Red Sox Diaries

The Red Sox seemingly have a never-ending supply of prospects. Dustin Pedroia and Jacoby Ellsbury have broken in with the major league club with great fan fare and succeeded not only in their regular season debuts, but in their showings in the second season. Next in line are well-known uber-prospect Lars Anderson and athletically talented, though unrefined Josh Reddick, not to mention the tricky Michael Bowden. Red Sox Nation will undoubtedly know these names, but in such an atmosphere, even some of the strongest prospects will get overlooked.

For an organization that is so skilled at scouting out strong hitting and solid fielding middle infielders, (see Pedroia, Dustin and Ramirez, Hanley) 21-year-old shortstop Yamaciao Navarro only serves to accentuate this impressive trend. His showings in a split year at two A-ball clubs make the Sox Nation drool and give the Rays a run for their money in the youth department. Navarro hit .304 in time with Lancaster, high-A, and Greenville, A, while posting a telling OPS of .904 with Lancaster. More impressive was a 6 percent drop in his K rate after the move to Lancaster. His glove work has been said to be strong enough for a stay at shortstop and with Jed Lowrie looking miserable in his first games of the year, it might not be too long (mid-2010?) before you see this Dominican.

But before you start asking for the Rookie of the Year trophy and telling Selig to engrave Boston on the Commissioner’s trophy for the next ten years, realize Navarro has a long way to go. He was helped by a very hitter-friendly environment in a traditionally offensively slanted league. (Just ask Daniel Bard, still scarred with a 10.12 ERA from pitching in Lancaster.) Most importantly, his BABIP was a whopping .401. In layman’s terms, for every 10 balls he hit in play, four of them were successful hits. That’s more than a hit above league average and luck is a huge factor in such a high statistic. A BABIP coming down to Earth may bring his .BA down quite a bit. (This pessimistic follower thinks he wouldn’t have hit .285 if not for the BABIP of .401)

Yet, Navarro’s skill and talent may easily help him overcome more challenging environments, and Fenway isn’t exactly Petco. There’s no denying his time will come; the ability is there. In time, Sox Nation might even be quoted, “Hanley who?!”

--orangeandblack6