Trade Analysis: Scouting the prospects dealt for Eduardo Nunez
While the Red Sox were in the late innings of their West Coast game against Seattle, the team announced their first move of the trade deadline acquiring utility player Eduardo Nunez from the San Francisco Giants for right-handed pitchers Shaun Anderson (pictured) and Gregory Santos. Anderson is the number seventeen pitcher in the SoxProspects rankings while the 17-year-old Santos was unranked.
Nunez has played in 76 games for San Francisco this year hitting .308/.334/.417 with four home runs and 18 stolen bases. He rarely strikes out or walks and lacks power. His average is driven largely by BABIP and inflated by his speed. Defensively, Nunez has played primarily third base but has spent some time in left field, right field and at shortstop. Nunez doesn’t grade out very well on the advanced metrics with negative defensive runs saved at every position he’s played this year and -2.0 defensive WAR according to Fangraphs. While Nunez doesn’t seem like a major upgrade offensively or defensively, his speed does bring a new dimension to the Red Sox bench that they haven’t had in a while. Nunez stole 40 bases last year and his 18 this year would lead the team, one ahead of Mookie Betts.
Another motivation in acquiring Nunez was likely his salary. Of the rental players available his salary is relatively low, with the Red Sox on the hook for just $1.5 million for the rest of the year, which leaves them with room to make more deals while staying under the luxury tax. Nunez did come at a cost, however, as Anderson had established himself as one of the more intriguing pitchers in the second tier of the system's arms and Santos represents a lottery ticket with solid statistics in the DSL.
The primary piece heading back to San Francisco is Shaun Anderson, the Red Sox 2016 3rd round pick out of the University of Florida. Anderson was the closer at Florida and signed for just over slot at $700k with the Red Sox announcing they intended to transition him into the starting rotation. He made his debut with the Lowell Spinners allowing twelve hits and nine runs in 2.2 innings before being sent down to the GCL and shut down for the rest of the regular season. I saw both of Anderson’s starts last year and it was clear he wasn’t comfortable in a starting role, though he did get somewhat unlucky also with some weak hit balls dropping in. In Spring Training this year, Anderson looked like a different pitcher and seemed a lot more comfortable on the mound. His stuff looked better and he carried that improvement over to the regular season.
Anderson started the season with Greenville excelling in seven starts, before a promotion to Salem in May. Overall with Greenville, Anderson threw 38.2 innings with a 2.56 era and 1.06 whip. He allowed 30 hits and 11 earned runs while striking out 37 and walking 11. Following his promotion to Salem, Anderson took a few starts to get adjusted but has excelled of late with 21 strikeouts and only two walks over his last 18 innings. Overall with Salem, Anderson had a 3.99 era and 1.21 whip over 58.2 innings with 48 strikeouts and 18 walks.
Anderson has a prototypical pitchers frame, listed at 6-foot-4, 225 pounds, boasting a four-pitch mix. He is a solid athlete on the mound and has some projection remaining, especially in his lower half. He starts on the third base side of the rubber and throws from a three-quarters arm slot with a long arm action. His fastball sits in the low-90s and touches the mid-90s. He has shown the ability to control the offering, but his command comes and goes. The pitch is heavy and shows sink when he keeps it down in the zone. Long-term, it projects as a plus offering. Anderson’s best secondary is his slider, which will flash plus potential. At times, the pitch has looked like a cutter, but this year it has developed into more of a true slider in the mid-to-high-80s. He has confidence in the pitch and does a good job of eliciting weak contact with it. Anderson will also show a curveball and a changeup. He threw his curveball 77-78 mph when I saw him last year, but didn’t throw it when I saw him in spring training this March. The pitch showed a long 12-6 break and tight rotation when he snapped it off. He did throw his changeup this spring, albeit sparingly, in the mid-80s with the pitch on the firm side. Last year he threw the pitch 81-83 mph and showed some feel for the offering.
Overall, with strong pitchability and a four-pitch mix with two potential plus offerings, Anderson has a chance to start long-term. He has the frame to handle the rigors of a starter's workload and though he doesn’t have a high ceiling could develop into a solid back-end starter. If things don’t work out in the rotation, his fastball and slider combination should play in a bullpen role, something he is familiar with from his time at Florida. Though Anderson isn’t one of the top pitching prospects in the system he falls into that next tier along with the likes of Mike Shawaryn, Darwinzon Hernandez, and Roniel Raudes. Given Boston's inability to develop homegrown pitching and lack of depth he is a reasonably high price to pay for a rental player, but, given the Red Sox' struggles at the major league level it is clear they felt a move needed to be made and Nunez does represent an upgrade if used in a utility role. However, if Nunez is used in an everyday role he represents a marginal upgrade, at best, offensively and a downgrade defensively.
The other player heading to the Giants is 17-year-old Dominican right-hander Gregory Santos who signed for $275,000 back on August 28, 2015. Santos made his debut in the Dominican Summer League last year and put up a 4.17 ERA and 1.61 WHIP with 26 walks and 25 strikeouts in 41 innings. He wasn’t brought stateside for either the fall instructional league or minor league spring training this year and was assigned back to the DSL this summer. In seven starts this summer, he has thrown 30 innings and yielded only three earned runs on 21 hits on 15 walks while striking out 21, good for a 0.90 ERA and 1.20 WHIP.
Photo credit: Shaun Anderson by Kelly O'Connor
Ian Cundall is Director of Scouting for SoxProspects.com. Follow him on Twitter @IanCundall.