The Red Sox have promoted second base prospect Yoan Moncada to Double-A Portland, Jason Mastrodonato of the Boston Herald reports. Moncada was performing quite well at Single-A Salem, batting .307/.427/.496 with 25 doubles, 34 RBI, 57 runs scored, and 36 stolen bases in 284 plate appearances.
Moncada left Cuba and wound up signing with the Red Sox on a $31.5 million bonus in March 2015. He performed well at Single-A Greenville last year and has performed even better this year.
Red Sox president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski was very complimentary of Moncada, saying, “He’s a very good offensive player. He drives the ball. He hits for an average. He’s walked a lot this year. It’s probably just the overall skills of learning the game. Probably a little bit more work defensively than offensively.”
Dombrowski wouldn’t commit to a future change of positions for Moncada, but second base is currently occupied by Dustin Pedroia, who is under contract with the Red Sox through 2021.
