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In 2004, the Red Sox traded for Doug Mientkiewicz. Little did we know that the impact of his time with the team would still be felt a decade later. No, I'm not talking about being the man to record the final out in the 2004 World Series. I'm talking about the fact that he's prepared us all to spell the name of our #14 prospect: Teddy Stankiewicz.
So what's the draw for Stankiewicz? At the moment, there's not much professional experience to go on. The Red Sox' 2nd round pick this past year, Stankiewicz only managed to get 19 innings of work in for the Lowell Spinners. The results were certainly nice--15 strikeouts to two walks, a 2.29 ERA--but even if short-season numbers weren't a crapshoot, the sample size alone is just too tiny to work with.
On paper, though, Stankiewicz seems to have the right tools to succeed. He's big, has a fastball that was reportedly up a couple MPH from the high-80s - low-90s range he featured at Seminole State, and there's no red flags mechanically that need to be worked on. He'll likely need to find a third pitch to complement his fastball and curveball if he wants to stick as a starter, but he's got plenty of time to develop one.
And that's really what makes Teddy Stankiewicz worth the second round pick: he's got a lot of his game figured out. He knows how to throw strikes. He knows how to repeat his delivery. It's kind of like he's learned to walk before he can crawl. Yeah, his actual offerings need to keep on developing, but he's already got the shell to put them in, and even if he doesn't end up progressing at all, the league always has room for strike throwers.
If there's one real concern with Stankiewicz, it's whatever his physical revealed that knocked a couple hundred thousand dollars off his draft bonus. But there's nothing to do for that but wait and see.
- Xander Bogaerts, SS
- Jackie Bradley Jr., CF
- Garin Cecchini, 3B
- Henry Owens, LHP
- Matt Barnes, RHP
- Blake Swihart, C
- Allen Webster, RHP
- Brandon Workman, RHP
- Mookie Betts, 2B
- Trey Ball, LHP
- Anthony Ranaudo, RHP
- Christian Vazquez, C
- Manuel Margot, CF
- Teddy Stankiewicz, RHP
On the off chance I forget or otherwise leave someone out, you are free to start your own voting thread for that player. I'll even give it a rec of my own to make up for your vote. As for rules, please stick to just the one vote. That's about it.
Vote away!