MLB Draft Deep Dive: Boston Red Sox

In order to satisfy my innate curiosity as it pertains to the MLB Draft, I have taken a comprehensive look at the 2018 draft for each of the 30 MLB organizations. But I also wanted to get an idea of what each of the teams had done for the 20 years prior so that is included as a prelude to the 2018 information. I'll be looking first at each team in each division, starting with the National League East, and then I'll follow up with a an overall look at both the historical draft results to date and the early 2018 results.

My goal is to get a better idea of the big picture as to how the systems compare in terms of draft results, as well as how a good or bad draft class affects a system, the overall impact of the draft on the baseball talent pool and the circuitous ways in which draft picks are used to bolster a system for which they may never even play. This project is just a first step. I intend to expand on this information over time (including a later revisit of the 2018 class and the addition of the 2019 class next offseason) and I will share my findings as I do so.

AMERICAN LEAGUE EAST

BOSTON RED SOX

Historical Draft Results from 1998 through 2017 (TO DATE)
Drafted 946 | Signed 540 | Pitchers Signed 263 | Position Players Signed 277
Total WAR 433.9
Total Players to MLB 94

Note: The following players are listed at the position at which they were originally drafted.

1998 | 5 to MLB | WAR 16.1 | High WAR 12.6, OF Adam Everett, 1st rd
1999 | 4 to MLB | WAR 7.9 | High WAR 8.3, OF Lew Ford, 12th rd
2000 | 6 to MLB | WAR 19.2 | High WAR 15.9, SS Freddy Sanchez, 11th rd
2001 | 2 to MLB | WAR 41.0 | High WAR 32.6, 3B Kevin Youkilis, 8th rd
2002 | 3 to MLB | WAR 48.0 | High WAR 43.8, LHP Jon Lester, 2nd rd
2003 | 4 to MLB | WAR 36.2 | High WAR 23.5, RHP Jonathan Papelbon, 4th rd
2004 | 4 to MLB | WAR 54.5 | High WAR 52.1, SS Dustin Pedroia, 2nd rd
2005 | 6 to MLB | WAR 65.4 | High WAR 31.1, OF Jacoby Ellsbury, 1st rd
2006 | 9 to MLB | WAR 39.3 | High WAR 24.0, OF Josh Reddick, 17th rd
2007 | 6 to MLB | WAR 36.6 | High WAR 28.8, 1B Anthony Rizzo, 6th rd
2008 | 9 to MLB | WAR (2.9) | High WAR 1.0, C Christian Vazquez, 9th rd
2009 | 6 to MLB | WAR 5.5 | High WAR 5.6, RHP Alex Wilson, 2nd rd
2010 | 5 to MLB | WAR (1.5) | High WAR 0.1, RHP Brandon Workman, 2nd rd
2011 | 8 to MLB | WAR 61.1 | High WAR 35.2, SS Mookie Betts, 5th rd
2012 | 9 to MLB | WAR 1.4 | High WAR 1.6, LHP Brian Johnson, 1st rd
2013 | 2 to MLB | WAR (0.6) | High WAR 0.0, RHP Kyle Martin, 9th rd
2014 | 3 to MLB | WAR (0.8) | High WAR 0.1, RHP Michael Kopech, 1st rd
2015 | 3 to MLB | WAR 7.5 | High WAR 7.0, OF Andrew Benintendi, 1st rd
2016 | 0 to MLB | WAR 0.0 | High WAR N/A
2017 | 0 to MLB | WAR 0.0 | High WAR N/A

The highest WAR to date goes to 2B Dustin Pedroia (2004, 2nd round, 52.1 WAR) with 2005 representing the high total WAR. Out of the Red Sox 2005 Draft class, three players contributed double-digit WAR: OF Jacoby Ellsbury (1st round, 31.1 WAR), RHP Clay Buchholz (1st round, 18.0 WAR) and SS Jed Lowrie (1st round, 17.6 WAR). Ellsbury played for the Red Sox for seven seasons (earning a Gold Glove, Silver Slugger and All-Star nod in 2011) before leaving via free agency after the 2013 season. Buchholz, a two-time All-Star, wore a Red Sox uniform for 10 seasons before being traded to Philadelphia in late 2016. Lowrie was with Boston for four seasons before being traded to Houston in 2011 (and his most productive years, overall, have been in Oakland). Pedroia, on the other hand, has never played for a team other than Boston. He was the American League Rookie of the Year in 2007 and AL MVP in 2008, has earned four Gold Gloves and a Silver Slugger, has been named to the All-Star team four times and has earned World Series rings in 2007, 2013 and 2018, however, he was prohibited from playing in the Red Sox 2018 postseason due to injuries.

2018 DRAFT
40 Drafted | 28 Signed | 13 Pitchers | 15 Position Players
22 College | 19 Signed | 10 Pitchers | 9 Position Players
3 JC/CC | 2 Signed | 2 Pitchers | 0 Position Players
15 HS/NS | 7 Signed | 1 Pitcher | 6 Position Players

Notable: The Red Sox failed to sign two of their top 20 picks with the top holdout being 14th round HS 2B Nicholas Lucky.

PITCHERS
All of the 13 pitchers signed (10 RHP, 3 LHP) logged at least some playing time. One of the players was promoted beyond the Short Season A* level, to Advanced A. One of the pitchers debuted on MLB Pipeline's Top 30 Prospect list for the Red Sox.

Top Prospects

RHP Durbin Feltman, 3rd round, Texas Christian University, A+
23.1 IP | 22 G / 0 GS | 1.93 ERA | 0.986 WHIP | 5 BB : 36 K | 4 Saves

Noteworthy Debut

RHP Kris Jackson, 28th round, Corbin College, SSA
26.1 IP | 19 G / 0 GS | 0.68 ERA | 1.101 WHIP | 5 BB : 29 K | 5 Saves

In total, the Boston 2018 Draft pitchers combined for a 2.83 ERA and a 1.239 WHIP over 295.1 innings as compared to the 3.67 ERA and 1.299 WHIP (average of 376.2 innings per affiliate) compiled by the total 2018 Draft class in 2018.

POSITION PLAYERS
All of the 15 position players signed (1B, 2B, 3 3B, 2 SS, 6 OF, 2 C) logged at least some playing time. Two players were promoted beyond the Short Season A* level (to Full Season A). Four players debuted on MLB Pipeline's Top 30 Prospect list for the Red Sox, one as a Top 10 prospect.

Top Prospects

🔟 3B Triston Casas (L/R), 1st round, American Heritage HS (FL), Rk
2 G | .000/.200/.000/.200 | 1 BB : 2 K

OF Nick Decker (L/L), 2nd round, Senaca HS (NJ), Rk
2 G | .250/.400/.500/.900 | 1 BB : 1 K

3B Nicholas Northcut (R/R), 11th round, William Mason HS (OH), SSA
47 G | .223/.303/.319/.622 | 16 BB : 55 K

3B Brandon Howlett (R/R), 21st round, George Jenkins HS (FL), SSA
44 G | .289/.402/.513/.915 | 28 BB : 41 K

🔟 Top 10 Prospect

Noteworthy Debut

OF Jarren Duran (L/R), 7th round, California State University Long Beach, A
67 G | .357/.394/.516/.910 | 16 BB : 48 K | 24 SB : 10 CS | 14 2B / 11 3B / 3 HR

In total, the Red Sox 2018 Draft position players combined to hit .266/.347/.374/.721 as compared to .261/.349/.386/.735 batting line compiled by the total 2018 Draft class in 2018.

*Notes on players include the highest level achieved for the 2018 season using the following abbreviations:
Rk = Rookie
SSA = Short Season A
A = Full Season A
A+ = Full Season A Advanced

GENERAL NOTES: Information was obtained from Baseball-Reference and the MLB Draft History site. The occasional discrepancy in historical information was resolved to the best of my ability by delving into the player information available on B-R. On the historical information, the player position in the totals reflects the position at which the player was drafted (and not any subsequent change of position). On the 2018 information, the player position reflects the primary position played in 2018 for all players who were signed and the position at which the player was drafted for those who did not sign. Prospect listings on MLB Pipeline were as of early January and may not reflect any subsequent changes to that site.

PREVIOUSLY

NL EAST
Atlanta Braves
Miami Marlins
New York Mets
Philadelphia Phillies
Washington Nationals
NL East 2018 Draft Summary

NL CENTRAL
Chicago Cubs
Cincinnati Reds
Milwaukee Brewers
Pittsburgh Pirates
St. Louis Cardinals
NL Central 2018 Draft Summary

NL WEST
Arizona Diamondbacks
Colorado Rockies
Los Angeles Dodgers
San Diego Padres
San Francisco Giants
NL West 2018 Draft Summary

AL EAST
Baltimore Orioles

COMING NEXT
New York Yankees