Melvin Adón, a former hard-throwing pitching prospect for the San Francisco Giants, has inked a minor-league deal with the Boston Red Sox.
Melvin Adón, a hard-throwing pitching prospect for the San Francisco Giants, has inked a minor-league deal with the Boston Red Sox, according to the league’s transaction page.
Adón has been a member of the Giants organization for his entire professional career and has appeared to be about to make a breakthrough for a number of years. But a mix of injuries and erratic control has left him plateauing in the top minors.
He will now travel to Boston to accompany former Giants pitching coach Andrew Bailey in the hopes of making his Major League Baseball debut.
This past season, Adón made 43 appearances in the minor levels, primarily at Triple-A.
The right-hander was one of several Sacramento pitchers who appeared to be affected negatively by the computerized strike zone. True, he had endured severe hardships during his prior Triple-A assignments. Still, in 59 innings pitched, he had a 5.19 ERA, 41 walks, and 69 strikeouts at the end of the season.
Adón has long been one of the most tantalizing pitching prospects in the Giants organization. With a fastball that consistently reached the high-90s as a starter alongside a promising slider, Adón quickly found himself among the organization’s top prospects after debuting in 2015.
At his best, Adón has flashed elite velocity, reaching 102 mph. However, it has tended to play below the radar gun readings, leading him to lean more heavily on a high-90s sinker that can still hit triple-digits on occasion, to try and generate more soft contact. His slider has long been his best pitch at generating swings-and-misses, but he has never been able to develop a consistent enough command of the pitch to be effective at the highest level of the minors.
In 2019, Adón appeared to be headed straight to Oracle Park for his first complete season as a reliever.
In 36 games at Double-A, he recorded a 2.60 ERA while striking out 59 batters in 49 innings. He was still walking over five batters per nine innings, though. He was demoted to Triple-A late in the season and proceeded to walk eight batters in 10.1 innings while giving up sixteen earned runs.
Midway through the 2022 season, Adón made his debut on the field, but it was obvious that he was still getting used to his arsenal. Although his material remained strong, his command had deteriorated even worse. Nevertheless, it was sufficient to overwhelm batters in the lowest minor leagues.
Adón had a brief period of success in big-league spring training, but he faltered once the 2023 season started. In 6.2 innings pitched, he struck out nine batters while giving up just two runs on four hits and two walks in his six outings. Bailey may be a wonderful addition to the Red Sox if he can produce even more of that level of work.
