Boston Dirt Dogs recently posted an article written by Chris Paddock for Maple Street Press’s Red Sox Annual on the apparent lack of power hitters in the Sox farm system. Paddock points out that “since 1990, only three players drafted by the Sox have hit more than 25 home runs in a major league season: Trot Nixon, Nomar Garciaparra, and Kevin Youkilis.” He goes on to say that you can add Hanley Ramirez to make four if you include international signings, which I’m not sure why you wouldn’t. Ramirez doesn’t typically fall into the “afterthought” category.
At any rate, Paddock’s assessment of the farm system seems to be correct. The Sox aren’t giving away their draft strategy (why would they?), but it does seem that Sox scouts value pitching over slugging. That’s an about-face from Red Sox theories of the past, who relied on power hitting and not much else. (And how many World Championships did Mo Vaughn win?)
The article is fairly dispassionate - you can read the whole thing here if you want - although BDD’s commentary gives one a hint they might miss the old sluggers. But is the lack of power hitters in the farm system really such a bad thing?
Slugging certainly doesn’t hurt a team, but is it really essential for a 
championship-caliber team? The 2008 Phillies had four players with more than 20 homers: Jayson Werth had 24, Pat Burrell and Chase Utley each had 33, and Ryan Howard had a whopping 48. But if you recall, the Rays didn’t do so bad last year either - and they had only two guys with more than twenty homers: Evan Longoria had 27, and Carlos Pena had 31. Even the 2007 Red Sox only had two hitters with more than twenty round-trippers: David Ortiz with 35 and Mike Lowell with 21. Manny Ramirez had exactly 20. Their World Series competitors that year, the Rockies, more resembled the Phillies: four guys with over twenty homers.
Examining team stats shows much the same thing. While last year’s Phillies were second in the league in homers, the runner-up Rays were tenth. The 2007 World Champion Red Sox were eighteenth in homers; the 2006 Champion Cardinals were twelfth.
Clearly, you can win World Championships with or without a glut of power hitting. The Sox farm system is certainly stronger in the pitching department, but don’t overlook hitters like Lars Anderson, Josh Reddick, and Yamaico Navarro. It’s not like the Sox system is full of hitters like Jerry Remy, who hit for decent average but, as he loves to remind NESN viewers, hit only seven home runs in his ten-year career.
What we shouldn’t forget here is the overall strength of the Red Sox farm system. Whatever the club’s strategy is, it’s working. The system consistently ranks highly in comparisons of farms in the MLB, and you can’t argue with the success of the club. There are so many highly regarded prospects the Sox don’t have anywhere to put them. Pitching has been a particular strength: what team wouldn’t love to have young arms such as Jon Lester, Jonathan Papelbon, Michael Bowden, Justin Masterson, Daniel Bard, et al? And, if the Red Sox truly find themselves lacking in the hitting department, it shouldn’t be too difficult to swap a young gun for a hitter.
The Red Sox have their priorities in the right place. Last year’s Phillies had the MLB’s eighth-best ERA; the Rays had the third-best. The 2007 Sox were second in ERA, while the Rockies - who, if you remember, were a late-season surprise - were fourteenth. In fact, the only two World Series Champions since 2000 who were not in the top ten in ERA was the 2006 St. Louis Cardinals (16th) and the 2004 Red Sox (11th).
Pitchers make good trade bait if the Sox start lacking in hitting, which, if you notice, they aren’t. Last time I checked, the only two regulars who hit over .300 were home-grown. Does it really matter if runs come across the bases via home run, double, or single? No.
Once the season starts, we’ll have plenty to complain about. Let’s not make things up when we don’t need to.
