The Red Sox are somehow a winning baseball team through the first month of the season. Let’s celebrate with the first of our monthly player power rankings.
How are they doing this? After the first 29 games of the season, the Red Sox have lost their starting shortstop, first baseman, and three key members of the starting rotation to the IL, including Opening Day starter Brayan Bello. Add in scattered injuries to relievers and backup infielders, and the Sox have had to trot out some lineups light on name recognition, let alone star power, throughout April. And yet, they are hovering three games above .500. I ask again: How are they doing this?
I’m not sure we’ll ever get a definitive answer there, but despite the other shoe inevitably hurtling toward our collective heads, this team has managed to be a winning one, for at least the first month. Although we are technically still a day away from a new month, even if the Sox lose to the San Francisco Giants tonight, they’ll still enter May with more wins than losses. As they get set to try to put together another .500 record next month, it’s time for the season premiere of our monthly player power rankings.
Before we get to the rankings, let’s talk ground rules: For this year’s first edition, to be eligible for the rankings, a player must still be a member of the Red Sox (sorry, Joe Jacques) and have made an appearance at the MLB level with the team in the previous month. If you’re wondering, that does mean players who are currently injured are eligible, but only if they got into game action in April. Lastly, in terms of evaluation criteria, on-field performance is obviously paramount, but other less tangible factors are also incorporated, including a player’s potential, standing with the fan base, etc. Long story short: This is not a wholly scientific endeavor, but I’ll try to make it as close to one as possible.
OK, that’s enough preamble, let’s start these rankings already.
34. Tyler Heineman
Heineman is a 32-year-old catcher who made two plate appearances as a DH on April 21 before hitting the 10-day IL with a strained hamstring.
33. Romy Gonzalez
A former relatively well regarded White Sox prospect, Gonzalez played one game at shortstop and pinch hit once in early April before heading to the IL with a sprained wrist.
32. Joely Rodríguez
Rodríguez was DFA’d over the weekend after posting a 6.55 ERA and 5.27 FIP in 11 appearances. On the bright side, his walk rate was solid and his expected FIP was in a good spot (2.62).
31. Pablo Reyes
Reyes has played all over this season, logging time at third base, second base, shortstop first base and even on the mound. However, he didn’t hit much and his defense wasn’t been great, so the Red Sox DFA’d him on Monday.
30. Bobby Dalbec
Dalbec currently has a -3 wRC+ and a 49.1 percent strikeout rate. He’s still getting playing time because of the slew of injuries the Red Sox have suffered in the infield, exposing the organization’s lack of depth in that regard.
29. David Hamilton
Hamilton made his MLB debut last year but didn’t inspire a ton of confidence. That hasn’t changed all that much this year, both at the plate and in the field, although his ability to play shortstop is probably what’s keeping him at the MLB level right now.
28. Isaiah Campbell
Acquired from the Mariners in the Luis Urías trade, Campbell only logged 6 1⁄3 innings before being put on the shelf with a shoulder impingement, which does not sound comfortable at all. The 26-year-old right-hander got shelled in his last two appearances before the injury sidelined him, but he looked pretty good in a a small sample for Seattle last year, so let’s blame the injury and hope for more upside once he gets back.
27. Zack Kelly
Kelly’s gotten sporadic work in Boston the last couple seasons and he got called up for a little more last week. He’s notched two scoreless outings of two innings apiece since then.
26. Chase Anderson
Anderson has been more of a mop-up guy with the ERA to prove it. Of his 14 2⁄3 total innings, 13 have come in low leverage situations. However, Anderson does have a pair of three-inning saves under his belt.
25. Enmanuel Valdez
Valdez showed some promise last year by producing a league average stat line over 149 plate appearances, but he’s regressed heavily so far this season. Still, as is becoming a common chorus, the Red Sox’s lack of middle infield talent has kept him at the MLB level.
24. Cam Booser
The term journeyman gets thrown around a lot in baseball, but Booser might take the cake. Since making his long-awaited MLB debut on April 19, the 31-year-old right-hander has appeared in five games, logging seven innings and posted a 3.86 ERA and 4.04 FIP.
23. Trevor Story
Life is often cruel, and it seems like it has been especially brutal to Story during his tenure in Boston. His most recent malady, a shoulder injury, came on a play when he was doing what he does best: going all out on defense. While diving for a groundball deep in the hole in a game against the Angels on April 5, Story landed on his left shoulder awkwardly, causing him to immediately cry out in pain and writhe on the ground. He’ll have to wait a year for a another fresh start with the Red Sox, and even though he was still searching for sustained success at the plate this season, his defensive acumen and clubhouse presence will certainly be missed.
22. Brennan Bernardino
Bernardino has a ridiculously high walk rate through his first 10 2⁄3 innings of 2024, but he has a relatively clean sheet all the same (0.84 ERA and 2.81 FIP). So let’s call that walk rate what it (hopefully) is: a small sample aberration.
21. Greg Weissert
Although Weissert has a pretty sizable gap between his ERA (1.69) and FIP (4.77), the 29-year-old right-hander has done some solid work out of the bullpen.
20. Reese McGuire
McGuire has been sharing duties with Wong behind the dish, but he’s clearly been the backup part of the platoon. He does have a 113 wRC+ in 56 plate appearances this season, and while he likely won’t sustain that offensive production, it’s been a pretty nice start as far as backup catchers go.
19. Chris Martin
Martin has gotten tagged with back-breaking three-run home runs to surrender leads not once but twice this season. However, his peripheral numbers otherwise are more or less as as solid as they were when he was one of the Red Sox’s most valuable relievers in 2023, so let’s just forget about those dingers and move forward.
18. Garrett Whitlock
Another member of the IL club, Whitlock is on the 15-day version with a strained oblique. Prior to the injury, Whitlock’s run prevention work had been strong (1.96 ERA, 3.34 FIP), although his walk rate was up a bit and he was struggling to get through five innings.
17. Cooper Criswell
Another swingman type pressed into starting duty by the rash of injuries facing the Red Sox rotation, Criswell has done well for himself since being brought up from Triple-A in mid-April. In his most recent outing, he tossed five shutout innings against the Cleveland Guardians, reducing his ERA to 2.38 and his FIP to 3.89.
16. Masataka Yoshida
Now a full-time DH, Yoshida’s bat-to-ball skills are still wonderful, but it’s not a great sign that despite being able to play the outfield, the Sox elected to sit him last week so Rafael Devers and Tyler O’Neil could DH in an effort to ease them back from injuries.
15. Josh Winckowski
Winckowski has served as a swingman of sorts for the Red Sox lately, serving as an opener-style starter in his last two appearances. He’s pitched in nine games overall and his sporting a nearly identical 3.50 ERA and 3.46 FIP across 18 innings.
14. Rob Refsnyder
Refsnyder continues to be a solid fourth outfielder who is sometimes forced to take on more of a starring role for the Red Sox. He has a 244 wRC+ in limited time this season (31 plate appearances), but surprisingly, the famed southpaw-smasher has hit better against righties in the early going. That’s small samples for you.
13. Ceddanne Rafaela
Rafaela, a top 100 prospect, has proven his talent by beginning the year as the starting center fielder and now taking up the mantle of starting shortstop. However, his defense has been wobbly and his bat remains suspect, although his seven-RBI outing over the weekend was hopefully a sign of things to come.
12. Jarren Duran
Fresh off his breakout 2023 campaign, Duran came out of the gates on fire but has been really slumping, cratering to a roughly league average offensive profile. Still, he remains an exceptionally strong base runner and his defense has been solid, lifting his value above average.
11. Kenley Jansen
Jansen is the same as he’s always been, a great option in the ninth inning. He has five saves and a 1.86 ERA on the season, and although some of the peripherals are a little less sparkling, particularly his 19 percent walk rate, he’s earned the benefit of the doubt that he’ll straighten those things out.
10. Justin Slaten
A 26-year-old reliever from Longview, Texas, Slaten has been spectacular out of the bullpen this season. He’s logged more innings than any Red Sox hurler not to make a start (16 1⁄3 innings) and filled those frames with great run prevention (0.55 ERA, 2.14 FIP) and stellar control (3.6 percent walk rate).
9. Connor Wong
Batting .343! 164 wRC+! Five homes runs! Silver slugger here we come … oh wait, that 1.4% walk rate might get in the way. Still, as long as Wong is riding his current hot streak (and so many players are injured), he deserves to be this high in the rankings.
8. Nick Pivetta
This might seem a bit high for someone who has been on the IL since early April, but Pivetta looked unreal in his first two starts before being shelved, striking out 13 batters and walking just one over 11 innings of one-run baseball. He can’t get back soon enough.
7. Brayan Bello
Bello is also on the IL, but he has produced a larger body of work than Pivetta, so he gets the nod. He was also the Opening Day starter and the recent signatory of a six-year, $55 million extension, so, again, he gets his flowers. The 24-year-old did stumble out of the gate, but he threw six shutout innings with seven strikeouts and a single hit allowed in his last start before heading to the IL. Hopefully he can get right back to that level of success when he returns.
6. Triston Casas
OK, OK. I promise this is the last injured player in the top 10. I can’t help it if the Red Sox’s current IL roster would make a decent team on its own. With six bombs and a 134 wRC+ in his first 90 plate appearances, Casas was on track for another leap forward from his solid offensive effort in 2023, but a fractured rib put him on the 60-day IL. He’ll likely plummet from in next month’s rankings since he won’t have a chance to improve his resume, but he deserves this spot for his strong (pre-injury) start to the year.
5. Rafael Devers
Even with an injury slowing him down briefly, Devers has been smashing the ball again and his overall line for the year looks great. He’s slashing .279/.395/.471 with a 145 wRC+ and a walk rate of nearly 15 percent. He’s really boosted those numbers in the last week, with hits in 10 of his last 23 plate appearances. More please.
4. Wilyer Abreu
On Saturday, Abreu set a Red Sox rookie record, logging his eighth-straight game with a run knocked in, which is … neat, I guess. if RBIs are your thing. However, Abreu has been doing more than that, posting a .292/.366/.472 slash line and 135 wRC+ while batting in the heart of the Red Sox order most days. He’s also stolen four bags. Rookie of the Year when?
3. Kutter Crawford
Many baseball analysts urge folks not to read too much into wins above replacement this early in the season, and while I share that sentiment … DID YOU KNOW THAT TWO OF THE THREE PITHCERS CURRENTLY TIED FOR THE MLB LEAD IN PITCHING fWAR PLAY FOR THE RED SOX AND KUTTER CRAWFORD IS ONE OF THEM? Whoops. I need to get that caps lock key fixed. Anyway, as the outburst earlier in this paragraph illustrates, Crawford has cemented his place in the rotation (near the top of it no less) with a really excellent start to the year.
2. Tyler O’Neill
Speaking of MLB leaders, O’Neil has launched nine home runs this year, tying him with Marcell Ozuna of Altanta for the second-most in baseball. On top of that, he has a 221 wRC+ overall, meaning he’s been more than a dingers or nothing hitter. Is O’Neil the steal of the offseason or Adam Duvall 2.0? Either way, the Red Sox have to be happy with the results so far.
1. Tanner Houck
The Houck Hive’s day has finally come. After storming onto the scene at the end of the truly bizarre 2020 season, Houck never seemed to recapture that same magic, but it’s all come together this season. The 27-year-old right hander is also tied with Crawford for the MLB-lead in fWAR (along with Zack Wheeler of the Phillies), as he’s exercised his long-time demons early on, drastically reducing his walk rate and remaining effective the third time through the order. Heck, he pitched a freaking Maddux. It may still be too early to crown him as an ace, but it’s not too early to give him the top spot in these rankings.