One of Boston's top prospects in Xander Bogaerts is making the jump to Double-A Portland after an impressive season in Salem.
After slowly gaining attention in his time in the Dominican Summer League, Bogaerts burst onto the scene last year, hitting .260/.324/.509 as an 18-year-old in Greenville, earning his place in numerous top propsect lists.
Despite moving up to High-A Salem, Bogaerts has shown improvement in just about every aspect of his game. While his homer totals aren't quite as impressive given the number of plate appearances he's been given, Bogaerts has cut down on his strikeouts, dramatically improved his on-base percentage, and piled on the extra-base hits, leaving him with a line of .302/.378/.505 in 435 trips to the plate.
Double-A is often the hardest jump to make, and with Xander still just 19 years old, it's hard to expect much out of him in the short time left to him this season. Still, it'll give him a chance to see the sort of stuff he'll be faced with in 2013, and allow him to better prepare for the coming challenge.
Just for a little bit of fun--if largely immaterial--comparison: Hanley Ramirez did not make it to Double-A until he was 20-years-old, a full six months behind Bogaerts' pace, and had a much less impressive season at High-A.