Boston Red Sox Top-15 Prospects of 2010, No’s 1 – 5

ALSO SEE – Red Sox Top Prospects, No’s 6 – 15

Grades are based on a prospect’s projected value over the course of his career and how likely it is that prospect will fulfill his projected value. Various factors are accounted for including upside, red flags, actual performance, and closeness to the majors. See the 2010 Prospect Primer for more information as it relates to prospect grading and philosophy.

Hitters must have 100 or fewer Major League ABs to qualify for this list. Starting pitchers must have 50 or fewer Major League innings to qualify for this list. Relief pitchers must have 25 or fewer Major League innings to qualify for this list. Ages are listed as of May 1st, 2010. Levels are based on the highest level in which a prospect played in 2009. All grades are subject to change based on any new information I receive before the season starts.

If you need to reach me in any way, please contact me via e-mail or post a comment at the bottom of the page and I’ll get back to you as soon as possible. The first two prospects are available for everybody to read.

› Only Premium Members can view the rest of this article. Click here to become a Premium Member

Player Grades
Fastball – 50 Now | 55 Future
Curveball – 50 | 55
Change-Up – 55 | 60
Control – 55 | 70
Command – 55 | 65
Pitchability – 55 | 70
ETA – 2012
Final Grade – B+

*Before I go into this, Ryan Westmoreland would have been the team’s No. 1 prospect had he not undergone brain surgery recently.

Body Type – Very good athlete and a solid pitcher’s frame

Stuff

Fastball – Clocked between 88 – 93, touching 94, the pitch sinks a little and runs into right handed hitters. He commands it well to both sides of the plate.

Curveball – Comes out of Kelly’s hand looking like fastball and he’s able to minimize the hump you see the curveball has coming out of a pitcher’s hand

Change-Up – Thrown in the low – mid 80′s, the pitch has good fade and dips late as it approaches home plate.

Scouting Report

Casey Kelly is a plus athlete. He had a choice of attending Tennessee on a football scholarship or of signing with the Red Sox for $3 million. Once he signed with Boston, the next step was to determine whether he fit best as a shortstop or on the mound. He had the tools to play shortstop, but he was clearly an advanced level prospect as a pitcher, while he was more of a project as a hitter. Kelly would have preferred to hit, but understood his future would be as a pitcher.

Kelly’s athleticism helps him seamlessly repeat his delivery. His stuff plays up because he throws all his pitches from the same arm slot with the same intent and the fact that he can throw all his pitches for strikes helps to. Compare the trajectory of Kelly’s fastball (left) and change-up (right) below:

*Credit to MLB Advanced Media

Kelly was equally efficient in both Single-A Greenville and A+ Salem. He kept hitters off balance and they struggled to center the ball against him.

The strikes against Kelly are that he’s not an overpowering pitcher, and he didn’t miss that many bats last year. However, because of his age and athleticism, there is good chance he can add velocity down the line.

Best Case Outcome – Strong No. 2 starter

More Likely Outcome – Weak No. 2, strong No. 3 starter

Player Grades
Contact – 45 Now | 55 Future
Power – 45 | 60
Discipline – 50 | 65
Speed – 60 | 60
Defense – 50 | 55
Arm – 55 | 60
Instincts – 50 | 60
ETA – Early 2015
Final Grade – B+

Body Type – Very athletic and projectable

Brain Surgery

As most have heard, Ryan Westmoreland underwent brain surgery in mid-March. I have some personal experience with this as my mother had to undergo brain surgery a couple years ago for a similar malformation in the brain. I saw the long road to recovery, the cognitive and physical therapy as it took about a year or so for most things to get back to normal.

The one area she has problems with still is her vision — and this is probably the biggest question mark for Westmoreland and whether he can get back to what he once was. My mother’s surgery was done in the part of the brain where vision is based, so I believe it depends on what part of the brain was operated on. But to this day, she still can’t read small font and it took almost a year for her to be cleared to drive again. So that’s what would worry me most, what kind of impact the surgery will have on his vision. But either way, I wish him the best of luck in his recovery.

Scouting Report

When healthy, Westmoreland is the complete package. He has plus raw power that he’s just starting to tap into. He has an excellent approach at the plate, especially for a player so young. He uses the entire field and is more than willing to take what the pitcher gives him. He forces pitchers to throw him strikes as you rarely see him swing at a bad pitch. However, if you can get two-strikes on him, he tends to expand the strike zone.

Westmoreland has excellent hand-eye coordination, which enables him to make hard contact and recognize the spins of different pitches. He has plus bat speed, able to wait on the ball to travel deep into his hitting zone before committing. In addition, he keeps his swing short, which will help in keeping his contact rate high down the road.

Westmoreland projects to be a better than average center fielder with good range. He’s presently a plus runner with very good instincts on the base paths, which he proved by stealing 19 bases in 19 attempts.

If Westmoreland has one true weakness, it’s his durability even when you take out his recent brain surgery. He was a pitcher in high school and he ended up requiring surgery on a torn rotator cuff in 2008. Late in his first pro season, Westmoreland crashed into an outfield wall, breaking his collarbone and ending his season. That is two serious injuries in a short period of time and you hope these injuries are more flukish rather than Westmoreland being fragile.

Best Case Outcome – All Star center fielder

More Likely Outcome – Too soon to say

Brief Rundown on Prospects 3 – 5

3. Josh Reddick | OF | Grade – B – Athletic outfielder has made progress in improving his plate discipline over the past year or so

4. Jose Iglesias | SS | Grade – B- – The team’s shortstop of the future has a plus-plus glove and his offense is better than advertised

5. Ryan Kalish | OF | Grade – B- – Steady all around player increased his power output last year

› Only Premium Members can view the rest of this article. Click here to become a Premium Member

If you enjoyed this article, please consider subscribing to my RSS feed for updates for when new content is posted.

You can also get updates sent straight to your inbox in addition to extra prospect reports, the reader mailbag, and more by using the form below to sign up for the free Baseball-Intellect Newsletter. Your e-mail will never be shared or sold:

For readers already using an RSS feed for site updates, you can skip the updates and sign up for just the content that does not appear on the main site.

Keep in mind that to read the scouting reports for each team’s No. 15 rated prospect, you must be a member of the Newsletter.

UP NEXT – Boston Red Sox Top Prospects, No’s 6 – 15

Other References and Resources Used for This Article – First Inning and Minor League Splits