Benintendi in the Minors...Majors Now

[JHicks3636]

Andrew Benintendi will start the year for the Salem Red Sox (advanced A league). First game will be Thursday. Baseball America has named him as the 3rd highest prospect in the entire Red Sox minor league system and the top outfield prospect for them. Baseball America also has him as the #15 prospect in all of baseball and projects him to the Majors in 2017.

[JHicks3636]

Benintendi with a big first game for the Salem Red Sox (Advanced A) as he went 4-5 with 2 singles, a double, and a triple. He had 3 rbis and the 4 hits marked a career high. He also scored 2 runs. After 1 game he is only hitting .800. The 4 hits came in the first 5 innings of the game. Salem won 13-4. Box score here
http://www.milb.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?gid=2016_04_07_cmcafa_salafa_1&t=g_box&did=milb&sid=t414

[AirForceHog]

Wow! Nice first game for the young fella. Can't wait to see where his career takes him.

[onebadrubi]

I'm shocked they have him all the way down to A ball. 

[jbell96]

I'm shocked they have him all the way down to A ball. 

There are 4 levels of A ball. Rookie, Short Season, A, & Advanced A. He started last season in Short Season A & finished in A. He's starting the year in Advanced A, but I doubt he finishes the season there.

[azhog10]

There are 4 levels of A ball. Rookie, Short Season, A, & Advanced A. He started last season in Short Season A & finished in A. He's starting the year in Advanced A, but I doubt he finishes the season there.

No matter the case, still surprised he started there. After all the talk about how he could see the majors at the end of this year or next and they start him all the way at the bottom. Figured at least AA to start and maybe AAA by mid to end of the season.

[jbell96]

No matter the case, still surprised he started there. After all the talk about how he could see the majors at the end of this year or next and they start him all the way at the bottom. Figured at least AA to start and maybe AAA by mid to end of the season.

Well Class A advanced is hardly the bottom. That said, if it were up to me he would've started in AA, but I still think he finishes the season in AAA, if he stays healthy.

[89ALUM]

There are 4 levels of A ball. Rookie, Short Season, A, & Advanced A. He started last season in Short Season A & finished in A. He's starting the year in Advanced A, but I doubt he finishes the season there.

Agreed, jbell.  I'm thinking the Sox have a target AB number for Beni at each level.  Probably 100-150 at Advanced A, just to prove he can handle that level.  Then another 200 or so at AA.  He has to prove himself every step of the way, and that would be the case in every organization in baseball, Red Sox or not.

[JHicks3636]

Benintendi with props at MLB.com
http://m.mlb.com/news/article/171118848/steven-moya-among-top-prospect-performers

[JHicks3636]

Benintendi 0-4 in game 2 of the season in a 5-2 loss. His entire team only had 3 hits.

[lefty08]

It's not uncommon for the best prospects to never touch AAA. I doubt Benny will.......

[AirForceHog]

Benny and the Salem Red Sox visit the Carolina Mudcats starting on the 18th. I work night shift or I would go see him play. But of course I'd pull for the Mudcats.

[ncrebel]

I'll get to see him play this Thursday in Winston-Salem.  Season home opener for the Dash.

[Jacob "2 Scoops" Johnson]

It's not uncommon for the best prospects to never touch AAA. I doubt Benny will.......

What's the saying, though? The biggest jump in competition is from AA to AAA? I think that's right. Never hurts to at least get your feet wet in AAA. A rise from High A to MLB in a season is not unheard of, though. Will need some injuries to break through because the Sox outfield has looked impressive this season. Bradley Jr and Mookie seem to be the future there, but if Andrew progresses he can really sure up that third spot. That could be a deadly outfield.

[JHicks3636]

I haven't been posting every game, but will update every so often. Tonight Benintendi was 2-3 with 3 rbis. Presently hitting .368 on the young season. No homers but got his 3rd triple tonight.

[OnTheHillHogFan]

What's the saying, though? The biggest jump in competition is from AA to AAA? I think that's right. Never hurts to at least get your feet wet in AAA. A rise from High A to MLB in a season is not unheard of, though. Will need some injuries to break through because the Sox outfield has looked impressive this season. Bradley Jr and Mookie seem to be the future there, but if Andrew progresses he can really sure up that third spot. That could be a deadly outfield.

In today's game the talent in AA is just as good as AAA. Most of the guys in AAA are older guys who might get a call up during the season if someone is hurt. AA is where guys show if they can play or if they are career minor league guys. If Benny hits in advanced A and then the same in AA I would expect him to get called up this September if he is on the 40 man roster.

[yraciv]

In today's game the talent in AA is just as good as AAA. Most of the guys in AAA are older guys who might get a call up during the season if someone is hurt. AA is where guys show if they can play or if they are career minor league guys. If Benny hits in advanced A and then the same in AA I would expect him to get called up this September if he is on the 40 man roster.

I wouldn't say just as good. Sure there are some talented, maybe moreso top prospects in AA, but AAA still is the closest you get to  MLB and rosters are much deeper.  AA you get quite a few guys that are on their last limbs. Currently AAA has 5 of the top 10 prospects in baseball.  AA has 3 of the top.

[yraciv]

And for comparisons sake Dansby Swanson is in High A ball right now for the Braves, and he is older and higher rated. So are the Red Sox top 2 prospects in Yoan Moncada and Rafael Devers.  I'm sure the Sox have a number of ABs like stated and he'll be called up rather quickly to AA.  The Sox don't have much in the way of OF in the system, which is why there are projections he makes his MLB debut this year.

[westside_player]

What's the saying, though? The biggest jump in competition is from AA to AAA? I think that's right. Never hurts to at least get your feet wet in AAA. A rise from High A to MLB in a season is not unheard of, though. Will need some injuries to break through because the Sox outfield has looked impressive this season. Bradley Jr and Mookie seem to be the future there, but if Andrew progresses he can really sure up that third spot. That could be a deadly outfield.

If their outfield gets too crowded they'll trade him if he has trade value. Minors isn't about developing just for your franchise but the player for trade bait for a spot that do have a shortage. Just about everyone can use a quality fifth starting pitcher.

When he says Beni probably won't see AAA I don't know if that means he thinks he will skip it altogether and go straight to Majors or won't make it past AA. A lot of guys do skip AAA. A lot of guys are career AAA guys kinda like Eibner is shaping up to be.  Hogs had another guy that played first base several years for some AAA I forget his name but I don't think he had but a day or two in the majors

[yraciv]

If their outfield gets too crowded they'll trade him if he has trade value. Minors isn't about developing just for your franchise but the player for trade bait for a spot that do have a shortage. Just about everyone can use a quality fifth starting pitcher.

When he says Beni probably won't see AAA I don't know if that means he thinks he will skip it altogether and go straight to Majors or won't make it past AA. A lot of guys do skip AAA. A lot of guys are career AAA guys kinda like Eibner is shaping up to be.  Hogs had another guy that played first base several years for some AAA I forget his name but I don't think he had but a day or two in the majors

He clearly thinks he'll skip it all together. Absolutely no one is projecting him to top out at AA.  Like my earlier post stated, there is absolutely no way he is blocked. The top OF prospect in their organization is ranked 16h and a combo 1b, where as Beni is a quick CF.

Red Sox OF
Rusney Castillo - 7 yr, 72.5 million; he'll likely stick around because they don't any options, but Beni could be better
Mookie Betts - 1 yr, 566 k; they'll push to resign him because he is a big part of their future and they'll be able to just push some of Ortiz expiring contract money to him
Jackie Bradley- 1 yr, 546.5 k; I think they let him walk unless he outperforms Betts this year; one is  going to walk & one will get paid and be the future.  Most are higher on Betts right now!
Chris Young - 2 yr, 13 mil; veteran corner OF that will probably play out his contract
Brock Holt - 1 yr, 606 k; utility player that will go wherever you tell him

The AAA roster is a bunch of light hitting vets.
Allen Craig, Brennan Boesch, Justin Maxwell - 1 of those guys, likely Craig would get the first injury callup, but none is going to roadblock Beni down the road.

[JHicks3636]

Benintendi 2-5 with a double in a 6-4 loss tonight. Average at .375

[89ALUM]

He clearly thinks he'll skip it all together. Absolutely no one is projecting him to top out at AA.  Like my earlier post stated, there is absolutely no way he is blocked. The top OF prospect in their organization is ranked 16h and a combo 1b, where as Beni is a quick CF.

Red Sox OF
Rusney Castillo - 7 yr, 72.5 million; he'll likely stick around because they don't any options, but Beni could be better
Mookie Betts - 1 yr, 566 k; they'll push to resign him because he is a big part of their future and they'll be able to just push some of Ortiz expiring contract money to him
Jackie Bradley- 1 yr, 546.5 k; I think they let him walk unless he outperforms Betts this year; one is  going to walk & one will get paid and be the future.  Most are higher on Betts right now!
Chris Young - 2 yr, 13 mil; veteran corner OF that will probably play out his contract
Brock Holt - 1 yr, 606 k; utility player that will go wherever you tell him

The AAA roster is a bunch of light hitting vets.
Allen Craig, Brennan Boesch, Justin Maxwell - 1 of those guys, likely Craig would get the first injury callup, but none is going to roadblock Beni down the road.

+1 to you sir, for doing some serious homework.

[WizardofhOgZ]

Benintendi is batting .370 through today's game.  OBP of .414 and Slugging PCT of .741 for an OPS of 1.155 . . . all of this with NO home runs yet, but a whopping 4 triples in only 27 AB's.

[JHicks3636]

Benintendi is batting .370 through today's game.  OBP of .414 and Slugging PCT of .741 for an OPS of 1.155 . . . all of this with NO home runs yet, but a whopping 4 triples in only 27 AB's.

The time of year when you go 1-3 and drop your average.

[JHicks3636]

Although Benintendi was only 1 -5 today and his average dipped to .326, he did have his 5th triple of the year. I don't think anyone else in the league has more than 2.

[jbell96]

No homers yet, but him having 9 extra base hits through 11 games is astounding. I'm sure Boston is giddy with his production so far.

[JHicks3636]

Being gone yesterday I did not follow Benintendi but it turned out he was 2-5 with 3 rbis. One hit was his 6th triple of the year which leads all of minor league baseball. He was given the day off today by Salem although they won their 7th game in a row and are 10-4 on the season.

[JHicks3636]

Did a little research to see how he stacks up with the entire Carolina League at this point.Here are his rankings in most major categories:

Runs (9)-tied for 10th
Hits (17)-tied for 6th
Doubles (4)-tied for 11th
Triples (6)- 1st, closest in Carolina League has 2, as stated 6 leads all of minor league baseball
RBIs (10)- tied for 5th
Total bases (33)-2nd
Strikeouts (4)-near the bottom of the league(this is good)
Stolen bases (4)-tied for 13th(pretty good considering he is usually starting on 3rd base)(has been caught stealing twice)
Slugging (.635)-4th, pretty good without a HR
Average (.327)-13th, 3 above him are on his team
OPS (1.024)-5th
On the defensive side, he has not been charged with an error this year.

Not too bad

[AirForceHog]

Thanks for the stats! Thanks for putting the effort in.

[WizardofhOgZ]

It's VERY early yet.  But, so far, the numbers behind Benintendi's batting average are very interesting - in comparison to what he did last year.

For example, look at two numbers normally associated (in different ways) for "having a good eye" at the plate - K's and BB.  Last season, across two teams, Benny K'd about once every 8 AB's.  This young season, he's only had 4 K's in 56 AB's - one every 14 at bats.  On the other hand, he walked about once per less than 6 AB's last year; this season, it's only once per 14 AB's.  Not sure what that says.

On the other hand, look at AB's extra base hits.  Last season, 11% of his hits went for EB; this season, almost double (20%) the percentage are EB hits.  But, strangely, he has yet to hit a single HR this year, where one of every six hits was a HR last season (one per every 18 AB).  Then again, he has a whopping SIX triples in his 56 at bats this season; he had four in more than three times the at bats in 2015. 

There's nothing at all to be concerned about in the above.  And it's likely some - if not all - of this may be washed away in another 30 games.  Still, if you were just doing a blind comparison of numbers from last year to this, you'd never associate his stat line this year with the offensive player he was last season.

http://www.milb.com/player/index.jsp?sid=t414&player_id=643217#/career/R/hitting/2016/ALL

[JHicks3636]

Last night Benintendi was 1-4 with a double. Tonight he was 2-4 with 2 doubles. Average is .333.

[AirForceHog]

I'm ready for Beni to hit that first homerun.

[booogaga]

I will be interested to see what he does when they move him up a level in competition.

[JHicks3636]

Benintendi went 2-5 today to raise his avg. to .338. One of his hits was another double. He scored 2 runs and drove in 1. He now has a 13 game hitting streak. I will update his league stats after his game tomorrow.

[JHicks3636]

Weekly update(4/24/16) for Benintendi statwise in the Carolina League. I will try to update every week on Sunday or so. I'll leave previous stat posts for comparison purposes. This update was after only 4 games as I am trying to make Sunday the new day to update.

Runs (15)-tied for 3rd
Hits (23)-tied for 3rd
Doubles (eight)-tied for 2nd ( I can't use the #8 as it posts as an emoji)
Triples (6)- 1st, closest in Carolina League has 3, 6 leads all of minor league baseball
RBIs (11)- tied for 10th
Total bases (43)-2nd
Strikeouts (4)-near the bottom of the league(this is good)
Stolen bases (4)-tied for 14th(pretty good considering he is usually starting on 3rd base)(has been caught stealing twice)
Slugging (.623)-2nd, pretty good without a HR
Average (.333)-4th
OPS (1.013)-4th
OBP (.390)- 15th
On the defensive side, he has now been charged with 1 error(on a throw)this year.

This update he actually improved his standing in most categories. He did drop several spots in rbis as he only had 1 since the last posting. No game for his team on 4/25. Benintendi goes into the next game on a 14 game hitting streak.

[mhuff]

Thanks for the stats! Thanks for putting the effort in.

[JHicks3636]

2-4 tonight in a loss to raise his average to .342

[westside_player]

It's VERY early yet.  But, so far, the numbers behind Benintendi's batting average are very interesting - in comparison to what he did last year.

For example, look at two numbers normally associated (in different ways) for "having a good eye" at the plate - K's and BB.  Last season, across two teams, Benny K'd about once every 8 AB's.  This young season, he's only had 4 K's in 56 AB's - one every 14 at bats.  On the other hand, he walked about once per less than 6 AB's last year; this season, it's only once per 14 AB's.  Not sure what that says.

On the other hand, look at AB's extra base hits.  Last season, 11% of his hits went for EB; this season, almost double (20%) the percentage are EB hits.  But, strangely, he has yet to hit a single HR this year, where one of every six hits was a HR last season (one per every 18 AB).  Then again, he has a whopping SIX triples in his 56 at bats this season; he had four in more than three times the at bats in 2015. 

There's nothing at all to be concerned about in the above.  And it's likely some - if not all - of this may be washed away in another 30 games.  Still, if you were just doing a blind comparison of numbers from last year to this, you'd never associate his stat line this year with the offensive player he was last season.

http://www.milb.com/player/index.jsp?sid=t414&player_id=643217#/career/R/hitting/2016/ALL

I noticed that too. He's not striking out but he's not walking either which means he's swinging the bat being aggressive early in the count.  Strikeouts, walks, home runs are indicative of patience and seeing a lot of pitches. Doubles and Triples are more indicative of swinging the bat early and aggressive in the count. 

The franchise has most likely identified that he projects better as a gap and line drive hitter than home run hitter in the majors and have encouraged him to be more aggressive early in the count.

[Dr. Starcs]

Noticed Beeks took the loss in that game playing with Benny.

[westside_player]

I'm ready for the Democrat Gazette to publish all Arkansas people in the minors again. I never even heard of Radduck of Hendrix and hes atop Texas League in BA. I guess my head stays in the sand anymore.

[JHicks3636]

This is like real time reporting. Benintendi just hit his first home of the year-a 3 run shot. It was in the 8th inning and was the 2nd time he had batted in the inning. His first at-bat in the inning was a walk. Salem entered the inning trailing 7-4 and scored 10 runs in the inning to take the lead 14-7. He scored twice in the inning.  He is presently 1-4 on the night with a walk to extend his hitting streak to 16 games. The game ended 14-7 with Benintendi's line 1-4, a walk, 3 rbis, 2 runs scored. Now at .338 on the year.

[JHicks3636]

Today Benintendi goes 2-4 including a double and drives in 4 runs. On a 17 game hitting streak batting .346.

[howie76]

Thanks for the updates Hicks. Good to hear how good he's doing

[AirForceHog]

I know it's late but congrats to Beni on his first Homer of the year. I'm pretty sure he doesn't read the board but you never know. Kudos to him anyway.

[OakTreeHawg]

The rest of the best performances from top prospects Thursday

• No. 22 overall prospect Andrew Benintendi (Red Sox's No. 3) hit a go-ahead, bases-clearing double with two outs in the bottom of the eighth inning to lead Class A Advanced Salem past Frederick, 7-4. He drove in four runs in the game, giving him 18 RBIs in 20 games this season, while his 2-for-4 performance at the plate extended his hitting streak to 17 games. Overall, the 2015 No. 7 overall Draft pick is batting .346/.407/.642 with 17 runs scored, 16 extra-base hits and four steals.

-mlb.com

[DiamondHogFan]

A 17 game hitting streak is awesome no matter what level you are playing on.  He is consistent, that's what gets you to the big leagues.

[JHicks3636]

After having 4 rbis for the first time in his career last night, Benintendi tied that with 4 more tonight. In fact he drove in all 4 Salem runs in a 4-3 come from behind win. He went 3-4 (2 singles and a double) and also walked. He threw in a stolen base for good measure. He is now on an 18 game hitting streak and batting .365.

[JHicks3636]

Sorry but I had to make a correction to the post on last night's game. Benintendi is now being credited for a double and 2 singles rather than 3 singles. He now has 10 doubles on the season. Also, the 18 game hitting streak is the 2nd longest in Salem Red Sox history.

[online-with-swine]

He won't be in A ball long if he keeps this up.

[Iwastherein1969]

He won't be in A ball long if he keeps this up.

The moment he starts tailing off a bit the Sox will quickly move him up...they can see he can perform at the level he's at and perform well...the Sox will realize he's getting bored with where he's at and will move him up accordingly...I think the kid starts next year on opening day at Fenway in right field. No matter how great a hitter is, once he gets bored his average is going down. Same thing happened to THE MICK. They sent him down, he tore it up for about a month then started tailing off. The Yankees immediately brought him back to the Majors and the rest, well, is history.