The Boston Red Sox had perhaps the greatest second baseman in their history in Dustin Pedroia, who won American League Rookie of the Year in 2007, MVP in 2008 and was part of three World Series championship teams before he retired due to a severe knee injury in 2021 after playing in only nine games since 2017.
Heading into the 2026 season, the Red Sox have not yet found a permanent replacement for Pedroia.
But after cycling through seven different opening day second basemen and numerous others at the position along the way, a new mock draft has the Red Sox drafting their potential second baseman of the future. According to the mock compiled by Joel Reuter of Bleacher Report this week, the Red Sox will take Auburn sophomore Chris Rembert with the 20th pick in the first round on July 11.
Rembert is coming off what World Baseball Network reporter Alfred Ezman described as a “massive freshman season” with the Tigers, putting together an eye-opening 1.022 OPS with a .344 batting average and 10 home runs in 260 plate appearances. Rembert also walked more than he struck out, 37 to 36, a stat that should prove appealing to the Red Sox, who emphasize plate discipline.
Rembert also started four games for Team USA last summer in a series against the Japan Collegiate All-Stars, picking up five hits in 18 at-bats, a team-best .278 average.
“His quick hands and advanced approach give him a 60-grade hit tool, and he offers one of the highest floors in the class, drawing comparisons to former All-Star Howie Kendrick,” wrote Reuter in his mock draft report.
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A scouting report by MLB Pipeline also compared Rembert to Kendrick, who finished a 15-year big league career, including nine years with the Los Angeles Angels, with a .767 OPS and 127 homers.
“Rembert has one of the quickest swings in college baseball and an advanced approach. He manages the strike zone very well and focuses on drilling line drives from gap to gap,” the Pipeline scouting report said, adding that Rembert — who will turn 21 just six days before the draft — is “poised to become one of the first sophomore-eligibles selected in 2026.”
MLB Pipeline ranks Rembert at No. 26 on its list of top 100 draft prospects for this year.
Not only do the Red Sox remain unstable at the second base position at the major league level, their farm system is thin on second base prospects. No Red Sox farmhand ranks in Pipeline’s top 10 second base prospects, and among the Red Sox own top 30 prospects, only Yoeilin Cespedes at No. 13 and Henry Godbout, ranked 16th, play there as their primary position. Both enter 2026 at the Single-A level.
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