Alex Binelas

Organization Prospect Rankings

• 
  Ranked Boston Red Sox #17 prospect in 2022
  Track Record: Binelas was one of the top freshmen performers in the country in 2019, but required surgery to repair a broken hamate that ended his sophomore year prior to the pandemic. He struggled badly at the start of 2021, hurting his draft stock. But he rebounded to put up huge numbers—including 15 homers in his final 27 games—to convince his hometown Brewers to take him in the third round. He had a monster pro debut, hitting .309/.390/.583 with nine homers in 36 games (mostly in Low-A). The Brewers shipped Binelas and David Hamilton to the Red Sox along with Jackie Bradley Jr. for Hunter Renfroe in December.
  
  Scouting Report: Binelas has what Red Sox chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom called special power. Paired at Louisville with Henry Davis, Binelas produced similar exit velocities and launch angles to the No. 1 overall pick in the draft, driving the ball out to all fields and handling fastballs in the bottom half of the strike zone with a fluid swing. That said, the length in his stroke creates swings and misses on elevated pitches and creates questions about his future offensive profile. Defensively, he showed limited range at third but made routine plays. He’s likely to spend most of his time at first but perhaps with cameos at third.
  
  The Future: Binelas should open 2022 at High-A Greenville, with a chance to advance to Double-A by the end of the season if he can control his strikeout rate. He profiles as a bottom-half-of-the-order power hitter with enough thunder to remain valuable even if he’s limited to first base.
  

Draft Prospects

• Ranked #76 prospect in 2021 draft
  Binelas entered the 2021 season as one of the better in-game power hitters of the 2021 class, with a chance to go in the top half of the first round. He has slid down draft boards after getting off to an extremely slow start with the bat and moving across the diamond from third base to first. He went 2-for-31 during the first eight games of the season and around the halfway point was hitting just .212/.317/.424. He did have a stronger finish and hit .256/.348/.968 with 19 home runs, but teams have struggled to look past how lost he looked at the plate early, in addition to a 22% strikeout rate. Binelas does have massive raw power out of a strong, 6-foot-3, 225-pound frame and he distributed his homers from the left-center gap to the right-center gap, with some scouts assessing his raw power as 70-grade. While his career average won’t look great, Binelas’ power output and walk rates are impressive and scouts who like him appreciate his plate discipline and all-fields approach. Teams entered the year hoping he would prove his ability at third base—where he’d shown stiff actions and fringy glovework—but now he’s a likely first baseman. Some scouts think he might be athletic enough to handle left field. Binelas did have a massive, three-homer game against Clemson in the ACC Tournament, which could have swayed evaluators back to his preseason hype, but it seems safe to say Binelas raised more questions than he answered this spring.

• December, 2021 Scouting Report
  Track Record: Binelas was one of the top freshmen performers in the country in 2019, but required surgery to repair a broken hamate that ended his sophomore year prior to the pandemic. He struggled badly at the start of 2021, hurting his draft stock. But he rebounded to put up huge numbers—including 15 homers in his final 27 games—to convince his hometown Brewers to take him in the third round. He had a monster pro debut, hitting .309/.390/.583 with nine homers in 36 games (mostly in Low-A). The Brewers shipped Binelas and David Hamilton to the Red Sox along with Jackie Bradley Jr. for Hunter Renfroe in December.
  
  Scouting Report: Binelas has what Red Sox chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom called special power. Paired at Louisville with Henry Davis, Binelas produced similar exit velocities and launch angles to the No. 1 overall pick in the draft, driving the ball out to all fields and handling fastballs in the bottom half of the strike zone with a fluid swing. That said, the length in his stroke creates swings and misses on elevated pitches and creates questions about his future offensive profile. Defensively, he showed limited range at third but made routine plays. He’s likely to spend most of his time at first but perhaps with cameos at third.
  
  The Future: Binelas should open 2022 at High-A Greenville, with a chance to advance to Double-A by the end of the season if he can control his strikeout rate. He profiles as a bottom-half-of-the-order power hitter with enough thunder to remain valuable even if he’s limited to first base.
  
• July, 2021 Scouting Report
  Binelas entered the 2021 season as one of the better in-game power hitters of the 2021 class, with a chance to go in the top half of the first round. He has slid down draft boards after getting off to an extremely slow start with the bat and moving across the diamond from third base to first. He went 2-for-31 during the first eight games of the season and around the halfway point was hitting just .212/.317/.424. He did have a stronger finish and hit .256/.348/.968 with 19 home runs, but teams have struggled to look past how lost he looked at the plate early, in addition to a 22% strikeout rate. Binelas does have massive raw power out of a strong, 6-foot-3, 225-pound frame and he distributed his homers from the left-center gap to the right-center gap, with some scouts assessing his raw power as 70-grade. While his career average won't look great, Binelas' power output and walk rates are impressive and scouts who like him appreciate his plate discipline and all-fields approach. Teams entered the year hoping he would prove his ability at third base—where he'd shown stiff actions and fringy glovework—but now he's a likely first baseman. Some scouts think he might be athletic enough to handle left field. Binelas did have a massive, three-homer game against Clemson in the ACC Tournament, which could have swayed evaluators back to his preseason hype, but it seems safe to say Binelas raised more questions than he answered this spring.