Baseball America named Red Sox minor leaguer Nelly Taylor one of its breakout MLB prospect candidates heading into 2025. He was one of three Red Sox prospects highlighted along with pitchers Juan Valera (an 18-year-old up to 100 mph) and Payton Tolle (a 2024 second-round pick).
Taylor — who turned 22 in January — is making Baseball America look smart with a strong start to the season. He’s batting .294 (10-for-34) with a .400 on-base percentage, .471 slugging percentage, .871 OPS, one homer, three doubles, five RBIs, four runs, three steals, six walks and 10 strikeouts in 10 games for High-A Greenville.
“He’s been an incredibly diligent worker,” senior director of player development Brian Abraham said. “He’s added a ton of really good strength and weight and athleticism in our offseason program.”
The left-handed hitter spent the past two offseasons training at the JetBlue Park complex in Fort Myers.
MassLive ranked him No. 24 on its preseason Top 25 Red Sox prospect list. Baseball America ranks him No. 26 in the organization and selected him as the system’s top defensive outfielder.
The Red Sox asked Taylor to add weight this past winter and Abraham said he gained “probably 20 or so pounds.” Abraham called him “a very physical kid.”
“Probably one of our best in terms of pure strength, in terms of power, explosiveness,” Abraham said. “He definitely is towards the top of the organization in a lot of the key metrics that we quantify. And I think that translates pretty well to hitting the baseball hard.”
The Red Sox have seen Taylor — a 2023 11th round draft pick out of Polk State — hit the ball harder and gain bat speed with the weight and strength that he added in the offseason.
“He’s not only hit the ball hard and swung the bat fast. His swing decisions have improved,” Abraham said. “And that has allowed him to hit pitches that he can drive, hit pitches that he can handle and hit pitches that he can impact.”
Taylor has a 15.0% walk percentage here early in the season after posting a 13.8% walk percentage in his first full pro season last year.
“Like many hitters he has to continue to improve,” Abraham said. “But I think the swing decisions and his ability to swing the bat fast and impact the baseball have been really exemplary.”
Taylor showed glimpses last year, going 11-for-38 (.289) with a .341 on-base percentage, .553 slugging percentage, two homers, two doubles and one triple in his final 10 games after a promotion to Greenville late in the season.
He finished with a slash line of just .233/.337.376/.713 in 111 games. But he had a strong second half, including posting a .291/.380./494./874 line in 92 plate appearances in August.
Baseball America grades his defense 60 (plus) on the 20-80 scale. Taylor earned 2024 Red Sox minor league Defensive Player of the Year.
“His first step quickness, his jumps and reads are all really good,” Abraham said. “I think not only our internal numbers but externally he’s an incredibly strong defender. He can play all over the place. Obviously plays a lot of center but he can play all three spots and catches pretty much anything that’s near him.”
Baseball America also grades his running 60.
“Can really run, can take the extra 90,” Abraham said. “So he’s a true five-talent player and when he’s hitting on all cylinders, it’s really fun to watch.”
This character is also a very important trait. He’s a tough kid who overcame a Wilms tumor, a rare kidney cancer, at 5 years old.
Abraham compared Taylor’s character and work ethic to that of his former roommate, star rookie Kristian Campbell.
“They were roommates, they’re good friends, they’ve spent a lot of time together,” Abraham said. “I think Kristian has represented a lot of what we believe in as a player development group and as an organization. And on and off the field, I think Nelly, as his roommate, close friend, is very similar in a lot of ways as well.
“Works incredibly hard, very coachable,” Abraham added. “I don’t like to always use the word coachable because that seems like it’s just always us telling them what to do. I think he has a really strong ownership of his career — knows what he wants and what he needs to do. And I think balancing that out with the information we give him to allow him to improve has been a nice combination. So it’s worked on both ends. Him being aware of what he needs to improve on and and then I think us providing him information to allow him to improve.”
Other Red Sox minor league notes
~ Shortstop Marcelo Mayer stayed hot for Triple-A Worcester on Tuesday. He went 2-for-4 with a homer, double, two RBIs and one strikeout in a 5-0 win over Syracuse. He has four straight two-hit games and his average has increased 54 points (from .193 to .247) during the stretch.
~ Righty Cooper Criswell allowed just two hits and no walks while striking out eight over 5 scoreless innings in Worcester’s win. He has allowed one earned run in 11 innings (0.82 ERA) since Boston optioned him to Triple A.
~ Left fielder Roman Anthony went 2-for-4 with a double, run and two strikeouts in the WooSox’ win. He’s batting .286 with a .419 on-base percentage, .543 slugging percentage, .962 OPS and nine extra-base hits. Anthony has been DH’ing recently because of a shoulder issue but he expects to return to the field Wednesday.
~ Double-A Portland scored five runs in the bottom of the eighth to win 9-8 over Reading on Tuesday. Jhostynxon Garcia — known as The Password — had a game-tying two-run double. Garcia went 2-for-5 with two RBIs, two runs and three strikeouts. The 22-year-old is 14-for-44 (.318) with a .426 on-base percentage, .477 slugging percentage, .903 OPS, one homer, four doubles, eight RBIs, nine runs, nine walks, 14 strikeouts and two steals in 12 games for Portland.
~ Shortstop Mikey Romero, a 2022 first round pick, went 2-for-4 with an RBI, run and walk in Portland’s win. He has a .271/.386/.458/.844 line with two homers, one double, one triple, 11 runs, five RBIs, two steals, eight walks and 18 strikeouts in 12 games.
~ Third baseman Antonio Anderson, a 2023 third round pick, is 16-for-47 (.340) with a .441 on-base percentage, .447 slugging percentage and .888 OPS in 13 games for Low-A Salem so far. The 19-year-old went 1-for-4 with two RBIs, a walk, one run and one strikeout in Salem’s 12-6 win over Hickory on Tuesday.
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Read the original article on MassLive.