Fall/Winter League Roundup: Darwinzon Hernandez does well, VZ Development Program returns

This continues our weekly roundups of the Fall and Winter Leagues, highlighting performances from players in the Red Sox organization. Coverage will continue every Monday into January. For the full list of Red Sox prospects participating in these leagues, check out our Fall & Winter Leagues page, which will be updated continuously through January. This week's roundup covers the period of November 5 - November 11.

Arizona Fall League

Bobby Dalbec had a cold week, going 1 for 10 with an RBI single, three walks and four strikeouts. He's now up to 29 strikeouts in 62 at-bats this year. However, the other top prospect who is spending his fall in Arizona, Darwinzon Hernandez, grabbed three strikeouts against one hit in 1 1/3 innings in his only appearance on the week. Hernandez has 21 strikeouts in 10 1/3 frames of work and he's six strikeouts back of the league lead, despite each of the four pitchers ahead of him recording at least seven more innings. Michael Chavis has also left Mesa due to an injury

Read full post ...

Podcast Ep. #148 - Not a bad investment for a buck

Give it up for your 2018 World Series Champion Boston Red Sox. Chris and Ian get together to share the latest news from the system. After a quick recap of the Arizona Fall League and the goings on in Venezuela, they get down to how to assemble a World Series title team. They review the top player development stories in the system. They review the draft to end all drafts - 2011. They laud the deep scouting work done that brought guys like Robby Scott and Hector Velazquez. And finally, they take a short look at what the offseason ahead brings.

Listen in!

Read full post ...

Minor Notes: New rankings and Scouting Scratches

Here are November's Minor Notes:

• The Fall Stars game in the Arizona Fall League was November 3 and the Red Sox had two participants, Bobby Dalbec and Darwinzon Hernandez. SoxProspects.com's Jim Crowell has the details in this week's Fall/Winter Roundup.
• The previous week in the Arizona Fall League, Michael Chavis was removed from the Mesa roster with an injury. SoxProspects.com's James Dunne has the scoop as well as news on all of the other Sox Prospects getting addition reps in during the fall.
• The 147th edition of the SoxProspects.com Podcast dropped on October 19 and Chris Hatfield, Ian Cundall and Mike Andrews discussed the season-end rankings, including why some guys moved up the rankings so quickly they don't even have headshots.
• SoxProspects.com's Ian Cundall released a Scouting Scratch the day prior as well on three young pitchers in Zach Schellenger, Joan Martinez and Yasel Santana, all three of whom Cundall got a look at during Instructs.
• Chase Shugart and Andrew Politi, each of whom were selections in June's draft, also got the Scouting Scratch treatment from Cundall. Both pitched in Lowell during the year and showed something more at Instructs.
• Transitioning from a center fielder with a live arm to a pitcher with a potentially more live arm, Yoan Aybar earned himself a write up by Cundall on October 9 due to the quick progress he made in six months since the position change.
• On November 7, the team announced multiple changes in the front office, including the promotions of Eddie Romero, Jr. and Brian O'Holleran to Executive Vice President/Assistant General Manager. Both Todd Claus and Rolando Pino will become co-Directors of International Scouting. Brian Abraham is now the Director of Minor League Operations.
• Raquel Ferrera was also promoted to Senior Vice President/Major and Minor League Operations while Chris Becerra was hired as a Special Assistant, International Scouting. 
• On November 1, the Red Sox reinstated Dustin Pedroia, Austin Maddox, Carson Smith and Marco Hernandez from the 60-day disabled list. The team also outrighted Tony Renda and Justin Haley as well as Smith from the major league roster. All three chose free agency and the 40-man roster stands at 34.
• The following day, 10 other minor leaguers elected free agency in Yankory Pimintel, Ivan De Jesus, Kyle Wren, Mike Olt, Josh D. Smith, Fernando Rodriguez, Anuery Tavarez, Dan Butler, Mike Miller and Mike Ohlman.
• Ian Browne of MLB.com named their winners of Prospect and Pitcher of the year, tabbing Dalbec and Denyi Reyes, respectively.
• Jim Callis of MLBPipeline.com wrote about his 10 standout players from the Fall Stars game and Hernandez, who touched 98 mph with his fastball, was among them.
• Callis also outlined how crucial the 2011 draft was to this year's World Series squad, as four draftees were on the roster in addition to a fifth that was a trade piece for another player.
• Down in the Arizona Fall League, Callis has the story on how Dalbec is working on his approach to potentially remove some of the swing-and-miss from his game.
• After this year's Gold Glove awards were released, Baseball America took a look at how each of the winners fared in the field as minor leaguers, including Mookie Betts and Jackie Bradley, Jr.
• Baseball America's Kyle Glaser welcomed Alex Speier to discuss the Red Sox farm system on their podcast on November 3. 
• Draft grades are out and Baseball America released theirs for Boston as well.

Photo Credit: Darwinzon Hernandez by Kelly O'Connor

Read full post ...

Fall/Winter League Roundup: Fall Stars recap and the Liga Paralela resumes for Boston

This continues our weekly roundups of the Fall and Winter Leagues, highlighting performances from players in the Red Sox organization. Coverage will continue every Monday into January. For the full list of Red Sox prospects participating in these leagues, check out our Fall & Winter Leagues page, which will be updated continuously through January. This week's roundup covers the period of October 29 - November 4.

Arizona Fall League

It was another hot-and-cold week from Bobby Dalbec who went 2 for 12 with a home run, two walks, and three strikeouts. He also participated in the Fall Stars Game on Saturday where he went 2 for 2 but also committed an error at third base. Darwinzon Hernandez was the only other Red Sox prospect to appear in the Fall Stars Game, striking out one and allowing a hit in 1/3 of an inning. He reached 98 on the radar gun in this short stint. Hernandez got into one game during the rest of the week, striking out two while allowing a walk and a hit in a scoreless inning as he dropped his ERA to 2.00.

Read full post ...

Fall/Winter League Roundup: Chavis leaves AFL with injury

This continues our weekly roundups of the Fall and Winter Leagues, highlighting performances from players in the Red Sox organization. Coverage will continue every Monday into January. For the full list of Red Sox prospects participating in these leagues, check out our Fall & Winter Leagues page, which will be updated continuously through January. This week's roundup covers the period of October 22-28.

Arizona Fall League

Top prospect Michael Chavis (pictured) continues to match outstanding tools and production with a frustrating propensity to miss stretches of playing time, whether due to injury or his 80-game suspension for a positive PED test earlier this year. Chavis was hoping to make up for missed time with some reps in the Arizona Fall League, but a sore wrist kept him off the field and he was withdrawn from the Mesa roster last week. Right-handed pitcher Teddy Stankiewicz was also withdrawn from the roster. Stankiewicz appeared in just one game for the Solar Sox, allowing three runs in two innings on October 10.

In other news of note from the fall circuit, mercurial slugger Bobby Dalbec and left-hander Darwinzon Hernandez will participate in Saturday's Fall Stars Game. MLB Network will broadcast the game live at 8 p.m. ET, and MLB.com will stream the contest live.

Read full post ...

Fall/Winter League Roundup: Darwinzon dominates in Arizona

This is the first in our series of weekly roundups of the Fall/Winter Leagues. Coverage will continue every Monday into January. For the full list of Red Sox prospects participating in these leagues, check out our Fall & Winter Leagues page, which will be updated continuously through January. This week's roundup covers the period of October 9-21.

Arizona Fall League

The Red Sox have eight players listed on the Mesa Solar Sox roster, though only seven have appeared in games so far. Top prospect Michael Chavis has yet to debut, with no official word from the team as to why. The top performer has been Darwinzon Hernandez (pictured, right), who currently leads the league in strikeouts while pitching in only six innings. His 15 strikeouts and two walks show how dominant his stuff can be, and he has also allowed only one earned run on four hits. 

Read full post ...

Podcast Ep. #147 Season-end rankings spectacular

End-of-season rankings … season is upon us, and the full complement of the SoxProspects brass is ready to chat about it. Chris and Ian welcome back The Dude himself, Mike Andrews, to the virtual studio for an extended discussion of the state of the Sox system. All topics are fair game: why Michael Chavis remains the consensus top prospect, why Darwinzon Hernandez jumped both Tanner Houck and Bryan Mata to become the top (healthy) pitching prospect in the system, the differences that put Antoni Flores ahead of CJ Chatham, the huge jumps by breakout players from Instructs for whom we don't even have headshots, and more. It sure seems like the depth, at least, is back, but is the system still down on the whole? We'll break it all down.

Read full post ...

Scouting Scratch: Zach Schellenger, Joan Martinez and Yasel Santana

FORT MYERS, Fla -- 2017 sixth-round pick Zach Schellenger has had his injury issues over the last few seasons, but he finally looks healthy and is showing the potential that impressed many scouts in the Cape Cod League in 2016. After missing a significant amount of the season due at least in part to shoulder inflammation, Schellenger was very good with Greenville at the end of the year striking out 17 hitters and walking only 3 over 10 1/3 innings.

Schellenger has an ideal pitcher’s frame, listed at 6-foot-5, 210 pounds. He has no remaining projection and his delivery has effort. He throws from a three-quarters arm slot with a stiff delivery and a lot of moving parts.

His fastball sat 93-95 mph over his inning of work and showed hard boring action in on right-handers. He has an average command profile and reportedly has shown more velocity in the past as an amateur, but it is yet to be seen if that will ever come back. Even at 93-95, Schellenger can be effective and the pitch projects as a plus offering.

Read full post ...

Scouting Scratch: Chase Shugart and Andrew Politi

FORT MYERS, Fla -- The initial returns on the Red Sox 2018 draft class were that the organization went heavy on hitters and potential bullpen arms.  Chase Shugart, the team’s 12th-round pick out of the University of Texas, was seen as one of these potential bullpen arms in part because of his frame (listed at 5-foot-10, 180 pounds). Despite his only making four starts after a long delay before his debut after his signing, I have now seen him twice and believe he has a chance to be a potential starting pitcher. In this Instructs start, he was very effective, throwing two perfect innings and striking out four.

Shugart is a plus athlete and doesn’t have any projection remaining, but his arm is loose and he repeats his delivery well. He throws from a high-three quarters arm slot and shows strong pitchability and feel on the mound.

Read full post ...

Scouting Scratch: Yoan Aybar

FORT MYERS, Fla - Left-hander Yoan Aybar was once seen as a raw but intriguing center field prospect. But after signing for $450,000 in 2013 and four seasons in which he failed to distinguish himself at the plate, Aybar moved to the mound in Spring Training 2018 and very quickly has established himself as one of the most intriguing bullpen arms in the Red Sox system. 

In his mound debut split between the Rookie-level Gulf Coast League and a couple appearances with short-season A Lowell, he posted a 4.13 ERA with 27 strikeouts and 14 walks in 28 1/3 innings. While the line may not stand out, it was impressive for a young player who had spent four years as an outfielder, and he had some buzz coming into my Instructs look at him.

Aybar is still on the skinny side and doesn’t look like he will add much size. He is listed at 6-foot-2, 173 pounds, which looks accurate, and he has retained the athleticism he showed in the outfield. Aybar throws from a three-quarters arm slot with a simple delivery that has some effort. 

Read full post ...

Minor Notes: Scouting scratch on Alex Scherff; Michael Chavis a big mover at MLB Pipeline

Here are Thursday's Minor Notes:

• SoxProspects.com's Ian Cundall was down at Instructs last week and his first piece from the weekend, a Scouting Scratch on Alex Scherff (pictured), was released on Thursday, citing an above-average curveball as part of an improved look at the right-hander from Texas.

Read full post ...

Scouting Scratch: Alex Scherff

FORT MYERS, Fla --- Alex Scherff’s first full professional season had its ups and downs. The 2017 fifth-round pick initially struggled in an aggressive assignment to Low A Greenville. But after a rough April in which he allowed 19 runs, 18 earned, in 17 1/3 innings over four starts, walking 13 while recording just 11 strikeouts, he righted the ship in May and early June, posting a more palatable 2.60 ERA in six starts, striking out 24 and walking 8 in 27 2/3. His momentum was halted by an intercostal strain that kept him out almost two months, but after his return on August 8, the right-hander excelled for the rest of the season. After two rehab appearances in the Gulf Coast League, he returned to the Drive and made four starts, Allowing just 3 runs in 18 innings, striking out 16 while walking just two.

Looking to build on his strong return from injury, Scherff got the start in the Red Sox Fall Instructional League opener against the Orioles minor leaguers and threw three innings. He got into some trouble in the first inning, but fared better in the next two innings. In the outing, he allowed three hits while walking one and hitting one batter, recording two strikeouts and inducing four swinging strikes.

Read full post ...

Podcast Ep. #146 That's a heckuva signing for 10K

Last year, the Sox cancelled Instructs following the damage from Hurricane Irma. And we love Instructs. It's a fresh look at players who we haven't seen since Spring Training and a first look for guys who are new in the system.  Ian went to Instructs. And he liked what he saw. Chris and Ian went deep on some of the guys and lightning round through all the players in Instructs. They welcome Chris Becerra to the front office. And they wrap up the show with a trip into the mailbag.

Listen in!

Read full post ...

Minor Notes: Maddox has surgery; can free agency be changed?

Here are Monday's Minor Notes:

• Right-handed pitcher Austin Maddox had surgery on his right rotator cuff on September 19. The 27-year-old only threw 7 2/3 innings in 2018, dealing with inflammation in his throwing shoulder through much of the season.
• WEEI.com's Rob Bradford has been projecting who might be on the Red Sox postseason roster and has Ryan Brasier, who was called up on July 8 after pitching well in Pawtucket all year, as a lock to make the American League Division series pitching staff.

Read full post ...

Minor Notes: Instructs set to begin, award season wraps up

Here are Monday's minor league notes:

• The SoxProspects.com Awards and All-Star teams were announced this week, starting with the All-Star position players, followed by the All-Star pitchers, the Homegrown Player, Ex-Prospect, and Graduate and of the Year, the Rookie, Breakout Player and Comeback Player of the Year, and finally the Offensive Player of the Year and Pitcher of the Year.

• The Red Sox 2018 Fall Instructional League schedule and roster were announced last week, highlighted by Trey Ball (pictured) being listed as an outfielder and the Red Sox' first three selections in the 2018 draft in Triston Casas, Nick Decker, and Durbin Feltman. Contributing Editor Shawn McGrath has a full write-up on the players that will be in Fort Myers starting on Monday. 

Read full post ...