Alex Hassan

Alexander Edward Hassan

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 3", Weight 220 lb.
• School Duke University
• High School Boston College High School
• Debut June 1, 2014
• Final Game August 20, 2014
• Born April 1, 1988 in Quincy, MA USA

BR page

Biographical Information

Outfielder Alex Hassan began playing in the Boston Red Sox system in 2009 and reached the major leagues in 2014.

Hassan hit .368 as a high school senior and was 6-3 as a pitcher. He improved to .400 as a junior then .500 as a senior; he had a 6-3, 1.58 record. Louisville Slugger named him Massachusetts' Player of the Year. As a freshman at Duke, he hit .262/.335/.387 and was 2-6 with a 5.80 ERA. As a sophomore, he was superb (.353/.438/.486, 66 R in 55 G; 5-0, 5 Sv, 1.30, .184 opponent average; no errors). He tied Quinton McCracken for the fifth-most runs in a season for a Duke player. He was second-team All-Atlantic Coast Conference as a utility player. He joined Gary Brown and Angelo Songco in the outfield for the Orleans Cardinals of the Cape Cod League but hit poorly (.208/.331/.238). He was 0-1 with 5 saves and a 3.00 ERA out of the Orleans bullpen. He batted .342/.424/.498 with 56 runs in 57 games as a junior at Duke; on the mound, he was 2-2 with 8 saves and a 4.10 ERA. Only 3 players in school history had more saves in a season. He tied for 5th in the ACC in saves. With Orleans again, he hit .289/.344/.395 with 20 RBI in 30 games, allowed one run in 7 innings and notched four saves. He was named to the All-Cape Cod team.

He was drafted by the Red Sox in the 20th round of the 2009 amateur draft, one pick after Darin Ruf. He was signed by scout Quincy Boyd. He began his pro career well with the Lowell Spinners (.333/.382/.441 in 26 G) and Greenville Drive (.313/.353/.563 in 8 G). He produced at a .287/.397/.456 clip with 28 doubles for the 2010 Salem Red Sox and was 0 for 3 for the Pawtucket Red Sox. He was among the Carolina League leaders in average (10th, between Adrian Ortiz and Eduardo Escobar), OBP (3rd, behind Eric Hosmer and Derek Norris, slugging (7th, between Neftali Soto and Oscar Tejeda), walks (57, 4th, between Kyle Hudson and L.J. Hoes and OPS (4th after Seth Loman), Brandon Short and Tyler Moore. He failed to make the league All-Star outfield as Short, Ronnie Welty and Xavier Avery got the picks. Among Red Sox farmhands with 400+ plate appearances, only Ryan Lavarnway had a better OBP.

2011 was perhaps his best season to date (2013), as he hit .291/.404/.456 with 13 home runs, 64 RBI and 34 doubles for the Portland Sea Dogs. He was third in the Eastern League in OBP (behind Josh Satin and Justin Henry), 8th in OPS (between Allan Dykstra and Moore), 4th in walks (76, between Norris and Dykstra), tied for 7th in runs (75, even with Corban Joseph and Norris) and first in outfielder fielding percentage (.995). He led Red Sox farmhands in OBP, 28 points ahead of Brandon Jacobs. Baseball America rated him as having the best strike-zone judgement in both the EL and the Red Sox farm system. He batted .253/.382/.373 for the Scottsdale Scorpions of the Arizona Fall League. In 2012, he spent his first full year at AAA, batting .256/.377/.365 for Pawtucket and missing time with leg and shin injuries. He only made on error. He was 4th in the 2012 IL in OBP at the time of his season-ending leg injury, but did not finish with enough plate appearances to qualify (he would have been 6th, between Fred Lewis and Henry).

Hassan was injured even more in 2013 (calf, finger problems) but still hit well when healthy: .321/.431/.450 in 55 games for Pawtucket and 11-for-23 with 2 doubles and 10 walks on a rehab stint with Greenville.

On January 19, 2017 Hassan tweeted out "Last week I re-enrolled at Duke to finish off my last semester of school to complete my degree, officially ending my baseball career."

Sources

• Duke bio
• Cape Cod League
• The Baseball Cube
• Duke draftees in 2009
• 2013 Red Sox Media Guide

Related Sites

• Alex Hassan on mlb.com
• BR Minors page