Farrell hints at Moncada promotion when rosters expand

Boston Red Sox infielder Yoan Moncada is currently ranked as the second-best prospect in all of baseball by MLB Pipeline, and the Cuban phenom may soon get his shot in the big leagues.

Red Sox manager John Farrell is looking for a base-stealing threat off the bench down the stretch, and indicated that could come in the form of Moncada - who has stolen 93 bases over the past two minor-league seasons - when rosters expand in September.

"Yeah, and we’ve been on the look out for that," Farrell told Ryan Hannable of WEEI.com, discussing the need for a stolen-base option. "Whether it’s external or someone internally that would serve that role that remains to be seen, but yeah, we’ve had discussions about that particular and specific role. Again, I don’t know who that name is going to be to fill that spot."

The 21-year-old Moncada, who received a $31.5 million signing bonus in 2015, has been learning third base in the minors and could provide a boost to the Red Sox, who sit 2 1/2 games back of the Toronto Blue Jays in the AL East.

"I would say the talk around Yoan has been about moving obviously to third base," Farrell said. "He’s just getting some reps at that position. Whether or not he comes up in a role that would be either mixed in, he’s obviously been much better as a left-handed hitter this year, if he’s mixed in that capacity. Does he give you a base stealing threat coming off the bench is a possibility. Those are the types of things we’ve talked about. Whether or not he comes up here is yet to be determined.

"We know he’s an exciting young player with tremendous talents. Whether that time is 2016 or sometime after, that’s yet to be determined."

Moncada is hitting .298/.411/.520 with 15 home runs, 61 RBIs, 31 doubles, and 44 stolen bases in the minors this season.