From the Top 100 ... with a system with a lot of graduates, obviously the Sox are thin at the top ...
http://www.espn.com/mlb/insider/stor...row-superstars
30. Jason Groome, LHP, Age 19, Last year rank: 20
76. Michael Chavis, 3B, Age 22, Last Year Rank: URGroome's season couldn't have gone much worse. He started out hurt, tried to pitch through it, gave up a nine-spot in his first start of the year and then went on the shelf for two months. When he did reach the mound, the results were inconsistent, but his stuff has already started to justify his pre-draft projections.
The 2016 first-rounder worked at 92-95 as a starter last year and still has a grade-70 curveball as a put-away pitch that he can throw for strikes and even for swings and misses in the zone. He has been working on his changeup -- during some outings it would flash above average and in others it was a nonfactor for him. He also may eventually be a candidate for a cutter, especially if the change doesn't come along all the way.
Groome is a lean 6-foot-6 and should put on more muscle as he gets into his 20s, but the priority for him now is conditioning rather than weight training, so he can have a full, healthy 2018 and continue to work on his control and changeup. Few starter prospects can boast a breaking ball like Groome's, and despite all of the missed time, his arm is still healthy, so his upside of a No. 2 starter remains intact.
Chavis played most of 2016 with a broken finger but didn't disclose the injury to the Red Sox, so his awful performance for low-A Greenville at least had an explanation. Fully healthy in 2017, Chavis exploded for 31 homers between high-A and Double-A while cutting his strikeout rate at both levels and looking a lot more like the player Boston thought it was getting with its first-round pick in 2014.
He has big-time pull power, but one key for him last year was working more towards left-center to open up more of the field and make him less vulnerable with two strikes or against soft away pitches.
A fringy defender at third, he lacks the agility to be more than a good 45 there and may end up at first base between that and the presence of Rafael Devers ahead of him.
Chavis has made up for lost time in a huge way and should start 2018 in Double-A at age 22, still needing some work on his approach, but he's already progressed so far by not trying to kill the ball every time he swings that you can project him as a solid regular with some upside if he keeps his average and OBP up.
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Originally Posted by sk7326
