One of the issues that new baseball chief Craig Breslow had tried to address within the Red Sox as an organization is the severe imbalance within the minor league system between the team’s excellent positional player prospects and the utter dearth of options when it comes to pitching prospects.
So when the A’s gave up on fire-balling, 6-foot-7 lefty Puerto Rican hurler Eduardo Rivera last season, Breslow’s Red Sox were there to take him in. Rivera’s problem is obvious–control, as evidenced by the 5.1 walks per nine innings he’s given up in five minor-league seasons–but he is only 21 years old. And did we mention he’s 6-foot-7?
The A’s could never quite figure out what to do with Rivera, but the Red Sox seem to have zeroed in on making him a starter. The early results from the High A Greenville Drive have been promising: In his last start, Rivera struck out nine batters in 4.2 innings, allowing no hits, though walking two and hitting a batter.
In four stats this season, covering 17 innings, Rivera has an ERA of 0.053 and is allowing a batting average of .056–three hits (two singles and a double) in 54 at-bats. He’s allowed seven walks, which is a big improvement, at 3.7 per nine innings.
Red Sox Helping Eduardo Rivera’s Control Issues?
As Chris Smith of MassLive points out, Rivera has posted a 45.7% strikeout rate, tops in the Boston system. He is one of six Red Sox minor-leaguers with a better than 40% strikeout rate.
“Rivera throws a fastball in the 93-97 mph range. He also has a slider, split-finger fastball and sweeper,” Smith wrote. “The Puerto Rican initially was an Athletics’ 11th-round draft pick in 2021. But Oakland released him last May 21 after he struggled with some control issues throughout the minors.”
Rivera pitched winter ball in Puerto Rico and appeared to make strides, going 2-1 with a 1.73 ERA and 61 strikeouts (13 walks) in 41.2 innings pitched. He made an appearance in the Red Sox’s 12-8 spring training win over Monterrey in March, allowing three hits and a walk in 2.0 innings, giving up three unearned runs.
He is not rated in the Top 30 by MLB.com’s ranking of Red Sox prospects, but he is ranked No. 32 (up from No. 41) on the SoxProspects.com list.
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