For many people in the Boston area, the Red Sox most recent series against Chicago White Sox was their first glimpse at seeing infielder Yoan Moncada play in an MLB game since he played in eight brief ones early in September last season as a member of the Red Sox.
Moncada, along with three other prospects, were promptly shipped out of town in December to the White Sox in exchange for now-Boston ace Chris Sale.
This came on the heels of Moncada struggling mightily to hit off-speed pitches.
As of now, the No. 2 prospect in baseball (Baseball America) has not been performing his standards.
The second/third baseman, who left Cuba to sign a 31-million deal with the Red Sox in February of 2015, is hitting .203 with 29 strikeouts in 84 plate appearances since being called up July 19 to replace Todd Frazier. He does have two home runs and nine runs batted in, however .
Moncada has been struggling against left-handers since his call up. In 23 at-bats, he’s only reached base five times via three hits and two free passes.
The young switch hitter seems to thrive the most when he bats with one down in the inning. He has a .333 average with .478 on-base percentage. One of his two homers have come with one out.
His one other home run came in an inning with two outs. He tends to strike out the most in two-out spots, 13 times in 27 (48 percent) of his at-bats, in fact.
This past Thursday, against the Houston Astros, the 22-year-old had the best game of his short career. He tied it up in the ninth inning with a solo home run, then proceeded hit a walk-off single in the 11th.
“It was something indescribable,” Moncada told reporters after the game. “All my emotions were to the roof when I hit that ball and then when I was running the bases. It was something unique.”
