Red Sox place two on Baseball Prospectus’ Midseason Top-50 Prospects list

We are less than a week past the halfway point of the major-league season and less than a week away from the unofficial halfway point the All-Star break represents. With that being the case, Baseball Prospectus has released their midseason top-50 prospects list on Monday. Unsurprisingly, the list is not littered with Red Sox prospects, though they did have two prospects make the list.

No one will be surprised to learn that Rafael Devers was the top Red Sox prospect on the list as well as one of the top prospects in all of baseball. He took home the number five spot on the list right behind Victor Robles of the Nationals and right ahead of Brendan Rodgers of the Rockies. Boston’s third base prospect has spent the entirety of the season in Double-A and has hit impressively. Through his first 74 games at the level, he’s hitting .302/.367/.586. The expectation is that he’ll be promoted to Triple-A shortly after the Double-A All-Star Game next week, and the possibility remains for him to make the majors at some point in 2017. BP raves about his bat, giving him at least plus grades on both his hit and power tools. They also compliment his defense, though acknowledge that his body still may force a move across the diamond down the road.

Making the list along with Devers is 18-year-old left-handed pitching Jason Groome. Last year’s first-round pick came in as BP’s number 43 prospect between Alec Hansen of the White Sox and Riley Pint of the Rockies. Groome has spent most of the season on the disabled list, but recently returned for a couple of rehab starts in Lowell before getting back to Greenville in his last outing. That last start was an outstanding one as he tossed five scoreless innings allowing just one hit and one walk while striking out seven batters. BP’s staff says he may have the best curveball in the minors while also possessing a strong fastball/curveball combination. He isn’t ranked more highly because due to his lack of professional innings to this point in his career.

Beyond Devers and Groome, a couple of former Red Sox prospects also made the list. Yoan Moncada was named the number one prospect in the game by Baseball Prospectus and Michael Kopech came in at number 25. They are both fantastic, but something tells me the Red Sox are happy with what they’ve gotten from Chris Sale.