Red Sox Make Big Splash in the MLB Draft. Home Run Derby Tonight…

The Red Sox are on a mini vacation with the exception of 5 Sox players in Colorado for the 2021 MLB All-Star Game tomorrow night.  Rafael Devers and Xander Bogaerts will be starting for the American League with Rafael playing third base and hitting fifth and Xander at shortstop and hitting third.  Also making this year’s team are the newly re-upped closer for the Sox, Matt Barnes, starting pitcher Nathan Eovaldi and slugger J.D. Martinez.  The All-Star Game is tomorrow night starting at 7:30 on FOX.

The always entertaining Home Run Derby is tonight without any participation from Devers, Bogaerts or Martinez.  Although all three Sox standouts have power and would be contenders for the Home Run Derby trophy, the slugging contest has been known to adversely affect a hitter’s swing in the second half of the season. The Home Run Derby can be seen tonight starting at 8 pm on ESPN.

The Red Sox made a splash for the future last night drafting Marcelo Mayer with their 1^st pick and the 4^th pick overall last night in MLB draft.  Mayer was projected by many to go 1^st overall in the draft.  When he was still sitting there when the Sox pick came around the Red Sox jumped at the chance to grab the shortstop from Eastlake High in California.  Don’t expect to see Mayer at Fenway anytime soon.  It takes years of development before a drafted player makes it to the big leagues.  The last time the Red Sox had a top 5 pick in the draft was back in 1967.  In round 2 of the draft the Sox picked up Jud Fabian, an outfielder from Florida, 3^rd round pick Tyler McDonough, a second baseman from North Carolina State, and Elmer Rodriguez-Cruz from Puerto Rico.

The second half of the season starts back up for the 1^st place Red Sox on Thursday night against the Yankees in NYC.  You can listen to the broadcast of all the Sox games this season on New Country 94.7 WNAW in North Adams…WBEC-AM 1420 in Pittsfield and WSBS 94.1 in Great Barrington.