The Red Sox promoted pitching prospects Bryce Bonnin and Reidis Sena from High-A Greenville to Double-A Portland on Tuesday. Neither pitcher appeared in the Sea Dogs’ series-opening 1-0 loss to the Somerset Patriots at Hadlock Field.
Bonnin, 25, posted a 4.04 ERA and 3.93 FIP with 40 strikeouts to 16 walks in 19 relief appearances (35 2/3 innings) for Greenville this season. That translates to a 28 percent strikeout rate and an 11.2 percent walk rate for the right-hander, who held opposing hitters to a .164 batting average.
Sena, 23, forged a 3.56 ERA and 4.29 FIP with 67 strikeouts to 24 walks in 28 relief appearances (48 innings) for the Drive this season. That translates to a 32.4 percent strikeout rate and an 11.6 percent walk rate for the righty, who limited opposing hitters to a .201 batting average.
Bonnin, who turns 26 in October, joined the Red Sox organization as a minor-league free agent back in March after being released by the Reds. The Texas Tech product was originally selected by Cincinnati in the third round of the 2020 draft but has dealt with injuries throughout his professional career. He most notably missed the final three months of the 2022 campaign and all of 2023 with a rotator cuff issue that cost him some time to begin 2024 as well.
When healthy, though, Bonnin has proven to be quite effective. In 2022, the 6-foot-2, 190-pound hurler was ranked by Baseball America as the No. 10 prospect in Cincinnati’s farm system. He was also recognized by the outlet as having the best fastball in the Reds organization.
This season, Bonnin has reached 98 mph with his mid-90s heater while also mixing in an 84-85 mph slider and a changeup. He is not currently ranked among Boston’s top 60 prospects by SoxProspects.com, which describes him as a “low-risk, high-reward signing” who “had two plus pitches prior to rotator cuff injury, but command and control were always a concern.”
Sena, meanwhile, originally signed with the Red Sox for $10,000 as an international free agent coming out of the Dominican Republic in December 2018. The Neiba native began his professional career as a starter but has been used strictly out of the bullpen since last year. Like Bonnin, Sena is not ranked among Boston’s top 60 prospects by SoxProspects.com, though he did get some attention from FanGraphs’ Eric Longenhagen last month.
Longenhagen tabbed Sena as his 41st-ranked Red Sox prospect. He wrote that the 6-foot-1, 175-pound righty “generates huge over-the-top arm speed, resulting in mid-90s heat that plays down a bit due to downhill plane. Sena’s cutter, which tends to live around 90 mph but has peaked at 95, helps mitigate some of his fastball’s vulnerability in this way. He doesn’t locate it well enough to be a bat-misser, instead relying on his power mid-80s curveball to get whiffs.”
Bonnin and Sena can both become Rule 5-eligible this winter if they are not added to Boston’s 40-man roster by the protection deadline in November. In the meantime, they join a bullpen mix in Portland that includes the likes of Alex Hoppe, Christopher Troye, Jonathan Brand, Jacob Webb, Brendan Cellucci, and Zach Bryant.
