Winter Meetings Blockbuster Trade

Each year at the annual MLB Winter Meetings, there’s usually a blockbuster trade or two… or three. On Tuesday, December 6, the first blockbuster deal came down and it featured a former Charlotte Knights hurler.

The Chicago White Sox agreed to trade LHP Chris Sale to the Boston Red Sox for four of the team’s top prospects — Yoan Moncada, Michael Kopech, Luis Basabe and Victor Diaz. Sale appeared in seven games with the Knights in 2010 before making his way to the South Side of Chicago. I’ll have more on Sale in a future post coming up.

Yoan Moncada (pictured, above) is ranked by MLB.com as the top prospect in baseball. He was named by Baseball America as the 2016 Minor League Player of the Year. He’s just 21 years old.

Moncada, a native of Abreus, Cuba, signed with the Red Sox in 2015 for $31.5 million. That deal nearly doubled the previous record bonus for an amateur player set by Aroldis Chapman in 2010 ($16.25 million).

After signing, he appeared in 81 games with Single-A Greenville in 2015 and hit .278 (85-for-306) with 61 runs scored, 19 doubles, three triples, eight home runs, 38 RBIs, and 49 stolen bases.

Last season, he appeared in 61 games with High-A Salem and hit .307 (70-for-228) with 57 runs scored, 25 doubles, three triples, four home runs, 34 RBIs, and 36 stolen bases.

After a promotion to Double-A last year, he appeared in 45 games with the Portland Sea Dogs and hit .277 (49-for-177) with 37 runs scored, six doubles, three triples, 11 home runs, and 28 RBIs.

He wrapped up the 2016 campaign in Boston with the Red Sox and compiled a .211 (4-for-19) batting average in eight games. It will be interesting to see where Moncada starts the 2017 season. Stay tuned!

I’ll have more on the other three prospects, as well as a look back at Chris Sale in a Knights uniform and more in my next blogs. That’s all for now!