Before the major league trade deadline came and went Friday, speculation about scenarios got out of control, like it always does.
One question concerned which prospects the Red Sox might trade. None, it turns out. But we heard names like Sea Dogs outfielder Manuel Margot and Greenville third baseman Rafael Devers.
Tuesday's game
WHO: Portland Sea Dogs (Mike McCarthy 6-4) at Erie SeaWolves (Josh Turley 9-7)
WHEN: 7:05 p.m.
There was no mention of Sea Dogs first baseman Sam Travis. What, no teams are interested in a prospect hitting over .300 in Double-A in his first full pro season?
Travis, 21, followed the deadline rumors but more so as a fan.
“It was pretty crazy the last couple of days,” Travis said.
But what about his name? Didn’t Travis wonder why he wasn’t part of any trade scenarios?
“Nah,” Travis said with a chuckle. “That stuff’s out of my control.”
Travis, a second-round draft pick last year out of Indiana University, is a pure hitter. He’s batting .308 for the Sea Dogs with a .370 on-base percentage and .415 slugging percentage. In 34 games (and 144 plate appearances), he’s struck out only 17 times.
“He’s polished. That’s a good word for him,” said Sea Dogs hitting coach Dave Joppie. “He has performed well at a high level of college competition, and he’s translated that into the success he’s had at each stop so far in our system.”
Travis boosted his draft stock with a .347 average and .991 OPS as a junior at Indiana in 2014. After the Red Sox signed him ($850,000 bonus), they sent him to short-season Lowell but he didn’t stay there long, hitting .330 with an .813 OPS. Travis moved on to Class A Greenville, where he hit .290 with an .826 OPS.
Travis began this year in advanced Class A Salem (.313 average, .845 OPS) and found himself in Portland by the end of June. It’s a rare rush through the system – taken by few other everyday players drafted by Boston. Only Dustin Pedroia, Jacoby Ellsbury, Travis Shaw, Jackie Bradley Jr. and Deven Marrero were promoted to Portland in their first full pro season.
As for Travis, he continues to plug along, not thinking about the future.
“It’s baseball. You have to go out there, play and have fun,” Travis said. “You always have to stay confident.”
It shows.
“He knows what he wants to do at the plate and what pitch he’s looking to swing at,” Joppie said. “And he makes adjustments on the fly.”
Joppie explained there’s not a lot of extra movement in Travis’ swing. It’s compact and explosive.
“It’s simple and he doesn’t come out of it,” Joppie said. “It’s a line-drive stroke with the barrel staying in the zone a long time.”
Line drives. Not tape-measure blasts.
Travis, a muscular 6-foot, 200 pounds, has only one home run in 34 games for the Sea Dogs.
“I like him,” said one scout from another organization, “but I’d like to see more power.”
Travis isn’t concerned.
“Home runs are going to be accidents,” he said. “That’s how I’ve always been.”
He did hit 12 home runs his junior year at Indiana, but now, in his first full season with wood bats, the homers aren’t raining down.
“All the tangibles are in place for the developing power,” Joppie said. “He has more gap-to-gap type power.
“In due time, once he learns how to handle pitches on the inner half of the plate a little more effectively and do some more damage to the pull side of the field, then all of that will take care of itself.”
Power does develop. Kevin Youkilis remains an excellent example.
In 2003, a 24-year-old Youkilis, in his second full pro season, hit only six home runs in 94 games with Portland. But in the majors in 2006, Youkilis hit 13; then in 2008, he hit 29.
Travis’ defense has been sound, scooping low throws while showing fine range on grounders.
The tools are there for Travis to eventually move on, probably to Triple-A in 2016, and then who knows?
Don’t ask Travis.
“I just do what I’m told. Show up where I’m told,” he said.
An attitude as simple as his swing and so far, just as effective.
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