Entries Tagged 'On the Farm' ↓

Like all minor league systems, Boston’s has positions of strength and weakness. Based on the focus of recent drafts, there are plenty of young Red Sox pitchers and a burgeoning crop of outfielders. Two years ago, the Sox were full of outfielders.

Catcher George Kottaras was brought in as a big chip in the David Wells waiver-wire deal, but he’s just starting to hit his potential.

But after an injury sidelined team captain and longtime game manager Jason Varitek for 1/3 of 2006, one of the organization’s most glaring shortcomings was exposed: the Sox have no catchers.

Of course, making the situation worse was the fact that two different budding backstops had passed through Boston in the previous year: Kelly Shoppach (now with the Indians) and Josh Bard, who Boston traded to San Diego to bring back Doug Mirabelli.

The Bard trade in particular has stuck in Theo Epstein’s craw, highlighting a rash move to lend Tim Wakefield a security blanket at the expense of the organization’s depth. Add to that Bard’s 1006 average above .300 and surprising power numbers in a pitcher’s park, and the deal looked like a true position sinker.

In the aftermath of that debacle of a deal, Epstein moved to try and save face by bringing in another young catching stud, George Kottaras, in a waiver wire deal for David Wells. While Kottaras has shown signs of emerging from a season of mediocrity in July with a .323/.397 (OBP)/.569 (SLG) month, he’s still hardly a slam dunk behind the plate or at the dish. Part of that is due to a constant evolution from fast-pitch softball player to baseball pro. But part of that may be a lack of comfort that could affect his future - if any - in Boston.

So, what are the Sox to do when Senor Varitek finally heads over the hill that is his prime? Suddenly, a six-year veteran who’s toiled in rookie ball and Class A is starting to look like he deserves a shot to prove he’s ready - or at least closer to it.

Quite simply, Dusty Brown (great name, isn’t it) is on a tear. The 15 year-old out of Yavapai Community College is in his second season of AA ball in Portland, but has shed doubts from a .224 year in 2006 to reach the heights of becoming Boston’s offensive minor league player of the month, winning the award over the aforementioned Kottaras. While Brown has been a below average catcher throughout his early career, he’s found a way to pick up the pace at a higher level, hitting .280 with a career-best tying eight home runs. Add in Brown’s .821 OPS - and his monster July numbers of .455/.516/.800 slugging - and Brown looks like a keeper.

Of course that’s before you consider Brown’s game-calling behind the plate, the area where Varitek has made a name for himself. Luckily for Brown, he may be the closest thing to ‘Tek as a defensive catcher in the Boston system. And he’s made calling a good game a dual hallmark with his powerful arm, a combination that leaves him as a real and intriguing prospect for future Red Sox teams.

If Kottaras doesn’t blow people away in the next year, Dusty Brown may steal his thunder.

As Boston bullpen coach Gary Tuck told the Globe’s Amalie Benjamin, he’s sold on Brown being a legitimate major leaguer.

“I love him,” Tuck said. “I think he has a chance to play. He’s quick, got quick feet, got an above-average arm, above-average release. He’s accurate. He receives the ball OK. I think he’s maturing as a receiver. I think people think his hitting is not good enough. [But] I think he’s got a chance to play defense here. Tough kid, too.”

That’s a pretty strong endorsement from one of the men who may decide how far Brown’s ultimately goes. Of course, if he keeps hitting the way he has, Brown will practically make that decision for them.

HIT AND RUN

- Other Sox minor league winners from July: Justin Masterson - who actually grew up in Ohio, not Oregon as previously asserted - as pitcher of the month (4-0, 1.36 ERA, 33 innings). Jon Still as top quality plate appearance percentage, Victor Serrano base stealer, Christian Lara base runner and Josh Reddick as defensive player.

- Budding pitching prospect Michael Bowden took the hill for Portland for yesterday’s Futures at Fenway festivities. He’s been one of the most highly hyped names of late, and could become a serious chip in the near future if he’s not deemed an untouchable before then.

- Closer prospect Craig Hansen hit a brief DL stint with a minor right forearm strain Thursday. He’ll likely be back within a week, as the move to sideline him was made partially to create a spot for returning outfielder Brandon Moss, who got his first major league hit late in Wednesday night’s game at Anaheim.

- Lowell landed five players on the short-season A All-Star Team: center fielder Ryan Kalish (who will miss the game after a season-ending injury), shortstop Yamaico Navarro, catcher Ty Weeden, first baseman Mike Jones and closer Felix Ventura.

- The team’s first 2007 pick, Nick Hagadone out of Washington, continues to dazzle for the Lowell Spinners. He had a nightmarish debut (5 runs in only 1 1/3 inning) but has not given up a run since … to go with 11 strikeouts.

- Benjamin’s weekly minor league notebook focused on the resurgent Chad Spann of Portland, who bounced back offensively after flopping in Pawtucket. It’s a strong profile, even if it was a bit snakebit as Spann hit the DL hours after it was published.

– Cameron Smith

Don’t look now, but the “closer of the future” may be close to becoming a “setup man of the future”.

Craig Hansen is finally looking comfortable in a Sox uniform … in Pawtucket.

With Jonathan Papelbon inked in to the closer role for the Red Sox for years to come, closer prospects past like Craig Hansen suddenly find themselves searching for new roles. In Hansen’s case, he may finally be nearing the trajectory the Sox brass - Theo Epstein chief among them - set for him when he was drafted out of St. John’s two years ago.

After bottoming out in a horrendous Pawtucket loss earlier this year - a monumental 9th inning collapse that cast doubt on whether Hansen and fellow pen prospect Manny Delcarmen would ever pan out to their potential - both players started a slow build back to the top. Obviously, Delcarmen’s progress was supersonic, and he’s now such an integral part of the Sox pen that he held up a deal for Jermaine Dye at the deadline.

Hansen, on the other hand, took a little bit longer. But his rebound seems to be just as successful.

As of an appearance Wednesday against Buffalo, Hansen had allowed just three runs in a month worth of appearances. Over his last seven appearances, for instance, he has a 0.68 ERA, a far cry from the 4.30 that now serves as his season mark.

So, what’s been the difference for the big righty who grew up a Yankees fan, then set his NY hat on fire with friends after being drafted by the Sox? It starts with not getting behind in counts as much. It’s clear that Hansen has struggled with his confidence early in his professional career, but his stuff is so nasty - fastballs that top out in the high 90’s and are consistently mid-90s, combined with a true out pitch in a high 80’s slider - that when he gets a first pitch strike he can be almost impossible to hit.

He’s a former All-American and the Big East Pitcher of the Year, and he was so touted in his draft that he drew comparisons to Minnesota closer Joe Nathan. Then, last summer he was part of a Sox pen meltdown of epic proportions, eventually earning a second demotion back down to Pawtucket. The epicenter came in a Friday night loss to the Yankees that kicked off the five-game massacre sweep that essentially ended the AL East race.

So, the question has to be whether the dominant Hansen of the past month is the real deal. If he is, the Sox may have captured lightning in a bottle … finally. It’s clear he’s not getting a call-up in the immediate future, but if he keeps mowing down batters in Rhode Island for the rest of the year, it may be hard not to consider him when mapping out the Sox pen in ‘08.

That would be quite a comeback story in itself. One that Hansen didn’t help give up.

Clay Buchholz is still looking for a first AAA win, but he’s hit his stride.

HIT AND RUN

- A big step forward this week for Clay Buchholz in Pawtucket, who struck out nine across six innings in a start. He allowed five hits, but his 137 K’s are among the best in the minors. Everything keeps pointing to a late-August or September call-up and a role in the pen like Papelbon’s first big league job.

- Just when you were ready to give up on catching prospect George Kottaras, the former Canadian fast-pitch softball prospect Boston netted for David Wells last year, he turns around and hits .382 in a 15 game stretch in Pawtucket. The man with the mask is getting harder and harder to project, which is a good thing after his sluggish start.

- Don’t fret over Jacoby Ellsbury’s minor groin tweak. He’s expected back in action this weekend.

- Brandon Moss, who was a AAA All-Star, is slumping at the plate and watching his power number’s plummet. The outfield prospect, who was rated higher than the recently traded David Murphy, has just one homer in 184 at bats.

- Michael Bowden may have come up in trade talks, but the Portland hurler wasn’t going anywhere. He’s 3-0 in his last four starts, and has 14 strikeouts in 10 2/3 innings.

- Amalie Benjamin’s minor league notebook is a terrific feature on the trials and travails of last year’s top Sox pick, Daniel Bard, who is truly toiling in the low minors. Get enough t’s in that last sentence?

– Cameron Smith

Just when you thought the Red Sox’ minor league system’s well had run dry of top pitching prospects, you turn around and notice Justin Masterson blazing his own trail.

Justin Masterson may be the next big Sox pitcher to make waves.

Like Jonathan Papelbon, Manny Delcarmen and, most recently, Clay Buchholz before him, Masterson is turning the heads and radar guns of scouts who have been almost permanently camped in Portland for the past year.

The 2006 second-round pick out of San Diego State has built up a perfect 4-0 record with a nearly unthinkable 1.09 ERA for the Sea Dogs, mowing down batters at a shocking 32-5 pace (32 K’s, 5 BB’s).

So, how is the rangy righty doing it? Well, his size certainly doesn’t hurt. Masterson is listed conservatively at 6-6 and 245 pounds, and he uses his considerable physical assets to help him rear back for a full range of speed on his sinker, which is his clear A+, out pitch. His best sinkers have varied between 86 and 94 miles-per-hour, a wide enough range to keep any and all batters off balance.

Not to be outdone, Masterson’s slider sits in the low 80s but has phenomenal action, which is good enough to help him get out of jams. When combined with what has been described as a rapidly improving change-up, Masterson’s arsenal has made him a rapidly rising prospect for trade discussions and future projections.

Though Masterson is Oregon born and bred, he’s no stranger to New England. In 2005 he dominated the Cape Cod league. Now, he’s spent the past three summers in the region, finishing out a short 2006 session with A Lowell after a late signing.

So, will Masterston make a move to Pawtucket, or even Boston, in the not-too distant future? And will he pitch from the start or break through as a reliever? Those questions are clearly too far away, as Masterson himself as acknowledged in an interview with soxprospects.com.

In the meantime, it’s pretty clear that he’s figured out how to get things done in Portland. Here’s betting that won’t subside any time soon. But don’t just take our word for it. Here’s Amalie Benjamin’s piece in today’s Globe, which also leads with Masterson. Got to love it when the people who travel with the team agree with which prospect is turning the most heads.

HIT AND RUN
The Thursday signing of former big leaguer Brady Clark to a minor-league deal was a direct reaction to the minor groin injury suffered four days ago by top prospect Jacoby Ellsbury. There’s no official report on how much time the center fielder of the future might miss, but early expectations are that he still could be on track to earn a call-up to the big club come September. …
Clay Buchholz is set to start again for Pawtucket tonight, and it’ll be interesting to see how he responds from his first outing, where he gave up three runs, one on a monster home run out of McCoy Stadium. He’ll be facing the Toledo Mud Hens, just as Curt Schilling did last night. …
Michael Bowden is another arm who keeps coming up in prospective Sox trade talks, though most big fish (read: the Rangers in talks for Mark Teixeira) have requested two prospects from a list that includes Jon Lester, Ellsbury and Buchholz. Naturally, Theo Epstein and the Sox brass have said they won’t part with any of those names, which is bringing on much of the current stalemate in deals. …
Rapidly rising shortstop prospect Jed Lowrie was promoted from Portland to Pawtucket, a move which wasn’t entirely a shock (he was hitting .297 for the Sea Dogs). But, the shift that was surprising was the Rhode Island move-up of right-handed pitcher Lincoln Holdzom. PawSox infielder Zach Borowiak and pitcher Barry Hertzler took the bus ride up to Maine to make room for the new duo. …
According to Benjamin’s weekly notebook, Class A Lowell center fielder Ryan Kalish, who was hitting a preposterous .368, will miss the rest of the season with a broken hamate bone in his right hand. You’ll recall that Big Papi and Wily Coyote both had that bone removed from their right hands after being similarly struck by pitches in recent years. Doctors haven’t determined if Kalish will have to lose the bone altogether, or whether he can hold off and let it heal on it’s own. Here’s betting he does whatever the tell him will least affect his sweet swing.

– Cameron Smith

Welcome down to the farm, pardner! We’ll be checking in on the Red Sox minor league system every week, finding the stars of tomorrow and tracking them today. It’s a little like trading hog futures except, well, these stocks have got some guns.

Clay Buchholz is on his way to the PawSox.

In fact, no stock within the Red Sox system is as hot as pitcher Clay Buchholz. The right-handed flamethrower - an Angelina (Texas) Community College product and No. 42 overall draft pick - has made the quickest ascent through the team’s minor league ranks since Jonathan Papelbon. Buchholz is scheduled to make his first AAA start tonight after he was promoted on the eve of the All-Star game. Buchholz, who flexed a 7-2 record and 1.77 ERA (86 2/3 innings) for AA Portland, has become such a prominent prospect, he was considered a deal-breaker in an earlier potential deal for Chicago ace Mark Buehrle.

“Ben Cherrington (Red Sox vice-president of personnel) called down from Boston to talk to my manager at Portland,” Buchholz told the Providence Journal last week. “I had heard my name in those rumors about Buehrle. But Cherrington told my manager that I wasn’t going anywhere.

“My manager called me and said, ‘I might not see you again.’ So I’m taking that to mean either he’s getting fired or I’m going to AAA.”

Obviously, Buchholz was headed to AAA. If you’re looking for the model for his next move, you don’t have to search far. Just as Papelbon made spot starts en route to a bullpen job down the stretch of the 2005 season, most analysts expect the Sox to call Buchholz up by the time rosters expand - at the latest - to assume a power relief role. If he continues to succeed at a Papelbon pace, Sox fans may have a lot to look forward to in the not too distant future.

Nick Hagadone was scheduled to make his first start for A Lowell last night, but the game was rained out.

In fact, the Sox have more to look forward tonight, too. The team’s top pick in the last amateur draft, recently graduated University of Washington lefty Nick Hagadone, will make his professional debut for the A Lowell Spinners, after his first go-round was rained out last night. Hagadone, who was known in college for impressive dexterity and flexibility (redundant? Well, at least you get the point), has been spending 30-40 minutes before games stretching. That’s right, Hagadone is spending yoga time doing old skool warm ups. Can’t hurt, right?

Pinch Runners

According to the Globe’s Amalie Benjamin, Jacoby Ellsbury isn’t the only center fielder turning heads with his speed and vivacity. Ryan Kalish, a 19 year-old currently playing in Lowell, has scouts drooling and his manager - former Angels star Gary DiSarcinia - raving. Kalish has burst out of the gates to hit a team-best .329. …

Chad Spann, who may be on his way to a David Murphy-like stay in the mid- and high-minors, was sent back down to AA Thursday after hitting .222 for Pawtucket. He’ll have to compete with stud shortstop prospect Jed Lowrie there for top infield billing. …

Remember David Pauley? The pitcher who got a couple of 2006 starts, including one at Yankee Stadium, earned Pawtucket a win in its second half opener, tossing 5 2/3 innings and allowing just one run in a 9-5 victory.