Fansided

3 prospects the Red Sox can afford to trade for Major League talent

By Gabrielle Starr

BOSTON, MA - JULY 03: Chief Baseball Officer for the Boston Red Sox Chaim Bloom talks by the phone during Summer Workouts at Fenway Park on July 3, 2020 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Adam Glanzman/Getty Images)
BOSTON, MA - JULY 03: Chief Baseball Officer for the Boston Red Sox Chaim Bloom talks by the phone during Summer Workouts at Fenway Park on July 3, 2020 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Adam Glanzman/Getty Images) /
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2. Brainer Bonaci, Red Sox shortstop prospect

While Brainer Bonaci has an absolutely epic name for a baseball player (imagine a play-by-play watching him hit a home run and shouting “That ball was absolutely BRAINED), it’s unclear how he fits into the franchise’s future.

SoxProspects.com currently ranks Bonaci as the organization’s 22nd overall prospect, but he’s a shortstop stuck far behind Marcelo Mayer, their first-round pick in the 2021 draft, and a fellow shortstop.

Neither Bonaci nor Mayer – both still in their teens – are slated to debut before 2024. The Sox also have Jeter Downs, who can play short and second base. He was part of the return in the Mookie Betts trade and is currently with Triple-A. Injuries hampered his 2021 season, but he’s slated for a 2022 debut.

And of course, the Sox have Xander Bogaerts, who will cement a decade at short in 2022, and has been with the franchise since he was a teenager. He signed a lucrative (but seriously underpaying) extension in 2019 that will keep him in Boston through 2025, though there has been talk of moving him to second base.