2010 Top 20 Pre-Season Boston Red Sox Prospects in Review

2010 Boston Red Sox Top 20 Prospects in Review

Here is a review of the 2010 Red Sox prospect list, originally published December 14, 2025. THIS IS A REVIEW OF THE OLD LIST AND PRE-SEASON GRADES. THIS IS NOT A NEW LIST.  The 2011 list and new grades won't be ready until the season is over and I start writing the book.

1) Ryan Westmoreland, OF, Grade B+: Missed entire year following brain surgery. He's hit off a tee, but at this point just living a normal non-baseball life will be a blessing. This is the kind of thing that puts it all back in perspective. Baseball is a game...a fun game, and a living for a lot of people on and off the field. But it is still just a game.

2) Casey Kelly, RHP, Grade B+:  5.31 ERA, 83/35 K/BB in 95 innings for Double-A Portland, 118 hits. Throws strikes and young for the level at 20, but this is not a good season.

3) Ryan Kalish, OF, Grade B:  .294/.382/.502 with 25 steals between Portland and Triple-A Pawtucket, 11-for-30 (.367) in the majors so far. I love the power/speed/walks combination.

4) Josh Reddick, OF, Grade B:  .246/.286/.429 with 11 homers for Pawtucket, 4-for-25 with six strikeouts in the majors. Poor strike zone judgment the issue here.

5) Michael Bowden, RHP, Grade B:  Bad in April but effective since then for Pawtucket, 3.65 ERA, 74/33 K/BB in 101 innings, 81 hits. Moved to bullpen in July and very good so far, 15/4 K/BB in 15 innings, 3.00 ERA.

6) Junichi Tazawa, RHP, Grade B-:  Tommy John surgery.

7) Anthony Rizzo, 1B, Grade B-:  .265/.326/.481, 19 homers, 41 walks, 104 strikeouts in 441 at-bats between High-A Salem and Double-A. 38 doubles as well. More power this year.

8) Lars Anderson, 1B, Grade B-:  Fast start at Portland (.355/.408/.667 in 17 games), but sagged after moving to Triple-A (.244/.334/.400). Can't hit lefties at all. I have been pro-Lars but that is changing.

9) Reymond Fuentes, OF, Grade B-:  .275/.332/.399 with 31 steals for Low-A Greenville. Bad plate discipline, but speed and athleticism are excellent.

10) Stolmy Pimentel, RHP, Grade B-:  4.37 ERA, 81/29 K/BB in 105 innings, 104 hits for Salem. Like the strike-throwing and he's young at 20.

11) Jose Iglesias, SS, Grade C+:   Hit .306/.340/.408 in 40 games in Double-A, now on rehab assignment in the New York-Penn League due to finger injury. Hits for average, walk rate low, power marginal, glove reviews strong although statistical range factor is poor, granted minor league defensive numbers can be funky. Young enough at 20 to develop in many directions.

12) Derrik Gibson, INF, Grade C+:  .245/.319/.322 for Greenville, 30 steals. Not a lot of pop in the bat, speed and athleticism are good.

13) Luis Exposito, C, Grade C+:  .270/.348/.412 for Portland, 35% of runners caught, but a high passed ball and error rate. Blah season.

14) David Renfroe, SS-3B, Grade C+:   .207/.284/.286 in the New York-Penn League for Lowell. Weak.

15) Alex Wilson, RHP, Grade C+:   3.40 ERA with 50/15 K/BB in 56 innings for Salem, 43 hits, 1.53 GO/AO. But then a 6.97 ERA with a 32/19 K/BB in 50 innings for Portland, 63 hits, 0.79 GO/AO, 11 homers.  On the disabled list with a tired arm. Hard to know what to think here; he was solid in A-Ball but awful after moving up.

16) Roman Mendez, RHP, Grade C+:  Horrible for Greenville early in the year. Mediocre in the NY-P after being demoted, then traded to the Texas Rangers. Raw arm still figuring things out.

17) Pete Hissey, OF, Grade C+:  .238/.310/.316 for Salem, 39 walks, 118 strikeouts in 408 at-bats. 24 steals and has good tools, but lack of refinement at the plate is a huge problem.

18) Yamaico Navarro, SS, Grade C+:   .277/.360/.429 between Portland  and Pawtucket, 17 steals, nine homers. Not an awesome season, but not bad either. Command of zone has improved.

19) Madison Younginer, RHP, Grade C+:   5.36 ERA, 24/21 K/BB in 44 innings for Lowell, 42 hits. Undistinguished performance, but at 19 he has time to improve.

20) Stephen Fife, RHP, Grade C+:   5.01 ERA, 71/37 K/BB in 111 innings for Portland, 123 hits. I liked him a lot as a sleeper pre-season, but he took too much ambien and is still sleeping.

21) Kyle Weiland, RHP, Grade C+:   4.40 ERA, 100/39 K/BB in 104 innings for Portland, 89 hits. ERA could easily be lower with these components, FIP is 3.79.

22) Che-Hsuan Lin, OF, Grade C+:   .274/.384/.343 for Portland, 61 walks, 19 steals, 57 strikeouts in 394 at-bats. Still not showing much power, but he has a good approach at the plate and an excellent glove.

Ryan Kalish looks great, and I still believe Michael Bowden will be a good major league pitcher. But my faith in Lars is slipping, and several others that I thought could break through (Fife, Younginer, Hissey, Gibson, Pimentel) are stagnant or getting worse. It is too bad Iglesias' injury precludes a larger sample size, and I'm still uncertain about exactly how good he can be.