Boston Red Sox prospect Daniel Flores dies at 17

News came across the wire early in the evening that Boston Red Sox prospect Daniel Flores has passed away at 17 years old.

Wednesday late afternoon/early evening, the news began to trickle across Twitter that Boston Red Sox prospect Daniel Flores had passed away due to complications during treatment for cancer:

Flores as a prospect

Signed this July as one of the first guys the Red Sox were allowed to pursue after a couple of years having to take time off from the international market after violating the terms of spending $300K or less on prospects during their 3 years of “punishment” after their international spending splurge that brought in Yoan Moncada, among many others, Flores was considered an elite prospect before he even played a professional game.

Flores had highly regarded defensive skills behind the plate, specifically in his framing and receiving. One scout had this to say to Baseball America about his ability in the running game:

"In my years of scouting, he’s the best catch-and-throw guy I’ve ever seen. He has the best release. It’s a plus-plus catch-and-release with a plus arm. He just stands out defensively. I wouldn’t argue with you if you put him No. 1 on your list, and I didn’t even see the hitting ability that other people saw"

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Flores had not played professionally because he was a July signee this past summer. He would have made his debut next summer. Many thought his bat was good enough that his defense was just going to be his calling card while his bat developed, being a guy who could have both good contact skills and power.

As I was preparing my Red Sox list, I had one scout that had seen Flores in a workout give a 50 present grade on his contact on the 20 to 80 scouting scale, which is nearly unheard of for a 17 year-old. He projected that Flores could have developed into a plus hitter with above-average power, if not better as he worked his way up the Red Sox system, and he also believed that Flores would move quickly due to his maturity behind the plate, something incredibly rare.

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Rest in peace, Daniel. You were taken far, far too soon!