Mid July. Rain has ceased to fall but as 30 or so of Baseball's top prospects play it out before scouts and media alike, the matted dirt and clumping grass are widely evident as these players put everything on the line in the annual event that is the MLB futures game.
Now throughout this storied game that took place back in mid-July, a wide array of stunning young talent was showcased as guys like Archie Bradley and Christian Yelich caught eyes with their prime performances. But nevertheless one name among this game’s wonderful ranks stood out in both Boston and the world of baseball.
Born in October of 1992, Aruban shortstop: Xander Bogarts was signed to the Red Sox minor league team: Portland back in 2009 before being promoted to AAA Paw Sox during the off-season. In AAA baseball, he soon found a spot in baseball’s world of excellence and by July he was handed the chance to head to New York to compete in the 2013 futures game.
Bogarts went 2-3 in the game with his only at bat that did not result in a hit ending with a 4 pitch walk. Yet it was while base-running that Bogarts opened the most eyes. Late in the 7th inning of the game, Bogarts sat on 3rd and upon contact, he was off and running. Yet with the ball fielded in right field Bogarts soon found himself racing to beat a stunning throw.
"I saw the catcher lean so I came in on the back of the plate." Said Bogarts completely exemplifying the tag he would eventually beat. By the time, catcher Austin Hedges snagged the throw, Bogarts was already behind him meaning that after just barely sneaking away from a diving tag attempt Bogarts was in with a crucial run for his team.
“How’d I look at short?” Bogarts asked reporters after the game. “Good?”
Fact is, Bogarts IS good at shortstop and even at his young age, his debut in the MLB might be approaching, faster than anyone ever expected.
After the trade that shipped Jose Iglacias out of Boston, the Red Sox are in for an interesting few months of a right side of the infield saga that could easily provide us fans with some real interesting stuff to talk about. As it stands, Boston has 3 prime 3rd basemen, 1 being Will Middlebrooks, another being Brandon Snyder and the current starter being Brock Holt. Now when you think about it, none of those 3 starters can really threaten to take a hold of the short stop spot leaving the door open for Bogarts... sort of.
Now among fans, Boston's current short stop: Stephan Drew is as bad as anyone could possibly imagine. But nevertheless, the Sox and John Farrall seem deeply intertwined with their 30 year old off-season signing and despite his lack of constant production, Stephan Drew HAS been a clutch guy in clutch times with 2 walk offs on the year and 38 RBI's.
So if Bogarts is such a good prospect, with such a great future ahead of him, can the Red Sox really afford to continue to keep him off the big league roster? So if Bogarts is such a good prospect with such a great future, is Stephan Drew really a better ball player than him?
Long story short, no and no.
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