Red Sox 2022 MLB Draft: Day 1

With their first pick, #24, the Boston Red Sox selected a high school shortstop from California. Tell me is you’ve heard this before? Welcome to the Nation, Mikey Romero.

Romero, clearly ready from a young age to join the Boston Red Sox, was immediately a pick off the beaten trail.

Ranked #54 overall heading into the draft, Romero was quickly a reach for Chaim Bloom and his team. Baseball America rates his tools as a mix among reserve and first-division starter with his Hit (55) and Field (50) tools grading out better than Power (40), Run (45), and Arm (45).

What can Romero do? He can make contact against both high-velocity and breaking pitches. He has good hands but maybe not the speed or range to stay at shortstop.

Of course, Mikey Romero isn’t even 19 yet and will have plenty of time to add strength and improve. With Xander Bogaerts, possibly Trevor Story, and, of course Marcelo Mayer, all in line before he’s likely to even sniff the majors, Romero could turn into a major league caliber shortstop and he still might be spending his time at second base.

Speaking of Marcelo Mayer...

...now that he’s a grizzled veteran of one year in professional baseball he’s welcoming the new guy to the pack.

The Red Sox second pick, at #41, was Cutter Coffey, a two-way righthander player who plays shortstop. As a batter and pitcher he gets the full slate of tool grades from Baseball America: Hit: 40. Power: 50. Run: 50. Field: 60. Arm: 60. Fastball: 50. Slider: 60. Changeup: 50. Control: 55. He’d be the second Cutter in the system and the first with a C! He’s also a highschooler from California. It seems like the Sox have some good intelligence there scouting.

Over the past few years both BA and FanGraphs like his development with the bat. A year ago he wasn’t as impressive a hitter but turned it around enough to be considered s shortstop only!

While a two-way player is definitely exciting it looks like Coffey will be yet another shortstop in the system. Which is nice because from shortstop you can only move down the defensive spectrum to the other positions. It’s the place you want to stock up.

There’s a little footage of Cutter taking some cuts:

Roman Anthony is not a shortstop and not from California. Instead he’s a 18 year old outfielder from Florida. His tools might are solid and you can imagine the 6’3” outfielder swatting homers forever: Hit: 45. Power: 55. Run: 50. Field: 50. Arm: 50. Baseball America says that the centerfielder may move top a corner down the road but is a “savvy and aggressive baserunner” which sounds very much like the Red Sox approach to the basepaths.

At the very least, the Red Sox added some great names. Now to get them signed and into the system!