SAN DIEGO -- Yoan Moncada betrays no conceit when, asked how he would describe himself to someone who hasn’t seen him play, he responds, “as a five-tool player.’’
The Boston Red Sox’s No. 1 prospect doesn’t mention tackling opponents among those tools, but he certainly looks entirely capable.
Moncada has actually trimmed down 10 pounds from his previous high of 230, but still cuts a figure more common on the football field than a baseball diamond with his bulging biceps and broad chest.
“I remember the first time I saw him, I thought he was a linebacker,’’ outfielder Andrew Benintendi, Moncada’s teammate on three minor-league levels, said before they opposed each other in Sunday’s Futures Game. “He’s physically enormous. He’s a specimen. He uses that to his advantage. Already in Portland, he has five home runs in the (16) games he’s been there, and he’s got tremendous speed.’’
Indeed, Moncada has made a seamless transition from Class A Salem (Va.) to AA Portland (Maine), batting .328 with a 1.023 on-base plus slugging since his promotion three weeks ago, the latest step in his seemingly inexorable march toward the majors.
His overall numbers in the season’s first half – a .312 batting average with nine homers, a .947 OPS and a minors-leading 40 steals – further validate that notion, as well as Boston’s financial investment in him.
A legend in youth circles in his native Cuba, Moncada became the subject of a bidding war after leaving the island – legally, not via defection – in June 2014 and establishing residency in Guatemala. The Red Sox won the sweepstakes in March 2015 with a $31.5 million offer that cost them an equal amount in penalties for going over their bonus pool.
Moncada, 21, has been honing his craft and adapting to life in the U.S. since then, the Futures Game providing the most prominent platform to date for his abundant talents. He took full advantage, going 2-for-4 with second-deck two-run homer in the eighth that put the World team ahead 4-3, and drawing a bases-loaded walk in the ninth to push the lead to 6-3. He also made a throwing error but showed good range at second base, robbing Benintendi of a single with a nice play in the third.
“I’m happy and grateful for everything that’s happened,’’ Moncada told USA TODAY Sports in Spanish. “It has been because of my work, the dedication I’ve put into training and my focus in the games. Lots of discipline.’’
It’s a process that started when Moncada was 13 and his father, Manuel, encouraged him to start working out with weights. Moncada, who is listed as 6-2 but says he’s actually 6 feet tall, took to the workouts and was able to maintain his footspeed even as he gained bulk. In 81 games at low-Class A Greenville (S.C.) last season, he stole 49 bases and was caught stealing only three times, showing the ability to switch into top gear quickly.
The combination of power and speed, especially rare in a middle infielder, has Red Sox fans daydreaming of the day Moncada joins an impressive stable of young standouts that already includes All-Star Game starters Xander Bogaerts, Mookie Betts and Jackie Bradley Jr.
That raises the logical question of where the Red Sox intend to use him, considering incumbent second baseman and 2008 AL MVP Dustin Pedroia is signed through 2021 and enjoying a solid season at 32. Moncada played some third base and shortstop in Cuba but has seen action only at second base stateside.
“The team will decide where I should play when I get to the big leagues,’’ Moncada said. “When that time comes, I’ll play whatever position they need me to play.’’
Should he stay at his current spot, Moncada’s skills project to a Robinson Cano-type of player, a strong-armed second baseman who can hit for a high average and consistently produce runs, in his case from both sides of the plate. Moncada actually has a young son named Robinson, but not for any affinity with the Seattle Mariners’ star, whom he rarely saw on TV while growing up in Cuba.
Like so many players who left the Communist island, Moncada talks on the phone regularly with his parents and siblings back home but yearns for the chance to see them. That separation has been harder for Moncada than anything baseball has thrown at him.
“The easiest part has been fitting in with the Boston organization and with my teammates,’’ he said of the adjustment to life in America. “What has been tough is being away from my family in Cuba. I still don’t know how likely it is that they might come over. I hope to see them soon, either by them coming over or me going there.’’
At this rate, he may be a big leaguer when that reunion happens.
GALLERY: MLB FUTURES GAME
