Reymond Fuentes has put together quite a season. After a poor showing at AA San Antonio last year, Fuentes returned to the Missions this year and raked his way to a promotion to AAA Tucson less than two weeks ago. Since then he has been on fire, hitting safely in all 11 games he's played and putting up a .400 batting average in that time.
Prior to this season, Fuentes moved up the ladder one rung per year. He showed promise in Rookie League and Single-A ball for the Red Sox in 2009 and 2010 after being selected twenty-eighth overall in the '09 draft. He performed ably for Advanced-A Lake Elsinore in 2011 after being acquired in the Adrian Gonzalez trade, and even made the Futures Game that year. 2012 was his first taste of outright failure but Fuentes worked through it and was named a Texas League All-Star this year in his second go-round.
After slashing .316/ .396/ .441 with 29 steals in 39 tries in the shadow of the Alamo, Rey Fu got the bump up to Tucson and hasn't looked back since. While the Pacific Coast League is hitting central and there's no way he'll maintain a Ted Williams-ish BA, there's a lot to like about Reymond's run of success since getting the call. Four of his 18 hits have been for an extra base. He's driven in seven runs out of the leadoff spot and, more relevant to his skillset, stolen five bases in six tries. Unsubstantiated reports that I just made up state that he also has a huge swingdown hanging between his knees that distracts teammates in the shower. It's huge, y'all. Dude burns up most of his salary on custom, huge protective cups.
I'm not one to get too excited over prospects because I've seen so many of them peter out, but Reymond Fuentes has my interest piqued. His off year pushed him out of my active consciousness but his resurgence is a good reason to kay tee eff in the future. And you know what's crazy? After what seems like all of the times, he's still only 22 years old.