Today is an off-day and its time to do something different. For the first and only time we're going all the way back to take a look at the 2018 MLB Draft for the Boston Red Sox. Back in 2018 there were FORTY rounds and it would take too long to go through each and every pick. We're going to take a look at some of the highlights and in some cases some lowlights of Dave Dombrowski's 2018 draft.
1st Round - 3B Triston Casas
We begin with their first round pick 26th overall, American Heritage High School third baseman Triston Casas. Standing at 6'4, the raw talent Dombrowski saw was someone worth waiting for as he made his way through the system. He played 118 games for the Greenville Drive in 2019 bashing 19 home runs and driving in 78 runs to win 2019 Offensive Player of The Year. After Covid wiped 2020 out, Casas won Olympic gold in 2021 while hitting .284 with 13 home runs for the Portland Sea Dogs. He was hitting .273 with 11 home runs in Worcester in 2022 when he was called up to make his ML debut on September 4th. With the injury to Eric Hosmer, Casas hit 5 home runs in 22 games. 2023 looked to be his breakout season as he hit 24 home runs while driving in 65 in 132 games. Then things fell apart as injuries limited to 63 games with bizarre behavior rubbing fans the wrong way. Just 29 games into 2025 while hitting a mere .182, he tore his patella tendon and was lost for the year, triggering the series of events which led to Rafael Devers being traded out of Boston. Worse yet, Casas never came back. He's still just 26 which is by no means old, but he's played in just 92 games since his breakout season in 2023. If he were to come back and give the Sox that kind of production, he can salvage his career. If he gets traded, released or misses another season.....he'd be just another one year wonder. Still, he made the show so that's a success in itself.
2nd Round - OF Nick Decker
In the case of second round pick, outfielder Nick Decker out of Seneca High School in New Jersey, its not about who the Sox pick but who they DIDN'T. Decker hit .247 with 6 home runs for the Lowell Spinners in 2019 when Covid wiped out 2020. Decker hit .276 in Salem with 8 home runs in 2021 but it was all downhill from there. He hit just .122 in 71 games for the Greenville Drive in 2022 and .218 for the Drive in 2023. He hit just .178 in in 56 games for the Portland Sea Dogs before being released in November. Why was this pick so bad in hindsight? Just three picks after Decker, the Cleveland Indians took right handed pitcher Nick Sandlin. Nick made his MLB debut in 2021 and was a solid middle reliever up until 2025 when he got hurt pitching for the Toronto Blue Jays, the eventual ALCS runner up. With the bullpen woes the Sox had in 2023 and 2024, he could have been what the doctor ordered. Too bad they wasted the pick on an outfielder who couldn't hit past Low A ball. Its a common tale for every team.
5th Round - RHP Thaddeus Ward
The good news was the Sox fifth round pick, Central Florida right handed pitcher Thaddeus Ward, did make the show....bad news was it wasn't with them. Ward was on the fast track to success in 2019 when he went 8-5 with a 2.14 ERA between Greenville and Salem becoming a league all-star and earning 2019 pitcher of the year honors. Then it was all downhill as Covid wiped out his 2020 season and Tommy John wiped out 2021 and most of 2022 although he did recover with the Portland Sea Dogs, posting a 2.43 ERA in 7 starts. Then he was unprotected in the Rule 5 Draft and he was scooped up by the Washington Nationals. Despite never pitching above AA, he made the 2023 Opening Day roster for the Nationals where he was batting practice. He allowed 26 runs in 35 innings before pitching in just 6 games in the lower levels after being demoted. Moving to the starting rotation, he was 8-6 with a hideous 5.64 ERA in 2024 for the Rochester Red Wings before being released. The Baltimore Orioles picked him up where he was 9-6 with a 5.34 ERA for the Norfolk Tides in 2025. This year he's been out of baseball, but that 35 inning cup of coffee he had with the Nationals makes this pick a success. Its too bad Covid and Tommy John ruined his career, it would have been interesting to see how things turned out with a regular 2020 season.
7th Round - OF Jarren Duran
Arguably Boston's best pick in the draft with their seventh rounder, outfielder Jarren Duran out of Long Beach State. Duran tore up Lowell and Greenville in 2018 and damn near hit .400 with the Salem Red Sox in 2019 before earning a mid-season call up to Portland where he hit .250 with 28 stolen bases. Just like the others, Covid wiped out a crucial year of development but rebounded to hit .258 with 16 steals for Worcester in 2021. Then he made his ML debut in July of 2021 where he hit .215 in a 33 game cup of coffee. Unfortunately the rise of Duran through no fault of his own, convinced then-Sox GM Chaim Bloom to jettison Kyle Schwarber into free agency to keep the younger trio of Duran, Bobby Dalbec and Franchy Cordero. That proved to be an unmitigated disaster as Duran was a deer in the headlights in 2022, hitting .221 in 58 games and infamously quitting on the field during an inside the park grand slam by future Sox outfielder Raimel Tapia during a 28-3 beat down by the Toronto Blue Jays. Duran rebounded in 2023 hitting .295 with 8 home runs and 25 steals. He bettered that in 2024 when he hit .285 with 34 steals, 21 home runs and 75 rbis. Average wise he dropped to .256 in 2025 but still stole 24 bags with 16 home runs. Unfortunately he and the rest of the Sox evaporated against the New York Yankees in the playoffs. Duran never truly recovered as he's hitting just .194 for this year's offensively challenged team. There's still plenty of time to turn it around but between his well known depression and fierce outbursts toward fans, people have soured on him. Still, clearing his head and going on a tear will have him back to 2023-25 form. This pick can only be declared a success.
8th Round - C Elih Marrero
Remember 2012 first round pick Deven Marrero who played a few years with the Sox? His cousin Elih was taken in the 8th round by Boston in the 2018 Draft.....and boy did this come back to haunt them. His best season was in Greenville in 2021 where he hit .287 in 57 games. For the next 3 seasons he settled into a backup catcher's role for the Portland Sea Dogs hitting .269 and .268 in 2023 and 2024 respectively. He did get a 4 game cup of coffee with the Worcester Red Sox before electing free agency after the season. His phone finally rang on July 30, 2025 when he signed with the Texas Rangers. He hit .212 in 20 games between Double and Triple A before signing with the Kansas City Royals prior to the 2026 season. He looked pretty good in 14 games with the Omaha Storm Chasers before being placed on the Injured List. This all adds up to a big barrel of nothing in the grand scheme of things, but just like Nick Decker, its about who they didn't get. This one's a doozy. Just five picks after the Sox took Marrero, the Detroit Tigers took current back to back Cy Young champion Tarik Skubal. Sox fans were begging current GM Craig Breslow to bust the farm to trade for Skubal following the 2025 season but Craig stood pat and Skubal is still with Detroit. That's a BIG miss but that's more on Dombrowski, Marrero did his best and at least he's still in the league.
12th Round - RHP Chase Shugart
Dombrowski found a hidden gem in the 12th round of the draft when he took Texas University right handed pitcher Chase Shugart. After having a mediocre senior year at Texas, Shugart was argubaly the ace of the 2019 Greenville Drive going 6-4 with a 2.81 ERA. Just like with everyone else, Covid wiped out his 2020 season which led to a mediocre 6-6 with a 4.78 ERA for Greenville in 2021. His career looked all but finished when he allowed 44 runs in 46 innings for the Worcester Red Sox in 2023 but while he was in the middle of a decent 2024 season, he was called up to make his ML debut on August 15th with the Red Sox. After 6 games, he was sent back to Worcester where he'd be traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates in January of 2025. He was called up to the Pirates for good on April 15th where he battled an injury to go 4-3 with a 3.40 ERA. He was traded to the Philadelphia Phillies to pitch for the man that drafted him in January of 2026 and this year he's 2-0 with a 1.53 ERA in 14 games so far. The Sox have been stacked in the bullpen the last 2 years so he's not really missed but getting Matt McShane for him doesn't seem like a good a trade. Still, from the 12th round to MLB is a success any way you slice it, even if he's not with the Sox anymore.
23rd Round - RHP Ryan Fernandez
Dombrowski found another gold mine in the 23rd round when he took Hillsborough Community College right handed pitcher Ryan Fernandez. He was 4-1 with a 2.49 ERA for the Lowell Spinners when...you guessed it....Covid wiped out the 2020 season. In 2021 he went 4-1 with a 2.39 ERA between Salem and Greenville but cratered in 2022 going 2-3 with a 4.31 ERA in 2022 between Greenville and Portland. In 2023 he did make it to Worcester but was 3-3 with a 6.16 ERA. Still, the St. Louis Cardinals thought enough of him that they selected Ryan in the Rule 5 Draft. Free from the logjam in the Red Sox bullpen, Fernandez made his ML debut with the Cards in 2024 going 1-6 with a 3.52 ERA. He bottomed out in 2025 going 0-4 with a 7.71 ERA but so far this year he's allowed 1 earned run in 6 innings of work. It took 6 years to develop but Fernandez was a success, even if he had to leave Boston to find it, especially as JuCo pitcher in the 23rd round.
26th round - SS Korby Batesole
In another case of picking the wrong guy, in the 26th round the Sox picked up shortstop Korby Batesole from Fresno State University. Kolby looked pretty good for Lowell in 2018, being named to the league all-star team. Then in 2019 he hit .200 for Greenville and .170 for Salem and decided to call it quits. It takes a man of big courage to step away when he's in over his head. These days he wears an impeccable bow tie and is a member of the US Health Advisors. So why mention this? Just two picks after Batesole, the Houston Astros selected outfielder David Hensley. Hensley slugged his way through AAA then ended up playing 69 major league games for Houston and Miami between 2022 and 2024. He spent 2025 in the minors and is currently a free agent. Still, 69 games of MLB is better than not playing above Single A. Still, being a health advisor is nothing to sneeze at. Congrats to Batesole for finding something else to do.
30th Round - INF Ryan Bliss
Sometimes you draft the right guy at the wrong time and that was the case when the Sox used their 30th round pick on Troup High School shortstop Ryan Bliss. Bliss decided not to sign and go to Auburn University instead. This catapulted him to being taken in the second round, 42nd overall, by the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2021. At the 2023 trade deadline, the Mariners traded Paul Seward to Arizona for prospects and one of them was Bliss. He's been a 4A player for the Mariners as a utility infielder getting into 45 MLB games between 2024 and this season. While not an impactful player, he still made the show. You can give Dave Dombrowski half credit on this one for his scouting department seeing the talent, but he chose to sign elsewhere. Not much you can do about it.
37th round - SS Davis Wendzel
Last but not least is another guy drafted by the Red Sox but ended up going elsewhere. Baylor University shortstop Davis Wendzel was thinking of coming back for his Junior season when he was drafted by Dombrowski in the 37th round. Rather than take $125,000, Wendzel returned for his junior year at Baylor and ended up getting picked in the second round in 2019 by the Texas Rangers. He rewarded the Rangers by bashing 30 home runs for Round Rock in 2023 and got called up in 2024. He hit one home run in 27 games and is currently back in the minors, but he had his moment in the sun so to speak. Once again, the scouting department saw the talent but Wendzel decided to make a different decision. It's a half success considering most 37th round picks are cucka anyway.
There you have it, while the Red Sox were on their way to their last season of being a powerhouse, the Sox took 7 players that made the show, 2 of them still with the team. Duran and Casas may be persona non grata currently but their contributions the previous few years can't be ignored. Ryan Fernandez, Thaddeus Ward, Ryan Bliss and Davis Wendzel had to find success elsewhere while Shugart showed a flash in Boston, but also had to join the others elsewhere. Hopefully Duran can get going and Casas can get healthy this season but apart from that, can't say Dombrowski failed in 2018. Dave gets a well deserved rep for depleting farm systems to win now but he got the Phillies to the World Series a few years ago and they're still strong contenders despite the Los Angeles Dodgers juggernaut. He had to go for the 2019 deadline debacle but if only Sox fans knew what would come down the pipe after.
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