Red Sox prospect takeaways: Luis Perales injures his elbow; Marcelo Mayer remains hot

Starting pitcher Luis Perales (22) of the Greenville Drive delivers a pitch in a game against the Rome Braves on Wednesday, August 2, 2023, at Fluor Field at the West End in Greenville, South Carolina. (Tom Priddy/Four Seam Images via AP)
By Jen McCaffrey
Jun 24, 2024

After a sweep in Toronto last week, the Boston Red Sox kept up their hot play and moved to six games over .500 for the first time this season.

The Red Sox lost the opener on Friday in Cincinnati, but picked up wins Saturday and Sunday and have now won nine of their last 12 games and have a 42-36 record. Wilyer Abreu returned from the injured list on Saturday and went 1-for-5 with a double over the final two games of the series.

The Red Sox host the Toronto Blue Jays for three games starting on Monday before a day off Thursday and a weekend series against the San Diego Padres. In the meantime, here’s a look at last week in the farm system.

Fitts with another strong start, Lugo cools off in Triple-A Worcester

In Triple-A Worcester, right-hander Richard Fitts pitched five scoreless innings on Saturday, allowing three hits and a walk while striking out a season-high nine batters. The outing lowered his ERA to 3.86 through 13 games, 12 starts.

Infielder Chase Meidroth is riding a 31-game on-base streak. Dating to May 12, Meidroth has 38 hits and 31 walks in that span. On Sunday he went 3-for-5 with two runs scored and an RBI. He’s hitting .294 with an .841 OPS on the year.

Nick Yorke snapped an eight-game hitting streak with a hitless day on Tuesday, but picked right back up, going 5-for-15 the rest of the week while alternating between second base and left field.

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Infielder Nick Sogard collected four consecutive two-hit games last week, doubling in each game and and adding a triple to the mix on Thursday. In 18 games this month, he’s hitting .356 with a .983 OPS.

Matthew Lugo got off to a white-hot start to the year in Double-A Portland, posting a 1.069 OPS in 43 games, which earned the left fielder a promotion to Worcester on June 4. In the early going, he hasn’t carried over the same firepower to Triple A. Through his first 13 games, Lugo went 8-for-47 (.170) with four walks and 17 strikeouts, but he did post his first multi-hit game since June 14 on Sunday, going 2-for-5 with a homer, his first since June 6.

Right-hander Andrew Politi, who posted a 12.19 ERA in 11 appearances this season, was released last week. Politi, a 2018 15th-rounder, had been selected in the Rule 5 draft by the Baltimore Orioles in 2022, but was returned to the Red Sox in March 2023. Politi posted a sub-2.50 ERA throughout 2022 between Worcester and Portland, but hasn’t found the same success since with a 4.45 ERA in 54 appearances last year in Worcester.

In more Rule 5 news, left-hander Shane Drohan, who’d been selected in the Rule 5 draft by the Chicago White Sox this past offseason, was offered back to the organization earlier this month after not sticking on the White Sox’s active roster. Drohan had left shoulder nerve decompression surgery in February and opened the season on the 60-day injured list before being sent out on a rehab assignment in late May. In 10 appearances, he allowed 10 runs, nine earned, on nine hits in 9 1/3 innings before he was designated for assignment. After returning to the Red Sox organization, he was transferred to Worcester’s development list.

Perales likely headed for surgery, Campbell on fire in Double-A Portland

Right-hander Luis Perales is likely headed for elbow surgery. Perales, a top Red Sox pitching prospect, had been off to a terrific start to the season, earning a promotion to Portland from High-A Greenville after a 3.42 ERA through seven starts. But in his second start in Double A, Perales exited the game and last week MassLive reported he’d need surgery. The Red Sox have not yet announced surgery for Perales, but manager Alex Cora did confirm Perales has elbow ligament damage and was flying to see Dr. Jeffrey Dugas, who performed Garrett Whitlock’s internal bracing procedure.

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In more promising news, the top three prospects in the Boston system continue to post strong results in Portland. Shortstop Marcelo Mayer posted a three-hit game on Tuesday and a two-hit game Wednesday, doubling in each and increasing his total to 25 doubles on the season, tops across Double A.

One area Mayer is seeking to improve is his at-bats against lefties. While he’s hitting .335 with a .927 OPS in 217 plate appearances against righties, he’s hitting just .218 with a .599 OPS in 62 plate appearances against lefties.

Outfielder Roman Anthony crushed his seventh homer of the season on Wednesday while collecting two walks.

Catcher Kyle Teel had three hits on Tuesday with a double and drove in two runs. He played both ends of a doubleheader on Friday, DH-ing in the second game, and hitting a two-run homer, his eighth of the season.

Infielder Blaze Jordan continues to mash after returning from the injured list June 12. He went 6-for-22 this past week with five of his six hits going for extra bases. Jordan crushed a bases-loaded triple on Tuesday, picked up three doubles at the end of the week and hit a three-run homer in the second game of a doubleheader on Friday. Meanwhile in 40 at-bats against lefties, he has yet to strike out, while posting a 1.325 OPS vs. southpaws.

Second baseman/center fielder Kristian Campbell continues his highlight reel season. He’s riding an eight-game hitting streak and has a hit in 16 of 17 games with Portland. On Tuesday, he went 3-for-3 with a homer, his third in Double A. The 21-year-old is hitting .431 with a 1.218 OPS over 78 plate appearances since his promotion to Portland on June 4. He earned Eastern League Player of the Week honors for June 10-16 when he went 12-for-28 (.429) with four doubles, two homers and seven RBIs in six games.

Right-hander Bryan Mata, who’d been shut down with lat soreness, began his rehab assignment again two weeks ago and posted three scoreless innings on Friday for Portland, allowing three hits and a walk while striking out two.

Coffey’s streak ends, Early with a strong start for High-A Greenville; Rodriguez-Cruz shines for Low-A Salem

Cutter Coffey’s historic streak of homering in six straight games for High-A Greenville came to an end, but he’s continued to hit. The homer streak coincided with an 11-game hitting streak, but Coffey had an 0-for-2 day on Sunday. He got back into his homer groove on Thursday with a two-run shot.

Also on Thursday, outfielder Allan Castro, a 2019 international free agent signee, crushed an inside-the-park homer and went 3-for-5 with three runs scored and a stolen base.

Left-hander Connelly Early posted another strong start for Greenville with five shutout innings, allowing just one hit on Tuesday. The 2023 fifth-rounder struck out six and walked two. The 22-year-old has a 3.79 ERA in 12 starts.

Right-hander David Sandlin, acquired in the John Schreiber trade this spring, returned from injury two weeks ago and posted a strong outing on Friday with two hitless innings, allowing one walk and striking out four.

Right-hander Elmer Rodriguez-Cruz lowered his ERA to 2.74 through 12 games, 11 starts, with another solid outing on Tuesday for Low-A Salem. He threw five scoreless innings, allowing two hits and one walk to go along with four strikeouts. He’s increased his strikeout rate to 28 percent, up from 23 percent last season.

(Photo of Perales with Greenville: Tom Priddy / Four Seam Images via Associated Press)

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Jen McCaffrey

Jen McCaffrey is a staff writer for The Athletic covering the Boston Red Sox. Prior to joining The Athletic, the Syracuse graduate spent four years as a Red Sox reporter for MassLive.com and three years as a sports reporter for the Cape Cod Times. Follow Jen on Twitter @jcmccaffrey