Moncada’s skill set intrigues Red Sox
Yoan Moncada betrays no conceit when, asked how he would describe himself to someone who hasn’t seen him play, he responds, “As a fivetool player.”
The Boston Red Sox’s No. 1 prospect doesn’t mention tackling opponents among those tools, but he certainly looks entirely capable.
Moncada has actually trimmed down 10 pounds from his previous high of 230 but still cuts a figure more common on a football field than a baseball diamond with his bulging biceps and broad chest.
“I remember the first time I saw him, I thought he was a linebacker,” outfielder Andrew Benintendi, Moncada’s teammate on three minor league levels, said before they opposed each other in Sunday’s Futures Game. “He’s physically enormous. He’s a specimen. He uses that to his advantage. Already in Portland, he has five home runs in the ( 16) games he’s been there, and he’s got tremendous speed.”
Indeed, Moncada has made a seamless transition from Class A Salem ( Va.) to AA Portland ( Maine), batting .328 with a 1.023 on- base- plus- slugging percentage since his promotion three weeks ago, the latest step in his seemingly inexorable march toward the majors.
His overall numbers in the season’s first half — a .312 batting average with nine homers, a .947 OPS and a minors-leading 40 steals — further validate that notion, as well as Boston’s financial investment in him.
A legend in youth circles in his native Cuba, Moncada became the subject of a bidding war after leaving the island — legally, not via defection — in June 2014 and establishing residency in Guatemala. The Red Sox won the sweepstakes in March 2015 with a $ 31.5 million offer that cost them an equal amount in penalties for going over their bonus pool.
Moncada, 21, has been honing his craft and adapting to life in the USA since then, the Futures Game providing the most prominent platform to date for his abundant talents. He took full advantage, going 2- for- 4 with a second-deck two- run homer in the eighth that put the World team ahead 4- 3. He also made a throwing error but showed good range at second base, robbing Benintendi of a single with a nice play in the third.
“I’m happy and grateful for every- thing that’s happened,” Moncada told USA TODAY Sports in Spanish. “It has been because of my work, the dedication I’ve put into training and my focus in the games. Lots of discipline.”
The combination of power and speed, especially rare in a middle infielder, has Red Sox fans dreaming of the day he joins an impressive stable of young standouts that includes All- Star Game starters Xander Bogaerts, Mookie Betts and Jackie Bradley Jr.
That raises the question of where Boston intends to use him, considering incumbent second baseman and 2008 American League MVP Dustin Pedroia is signed through 2021 and enjoying a solid season at 32. Moncada played some third and shortstop in Cuba but has seen action only at second stateside.
“The team will decide where I should play when I get to the big leagues,” Moncada said. “When that time comes, I’ll play whatever position they need me to play.”
Like many players who left the communist island, he talks on the phone regularly with his parents and siblings back home but yearns for the chance to see them.
“The easiest part has been fitting in with the Boston organization and with my teammates,” he said of the adjustment to life in the USA. “What has been tough is being away from my family in Cuba. I still don’t know how likely it is that they might come over. I hope to see them soon.”
At this rate, he might be a big- leaguer when the reunion occurs.