Introducing Josh Reddick
Meet the Red Sox’s insurance policy on Jason Bay and J.D. Drew. His name is Josh Reddick and he’s a 22-year-old outfielder who made his majors debut last Friday. The most noticeable thing when looking at Reddick is his eyewear, opting against contacts for whatever reason. The next thing you’ll notice is his impressive athleticism and ridiculous arm strength and accuracy.
A 17th round pick in 2006, Reddick has impressively shoot through the Red Sox system, reaching Double-A in his first pro season, albeit for only a game. Reddick has since recorded 420 plate appearances in Double-A, hitting .257/.332/.492 all the while shifting between right and center field. Reddick has an impressive 41 career assists; it’s not just luck either, his arm is ranked above average by nearly every scouting report.
Reddick has flashed improving pitch recognition skills and walk rates, but be forewarned: he’s going to strike out a bit. If he can stick in center his power (.235 ISO in AA) figures to exceed expectations for the position. Oh, and he’s a left-handed bat, which just makes everything even sweeter for Boston.
With Reddick’s impending inclusion, which current Sox outfielder will be going?
Drew is under contract for an additional two seasons, Bay qualifies for free agency at season’s end, and it seems unlikely the Sox mess with Jacoby Ellsbury. With two lefties already roaming the outfield, it would seem that keeping Reddick around as the fourth outfielder simply hurts lineup flexibility. Letting Bay walk and replacing him with Reddick does the same, but replacing Drew or Ellsbury doesn’t seem realistic either.
So where in the world is he going to play? Beats me, if nothing else I suppose he would make a nice part of a potential trade package.
Typical overhyped Boston prospect. Did the Red Sox pay you guys to write this?!!
He had an .887 OPS in the minors. That’s 9 points higher than Matt Kemp. The only drawback I see from him is that he’s a hacker that’ll be prone to hot and cold streaks.
In other words, you are dumb. Why would RJ Anderson hype a Red Sox player?
I love how I commented on it and was totally oblivious.
If he was being funny, I’m an asshole x 2 this morning (check the Bard post from yesterday’s comments near the bottom)
I think he was trying to be funny. See Nick’s second comment below.
To substanciate my insane comparison:
Brock: .293/.343/.410
Ellsbury: .296/.348/.413 (no decline here but still)
Brock: 75.34% SB rate
Ellsbury: 84.9%
Okay I feel insane now.
Getting a little ahead of yourself with the Kemp comparison aren’t you? When Kemp was 22 he was putting up a .342/.373/.521 line in the Majors not AA.
It isn’t as if he’s destroying AA, seems like he could use a full season of AAA ball. Says he’s ready for a full time gig in ’11? That’s Drew’s last year, at the worst Boston can afford to just Lugo him on someone to clear space for Reddick. The Drew contract was a sunk cost the moment he signed it, no point in worrying about it once Reddick is ready.
Just making the “let’s not call him overhyped yet” statement.
I’m fully aware some of our recent guys, especially Ellsbury, are horribly overhyped. Most people I know (non-Sox fans alike) think I’m insane for saying I’d do Ellsbury for Shin-Soo Choo straight up.
To be clear I don’t think he’s over-hyped, I guess my point is that his line at Portland as a 22 yr. old doesn’t scream that Boston needs to make room for him this year, or even next year.
I forgot to mention in my previous post that there is approximately a 0.0% chance that Boston will pick up Ortiz’s 12.5M option in ’11 so they could always slide Drew to DH and put Reddick in RF.