.
Profar. Who knows whether he would have lived up to expectations or even whether those expectations were realistic to begin with? I certainly don’t. But the Rangers didn’t even give him the opportunity to show what he could do because of the Andrus extension. As the #1 prospect back then, Profar could have gotten them a second baseman of quality and then some if they had sent him to a shortstop needy organization at the time. I seem to remember the Cardinals were looking at the position at the time and I’m sure others would have been jumping to get him. Instead they chose to move him to a new position thereby reducing his value before he even got started.
You are correct that his bat and baserunning will possibly not be affected, I emphasize possibly though because playing badly in one area is bound to mentally affect a player in others at least somewhat. I just think the Red Sox have set him up to fail or at least not succeed as much as he should. Whether he does or not, we will just have to wait and see.
Alex Bregman in the last month: 307/360/584. He’s 22. He’s an absolute stud
Lol what? 3rd base is literally his for the taking…
Boston still has Pablo Sandoval, which at a minimum is potentially serious competition that Moncada doesn’t need right now. Yes Pablo is fat and had a horrible 2015, but he has also been a great player not that long ago.
Boston might be rich, but I seriously doubt they are going to eat that entire contract.. Although maybe they will get lucky and Sandoval will eat it.
Put a little barbecue sauce on it and it’ll be gone instantly
Potentially serious? Sandoval is dead weight literally and figuratively. The Red Sox will drop him like a bag of rocks if needed. Right now the best case scenario for the Red Sox is Sandoval shows up to spring training not looking out of shape and they can pawn him off to some team with a sudden injury for a career minor leaguer and a hot dog.
They benched him to start the year. Now he’s coming back from a full year off.
So you trade Moncada because of Sandoval? As Bryce Harper would say, these are some clown comments bro
No, you should have traded Moncada because your rotation is weak. Shaw is covering third just fine right now. In the offseason, it will be a whole lot easier to find a third baseman to compete with Sandoval than an ace. Or you could even sign Encarnacion to DH and leave Shaw/Pablo at third and Ramirez at first. Prospects like Moncada are nice to have, but they occasionally fail to immediately adapt to the majors. They are 100% useful as trade currency during a season when Boston is trying to win the World Series.
Yes but they gave him the entire spring to win/lose the starting job. There is no reason to believe that they won’t do that again.
Every time I see/here Moncada’s name I am reminded about how much difference there is between George and Hal. Ten years ago Moncada would have been signed by the Yankees no matter the cost. He is an elite talent with a very bright future. If he stays healthy the $10-$15m that Hal refused to part with to sign him is going to haunt Hal and Yankee fans for years. I know he hasn’t proven anything yet but just about every Yankee fan that I talk to feels the same way. Now we get to watch his career begin at 3rd while we get to watch the amazing future hall of famer (sarcasm) Chase Headley play 3rd for the Yanks. It bothers me to no end, that the Yankees could have easily signed him (he has publicly stated that he expected to be a Yankee) for just a little more than they gave Headley, with his new contract. Solarte was doing just fine at 3rd and would have held it down just fine until Moncada was ready. But, of course, since Headley had one good year, a couple of years before they acquired him, he deserved the $50+ million that should have gone to Moncada. I am sure Hal valued his name recognition way more than Moncada’s potential. The Yankees new outlook on youth came a couple of years too late. Sorry about the long rant but I know Hank screwed up bidding against himself for ARod back in 2008 but at least he proved that he wasn’t the tightwad Hal has turned out to be. End rant.
Lmao….Hope it hurts Yankees fans for a long time to come.
Y’all spoiled brats were use to signing every star player to come around and bought titles left and right intill 2004 and since then they’ve only managed to win 1 title.
It doesn’t feel good now that your team is part of an even playing field now does it ?
Why would any fan be happy of titles won where thier team out spent 20 times more money than every other club? It was like the All-Star team playing against MLB team regulars.
And Yanks fans really believe that was fair that’s the sad part about it.
Now ya’ll can eat your hearts out when you watch Bogaerts, Moncanda, Betts, JBJ and Benintindi play and feel how every other team felt not being able to aquire players of this caliber. Enjoy..
The Yankees maybe “bought” one title in 2009 (to about the same degree the sox did in 2007). Yes they spent a lot of money on free agency, but only once did it get them a title. The vast majority of titles they have are from homegrown players who they used their larger budget to keep in New York which there is absolutely nothing wrong with. You guys really make us Sox fans look stupid with this argument
Yeah. I think it’s shown that you can’t just buy a title, but it does give a fair advantage when a team drops an extra 40-80 million. They Red Sox have spent their fair share of money as well, but no where near to the same degree as the Yankees. It’s not unreasonable to mention when talking about a high dollar prospect like Moncada. The Red Sox also spent in a far different light. It’s common practice to spend 45% of your revenue on player signings. Which even though the Red Sox cap was above league average they have always hovered right around that mark. Whereas the Yankees had years where they were pushing close to 60% on players. Well within their rights and I’m not saying I’m disgusted with it or anything, but it is relevant to the topic and comment. And it’s definitely not to the same degree as the ’07 Sox or stupid(In fact I’d say it’s educated)
That’s only if none of them bust and jbj isn’t the player who strikes out a ton who was flunking his way through the first half of this year.
Fluking
I hate it whenever Red Sox fans try to point to the Yankees signing every star player as if they didn’t try to do the exact same thing, just with a little less money. They make it seem like they were the little guy when in actuality they were just a very slightly smaller giant.
Agreed Ray Ray. They act as if they don’t spend any money on free agents and act as if all their championships were won with homegrown and all the Yankees ones were “bought”.
That’s not at all what I said. You take the irritated and irrational explanation and skip over mine to avoid the real facts.
In(maybe) a less aggressive way than the previous comment it really is about time that the Yankees are back on level ground. The amount of money they spent some years were absolutely insane. Nearly 3x the league average some years! That gave them a clear advantage and although it was well within their rights it hardly felt fair. As far as Moncada goes I’m not saying they didn’t make a mistake by not putting up to get him, but it’s easy to look at current successes and point out mistakes from the past. There have been far more busts and cautionary tales from players of similar origins that were also said to be more than capable of stardom. It’s not easy to look at a litter of puppies and pick the one that’s going to turn into your prized show dog. More often than not they turn out to be no more than average and it takes more than average to play at the top level. And when your paying a high price of 63 Million dollars that’s a pretty good hit to your cap for a AAA disappointment.
It’s funny how a level headed tone can make a rhetoric so much more effective.
Its time the mlb got a salary cap, but with contracts so out of hand, it’ll never happen. Boston and New York can take risks like this, where if Moncoda were to sign this deal in Oakland or Tampa and bust, theyre screwed for years to follow. This way everybody would be on the same level.
Quite often I disagree with your assessments, but that is the most insightful comment I have ever seen you make on this site. Credit where credit is due.
There are guys in the minors having better seasons than Moncada is. Moncada is a great talent & very well may turn into a great player. However, he may struggle against big league pitching right now. There is a big difference between AA & the majors. If Red Sox fans are expecting a ton from him right now, they could be disappointed.
Haha. Don’t you think it would be fair to mention that almost all the players that are having better seasons than him have had far more time to develop? That’s part of what has made him and Benintendi so exciting. Could he use a little more time to hone his skills? Maybe. But with the minor league seasons ending that’s exactly why they are calling him up. Even if he only hits in the mid .200’s it’s an improvement from the current slumping 3rd basemen on the Sox. Plus no one can deny that he has the talent and potential to explode out of the gate.
Perhaps the same magic that propelled the Sox when Xander played some 3b for a couple of weeks will play out with Moncada.
There is a reason why all trade talk prior to the deadline included Moncada—smart baseball people recognize Cano tendencies in Moncada. If the Sox don’t sign Encarnacion in FA–you may see Moncada playing 1 B next season. with Hanley as the Full-time DH.. He’s a big kid–6’2—-205—-very good hands–switch hitter–above average speed. Time will tell how he will adjust to the bright lights. JF will have him in the lineup Friday–Like Benintendi—-Moncada has done well at each level. Remember Benny played 3 years of high calibre college ball at Arkansas. He made a pretty good splash before getting hurt; I can only hope for the same with this prospect.
The same… Except maybe the getting hurt part.
I feel like if anything we’d probably sign someone else or use Shaw at first before we use Moncada at first
Plus we have Sam Travis if he can rebound from his ACL tear
Why would they put Moncada at first? He has an above-average glove, great speed, and a solid arm. You lose a lot of value having him at first rather than third, second, or short.
Who would play third? Sandoval? Shaw? Any of these four possibilities would help Boston’s defense more than having Moncada at first and one of them at third:
3B Moncada 1B Shaw DH Ramirez
3B Moncada 1B Shaw DH Sandoval
3B Moncada 1B Ramirez DH Sandoval
3B Moncada 1B Ramirez DH Shaw
Baseball is not the sport it once was. More than ever it is a business. The Red Sox are about making money. They charge a small fortune for their tickets and their souvenirs and concessions so they have many to buy hotels like the game of Monopoly. For the moment Moncada is Park Place or Boardwalk. He has a high rate of return and rich people will play money to see the next, best thing. However, we should be careful elevating Moncada to a pedestal. Some people are writing they are clamoring for Moncada to replace Travis Shaw whom we heralded at the start of the season; Shaw has slumped and we are ready to write him off. Moncada drives a Lamborghini and is caught up in the hype. Let’s keep in mind he is still an unproven commodity and hope he does well. If that’s the case that’s great. At the end of the day the Red Sox need to field their 25 best and to me all that matters are “W’s”.
More than ever? Baseball has always been a business. Read about Charles Comiskey sometime. Or Branch Rickey. And Read about the anti-trust exemption baseball enjoys, which allows it to make even more money than the average business.