Nothing fun lasts forever. Not even the Boston Red Sox's lineup, which has gone from spectacular in the first half to slump-tacular in the second half. It needs a pick-me-up.
Enter Andrew Benintendi?
Officially, the answer became yes a week ago. After watching Benintendi launch himself into the top 10 of prospect rankings at Baseball America, MLB.com and ESPN.com, the Red Sox called him up for his major league debut on August 2. Pretty good for a guy who was only drafted a year ago.
The early returns are even better. Playing mostly in left field, Benintendi has hit an even .500 in six games. You might need an electron microscope to see that sample size, but that hasn't stopped the team from being impressed with the 22-year-old.
"He's handled the environment probably as good as you could," Red Sox manager John Farrell said, via Tim Britton of the Providence Journal. "He's got a beautiful swing. That's evident by the way he approaches each at-bat. He's more than impressed in the games he's played so far."
Boston slugger David Ortiz cut straight to the point:
In other words: HYYYYYYYPE! Although in this case, it's hard to blame the Red Sox for getting worked up.
With an .833 OPS and an average of 5.6 runs per game, the Red Sox offense was a juggernaut in a 49-38 first half. But the second half has put a hex on the bats of Ortiz, Xander Bogaerts, Jackie Bradley Jr. and Hanley Ramirez, leading to a .746 OPS and 4.7 runs per game. It's part of the reason they're only 12-12 since the break.
The Red Sox are basically challenging Benintendi to be for them what Kyle Schwarber was for last year's Chicago Cubs. Or, for that matter, what Michael Conforto was to last year's New York Mets. This is quite the challenge.
Fortunately for the Red Sox, Benintendi is quite the player.
Like Schwarber and Conforto, Benintendi was a college star who was a top-10 selection in the draft. And deservedly so, as MLB.com posited Benintendi had "the best all-around tools of any college player" chosen in 2015.
Also like Schwarber and Conforto, Benintendi wasted no time putting his tools to good use. Starting at Low-A Lowell and rising to Double-A Portland, the Arkansas Razorbacks alum compiled a .312 average and .932 OPS in 151 minor league games. Those are the numbers of a great pure hitter.
That's also the book on Benintendi. I covered the basics in my own scouting report of him back in June. Here's Christopher Crawford and Wilson Karaman going more in depth at Baseball Prospectus:
Benintendi makes things look easy. Despite being no bigger than 5-foot-10, 180 pounds, he generates easy plus bat speed, and his consistent control of his swing along with excellent hands allows him to make hard contact to pitches on every part of the plate. He recognizes pitches well, and though he’s aggressive, he certainly won’t give away at-bats by swinging at pitches out of the zone. There’s also very little swing-and-miss here, as he possesses excellent hand-eye coordination and has a knack for fouling off tough pitches.
The fact that Benintendi drew more walks (74) than strikeouts (63) in the minors speaks volumes about his approach. As for his knack for hitting, you could see what all the fuss was about as he was collecting three hits Sunday against the Los Angeles Dodgers:
With his first two hits, Benintendi was right on a low-and-away sinker and a low-middle curveball. The low-and-away slider he knocked for his third hit threw him off balance, but he still got enough barrel on it to poke it into right field. On balance, he got good wood on three decent pitches.
It's too soon to use the word "habit," but Baseball Savant shows his hits have mostly come against pitches at or below the knees. That's a good talent to have in today's MLB. With umpires having become more generous with low strikes, as Jon Roegele of the Hardball Times explained, pitchers have become more aggressive with low pitches:
This is not to be misinterpreted as a sign that Benintendi has total plate coverage. It is, however, a hint that he has the kind of plate coverage a modern hitter should have.
It's understandable that Farrell is "getting closer" to installing Benintendi as the Red Sox's everyday left fielder, as he told Jason Mastrodonato of the Boston Herald. It's also understandable that Farrell isn't afraid to use the lefty swinger against left-handed pitching. Per MiLB.com, Benintendi had better than a .900 OPS against southpaws at High-A and Double-A this year.
Rather, the biggest question may be if Benintendi can give the Red Sox anything like the power that produced 20 home runs in the minor leagues. He took a step toward answering that with a long double in his first game at Fenway Park Tuesday night:
There could be more where this came from. Per MLBFarm.com, Benintendi kept the power coming in the minors in part because only 33.9 percent of his batted balls were on the ground. Entering Tuesday, just 40 percent of his batted balls in the majors have been on the ground. If he can keep getting balls airborne, the power will come.
It's not just at the plate that Benintendi could help the Red Sox. He's also an above-average runner and defender. If his bat adapts to the majors as well as it should, he'll be yet another asset for the Red Sox's elite baserunning and outfield defense.
Of course, it bears repeating that none of this should be written in ink.
It will indeed be Benintendi's bat that determines how much playing time he gets. And as much as six games can show, they prove nothing. The more time he spends in the big leagues, the more time pitchers are going to have to feel him out. When the book on the Boston rookie is written, it could reveal one or more holes that deconstruct the notion he's a complete hitter.
But while optimism about Benintendi's role on the 2016 Red Sox only goes so far, the optimism they're feeling is warranted. This is not a case of a team banking on a bundle of unrefined raw tools, a la dozens of prospects in the minors. Nor are the Red Sox banking on a hitter with great minor league numbers but with serious flaws, a la Joey Gallo. Benintendi began his pro career as a polished product and has avoided any and all tarnishing as he's moved up the ranks.
It's too soon to call him a star, but it's not too soon for him to become a star.
Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com and FanGraphs unless otherwise noted/linked.
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