I'm aware that this potentially a dangerous move for Benintendi's development -- even if he's the type of player who tends to take the transition well (low K%, good hit tool, good strike zone judgment), he hasn't had close to a full season at the higher levels.
Then again, there's a risk of flameout with every prospect when you promote them, no matter when it happens. Benintendi has barely been challenged by AA -- he had a rough May where he struck out 10 times in 47 ABs and hit .213, since then he's struck out just 20 times in 190 AB's and torn the cover off the damn ball. And there's a whole cadre of guys up there who've struggled when they started, and recently, and a major league staff that is used to handling that. If there's a kind of prospect you promote early, it's the kind like Benintendi -- the guy who hasn't been challenged by any level he's seen. The comparison to Mookie is desirable, but Mookie was better than Benintendi was at AA, and then at AAA, even if they profile similarly.
But then again again, almost every home-grown player we have has had some serious struggles either right out of the gate or close to it -- Pedroia's first call-up was a bummer (Jerry Remy calling for his vicarious second baseman, Alex Coragenius, to start), Bogaerts had a devastating first full season, Mookie had a bad April/May in 2015, and we won't even get into the Hell JBJ went through. Shit, Nomar sucked for 25 games.
Even if he does struggle, this team could have a hell of a internal trade deadline acquisition if things go as we might expect, between Kimbrel and Young returning, and Price hopefully creeping back towards being the great pitcher his peripherals suggest he should be (you can add Eduardo's discovery of a tenable slider to that list).
Then again, there's a risk of flameout with every prospect when you promote them, no matter when it happens. Benintendi has barely been challenged by AA -- he had a rough May where he struck out 10 times in 47 ABs and hit .213, since then he's struck out just 20 times in 190 AB's and torn the cover off the damn ball. And there's a whole cadre of guys up there who've struggled when they started, and recently, and a major league staff that is used to handling that. If there's a kind of prospect you promote early, it's the kind like Benintendi -- the guy who hasn't been challenged by any level he's seen. The comparison to Mookie is desirable, but Mookie was better than Benintendi was at AA, and then at AAA, even if they profile similarly.
But then again again, almost every home-grown player we have has had some serious struggles either right out of the gate or close to it -- Pedroia's first call-up was a bummer (Jerry Remy calling for his vicarious second baseman, Alex Coragenius, to start), Bogaerts had a devastating first full season, Mookie had a bad April/May in 2015, and we won't even get into the Hell JBJ went through. Shit, Nomar sucked for 25 games.
Even if he does struggle, this team could have a hell of a internal trade deadline acquisition if things go as we might expect, between Kimbrel and Young returning, and Price hopefully creeping back towards being the great pitcher his peripherals suggest he should be (you can add Eduardo's discovery of a tenable slider to that list).