How did Red Sox OF prospect Allan Castro fare in 2024?

Though he was riding a relatively hot bat at the time of his promotion, Castro struggled to get things going offensively upon making the jump from the South Atlantic League to the Eastern League. He produced a .180/.274/.230 line with two doubles, one home run, nine RBIs, 15 runs scored, six stolen bases, 13 walks, and 30 strikeouts in 28 games (117 plate appearances) for the Sea Dogs.

Among the 185 minor-leaguers who made at least 500 trips to the plate this season, Castro ranked 24th in walk rate (14 percent), 58th in speed score (6.6), 70th in isolated power (.171), 75th in wRC+ (114), and 84th in swinging-strike rate (11.1 percent), per FanGraphs.

Defensively, Castro saw playing time at all three outfield positions between his stops in Greenville and Portland this year. The 6-foot-2, 206-pounder logged 256 innings in left field, 413 2/3 innings in center field, and 251 innings in right field, committing just one error and recording seven assists in 202 total chances. Interestingly enough, 27 of his 28 starts for the Sea Dogs came in left field.

A native of the Dominican Republic, Castro originally signed with the Red Sox for $100,000 as an international free agent coming out of Santo Domingo in July 2019. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, he did not make his professional debut in the Dominican Summer League until 2019 but was later recognized as the organization’s Latin Program Position Player of the Year.

While he may not get as much shine as some of the other position-playing prospects in Boston’s farm system, Castro is still accounted for on several publications’ Red Sox Top 30 lists. At present, Baseball America has him ranked 23rd, MLB Pipeline has him ranked 19th, and SoxProspects.com has him ranked 16th.

Castro, who does not turn 22 until May, is projected by SoxProspects.com to return to Portland for the start of the 2025 season. He can, however, become eligible for this winter’s Rule 5 Draft if he is not added to the Red Sox’ 40-man roster before next month’s protection deadline.