Baseball America is busy right now putting together its top 20 prospects lists by league now that the minor league baseball season is over.
They got started last week with the Arizona League, the Gulf Coast League, Appalachian League, Pioneer League, NY/Penn League, Northwest League, Midwest League, South Atlantic League, California League, Carolina League and Florida State League.
Now we’ll look at the Eastern League where the Red Sox minor leaguers play with the Portland Sea Dogs..
Two Red Sox farmhands are ranked in the top 20 prospects of the Eastern League. They are OF Jackie Bradley Jr. at No. 5 and LHP Drake Britton.
Bradley Jr. was a first round pick (supplemental round) of the Red Sox in 2011 out of South Carolina and he played in 10 games for the Lowell Spinners and Greenville Drive. He started the 2012 season with Salem before being promoted to the Portland Sea Dogs. He was also the No. 4 prospect in the Carolina League.
In 67 games with Salem, Bradley hit .359 with three home runs, 39 RBIs and 16 stolen bases. In 61 games with the Sea Dogs, he hit .271 with six home runs, 29 RBIs and eight stolen bases. If you combine his stats for the year, he hit .315 with nine home runs, 68 RBIs and 24 stolen bases.
Britton was a 23rd round draft pick of the Red Sox back in the 2007 MLB Draft. He spent the 2008 season with the Lowell Spinners and split 2009 between the GCL Red Sox and Spinners. He played the 2010 season with the Greenville Drive and 2011 season with the Salem Red Sox.
He started the 2012 season with Salem where he made 10 appearances (eight starts) and was 3-5 with a 5.80 ERA. He had 42 strikeouts in 45 innings of work. After being promoted to the Sea Dogs, he made 16 starts and was 4-7 with a 3.72 ERA. He had 76 strikeouts in 84.2 innings. If you combine his stats for the year, Britton was 7-12 with a 4.44 ERA to go along with 118 strikeouts in 129.2 innings of work.
The next and final look at where Red Sox farmhands rank in their respective league comes on Friday, October 12 when Baseball America looks at the top 20 prospects for the International League.
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