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| (Photo Source: ArkansasOnline.com) |
Last month, the Red Sox drafted 20-year-old sophomore outfielder Andrew Benintendi from the University of Arkansas with the seventh overall pick in the First-Year Player Draft. Boston signed him last week for just over $3.5 million.
Benintendi began his professional career last week with the Single-A Lowell Spinners of the New York-Penn League. He promptly collected two hits in each of his first games, including a home run against the Tri-City Valley Cats on Saturday, the Fourth of July. He has collected four hits in eight at-bats (.500 batting average) with the single home run and two runs batted in through his first three games with Lowell.
Although he has shown he possesses plenty of raw power, at only 5-10 and 170 pounds he considers himself more of a doubles hitter.
“Going into my sophomore year, I knew what to expect. So I prepared accordingly. I don’t think I’m a power guy, even though the numbers may say I am. I’m more of a gap-to-gap guy. I just go up there and try and hit the ball hard and, fortunately, enough balls go over the fence,” Benintendi told The Lowell Sun last week.
Benintendi was named the SEC Player of the Year, Collegiate Baseball’s Player of the Year and received the 2015 Golden Spikes Award. The lefty hit .376/.488/.717 with a Divison I-leading 20 home runs, 58 runs batted in and 24 stolen bases in only 65 games for the Arkansas Razorbacks this season.
The Cincinnati, Ohio native hopes to join a long list of former Golden Spikes Award winners who have gone on to have successful MLB careers including Alex Gordon (2005), Tim Lincecum (2006), David Price (2007), Buster Posey (2008), Stephan Strausburg (2009), Bryce Harper (2010) and Kris Bryant (2013).
This is the second time in three seasons that Boston has had the seventh overall selection, their earliest picks in the draft since 1993, when they drafted Trot Nixon with the seventh pick. The Red Sox are hoping to get more production out of Benintendi than their 2013 seventh overall draft choice, lefthander Trey Ball, who has so far failed to live up to expectations. Ball has gone 11-17 with a 4.24 ERA, allowing 191 hits and 78 walks in 186.2 innings over three seasons.
— Forrest Mulheron
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