4. Sam Travis, 1B
Birthday (age on opening day 2018): 8/27/1993 (24)
2017 teams/levels played for: AAA Pawtucket Red Sox, MLB Boston Red Sox
2017 Stats: Minors: .270/.351/.375, 342 PA, 6 HR, 6 SB, 37/57 BB/K; Majors: .263/.325/.342, 83 PA, 0 HR, 1 SB, 6/23 BB/K
Info: If the Red Sox had a dynamic hitter to plug in at DH, especially a left-handed hitting one, Travis would be a perfect guy to fit at first base for the team with excellent skills around the bag, a good glove, and excellent instincts. He also brings a worthwhile bat to offer as well.
The issue is that the Red Sox really need power in their lineup, really love their outfielders, and already have Hanley Ramirez for 2018 with a vesting option for 2019 that should not be terribly difficult to reach. Ramirez is making $22.75 million in 2018, and that 2019 option would pay him another $22 million. That’s not going to be easy to move in the trade market to open a spot for Travis.
If the Red Sox had a dynamic hitter to plug in at DH, Travis would be a perfect guy to fit at first base for the team
Travis was the perfect yin to Kyle Schwarber’s yang in college, hitting with tremendous bat control and pounding the gaps while Schwarber sold out for the fences. A fairly good athlete, Travis actually played some third base in college due to his excellent instincts, but his arm makes that really not an option at the pro level.
Travis reminds me a ton on the field and at the plate of a former Marlins (among others) outfielder Jeff Conine in his build, swing, and approach. Conine was a guy who hit 20 or more home runs just 3 times. However, he was a mostly full-time player for roughly 14 years, playing 17 total years, hitting .285/.347/.443 over his career.
Travis will be on the Red Sox 40-man roster in 2018 as he needs to be otherwise he’d be exposed to waivers, and his skill level would be gobbled up quickly. However, the Red Sox likely won’t have a major league spot for him, in spite of his minor league .295/.360/.434 line over 327 games, with much of that spent in the upper minors.
3. Tanner Houck, RHP
Birthday (age on opening day 2018): 6/29/1996 (21)
2017 teams/levels played for: short-season A-ball Lowell Spinners
2017 Stats: 10 GS, 22 1/3 IP, 3.63 ERA, 1.30 WHIP, 8.2% BB, 25.5% K
Info: If there was a college pitcher more suited to a Dombrowski draft than Houck in the 2017 draft, it’s hard to know who it would have been. Houck has an elite sinker, arguably a double-plus pitch. He mixes in a slider with average movement but excellent location, and that pairing was all he really needed to dominate in the SEC, arguably the best college baseball conference there is.
As happens in draft coverage and scouting, people began to pick apart Houck, especially when he came out of the gates a bit slow in the 2017 collegiate season before the draft. That caused his value to fall from one of the 3-5 best college arms in the draft to the 24th pick overall to the Red Sox.
Houck then came out in his pro debut and showed exactly what the Red Sox assumed he would, striking out 25 in 22 1/3 innings and allowing no home runs to leave the yard in that time, getting hitters to pound the ball into the ground.
Houck’s hard, heavy sinker sits in the mid-90s and can touch 98, and the movement is incredible on the pitch, especially with his unique crossfire delivery. Houck showed off multiple grips on his slider, allowing him to utilize a sweeping slider that he was known for in college, but also to snap off a sharp-breaking slider rarely as well that had a bit of cutter-slider hybrid to it.
At 6’5″ and 225 pounds, Houck is built to be a workhorse. His arm slot and his step-across delivery has some thinking he may end up as a reliever in the end, but Houck is already showing more ability to start than many thought he had already, so don’t count out the rotation quite yet!
Next: #1 and #2