Fort Report: Depth at pitcher and catcher touted

Here are this week's minor league notes from Fort Myers:

• As part of a series during spring training, SoxProspects.com will be examining the depth of the Red Sox minor league system position by position. This week, the series kicked off with Mike Andrews detailing the depth of the system's arms on ESPN Boston.com. 
• The Red Sox catching depth has never been better, writes Kevin Thomas of the Portland Press-Herald. Thomas highlights Ryan Lavarnway, Christian Vazquez (pictured) and Dan Butler while noting the fragility and age of the tandem on the major league roster.
• After clubbing his third home run in 20 at-bats this spring, outfielder Bryce Brentz drew praise from Red Sox Manager John Farrell. In this report by Speier, Farrell touted Brentz's "raw" and "all-field" power, while noting there "maybe some swing and miss in there."

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Rich in pitching depth

Over the course of March, we'll be examining the depth of the Red Sox minor league system on a position-by-position basis. We’ll kick it off with pitchers. Boston has more pitching depth than it has had in recent memory, with a bevy of potential impact major league starters at the upper levels of the system, together with several intriguing young hurlers who could eventually contribute out of the bullpen. 

POTENTIAL MAJOR LEAGUE STARTERS 

LHP Henry Owens, 21, was a supplemental first-round pick in 2011. The 6-foot-7 left-hander spent a significant portion of the 2013 season in High-A Salem, posting a 2.92 ERA, 1.14 WHIP, and striking out 123 batters over 20 starts in 104.2 innings. He was promoted to Double-A Portland on Aug. 1 and went on to start six games for the Sea Dogs. Owens posted a 1.78 ERA and struck out 46 batters over 30.1 innings in his brief Double-A stint. His arsenal includes an 89-92 mph fastball, an excellent mid-70s curveball, and an above-average low-80s changeup. Due to his height and arm action, his fastball appears to the hitter to come in faster than its actual velocity. Owens also should be able to add some additional sitting velocity over the next couple seasons as he adds strength. (Had he not signed with Boston, he would currently be a junior at the University of Miami.) He projects as a No. 3 starter, but still has some work to do to get there, particularly in improving his fastball command. However, Owens could also develop into a No. 2 starter if he adds velocity and refines his command. 

Check out the full column on ESPN Boston.

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Fort Report: The games begin

Here are this week's minor league notes from Fort Myers:

• The Red Sox announced that they have signed Bo Greenwell, son of former Red Sox All-Star Mike Greenwell, to a minor league deal. The 26-year-old has been in the Cleveland Indians system since they drafted him in the sixth round in 2007.
• Meanwhile, the Pawtucket Red Sox announced on Tuesday that they have filled their vacant radio broadcaster position, bringing in Josh Maurer. The position opened up when Bob Socci left to become the voice of the New England Patriots.
• Retirement announcements are most common at the end of the season and near the beginning of spring training, and this year is no different. According to SoxProspects.com sources, Greg Larson, Matt Spalding, and Nick Natoli have retired. In addition, the Jacksonville Sun reported that Drew Sutton has retired.

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SoxProspects.com Podcast #53: Spring Training Mailbag

Chris, Jon, Ian, and—eventually—Matt thought it time to get to your emails, so that could mean one thing: mailbag podcast. You asked about first-timers in MLB camp, Steven Wright's place on the 40-man roster, trading with the Cubs, Garin Cecchini's chances of forcing his way into the Majors, and whether the Sox can continue to stay near the top of the farm system rankings, and we talked about all of it. Just how distracted can Chris be while a Sox-O's game is on in the background? Download and find out!

Links and in-site player after the jump.

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Red Sox sign outfielder Bo Greenwell to minor league deal

The Boston Red Sox announced that they have signed outfielder Bo Greenwell to a minor league contract. Bo is the son of of former Red Sox All-Star outfielder Mike Greenwell.

Greenwell, 26, was originally drafted by the Cleveland Indians in the sixth round of the 2007 MLB Amateur Draft out of Riverdale High School in Fort Myers.  In 65 games last year with the High-A Carolina Mudcats, Greenwell batted .264/.319/.381 with four home runs and five stolen bases in 281 plate appearances. He also appeared in 10 games with Double-A Akron, where he batted .216.

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Josh Maurer joins PawSox radio team

Josh Maurer has been named radio broadcaster for the Triple-A Pawtucket Red Sox, the team announced in a release Tuesday. Maurer will join play-by-play Jeff Levering in the PawSox booth. He replaces Bob Socci, who was hired last July as the voice of the New England Patriots. The team of Maurer and Levering will broadcast all 144 Pawtucket games from the flagship 920 WHJJ Providence and a dozen affiliated systems.

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Fort Report: Camp kicks into full gear

Here are this week's minor league notes:

• Recently signed left-hander Francisco Tena was suspended 50 games for being caught taking a performance enhancing drug. Tena was expected to be a member of the Dominican Summer League Red Sox squad. 

• Ian Browne of MLB.com talked to the recently signed Francisco Cordero about his motivations for signing with the Red Sox and his health status. 

• Jim Callis of Baseball America and MLBPipeline.com looked at how Mookie Betts outstanding 2013 season was no fluke, placing him high on top prospect lists. 

• Deven Marrero discussed trying to emulate Dustin Pedroia and how he views spring training with Rick Weber of ESPN Boston. 

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New Feature: Young Graduates

I hope everybody is geared up for the start of spring training games this week! I'm writing to bring your attention to a new feature on the SoxProspects.com home page. Below the 1-20 Top Prospect rankings, you'll see that we added a new section for "Graduates Age 25 & Under." In this section, we plan on tracking recent younger graduates, such as Will Middlebrooks and Rubby De La Rosa. We also expect that players like Xander Bogaerts, Jackie Bradley Jr., and Brandon Workman could join this group early in the 2014 season.

Additionally, we slid the "Graduated MLBers" section to the left-hand column and moved the "Post-Prospects" column from the Prospects 21-60 page onto the bottom right hand column of the home page. Post-Prospects will no longer be ranked, but will be listed by position. The Prospects 21-60 page will now focus exclusively on, you guessed it, the prospects ranked 21-60 in the Red Sox system.

As always, thanks for reading.  We welcome any feedback you may have.

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Pitcher Francisco Tena suspended

Left-handed pitcher Francisco Tena has been suspended for 50 games for violating the Minor League Drug Prevention and Treatment Program. Tena tested positive for Stanozolol, a performance-enhancing steroid. 

Tena was signed out of the Dominican Republic in December and was expected to be on the Dominican Summer League roster. His situation is similar to that of Gerson Bautista, who tested positive for the same substance in April 2013 before making his professional debut. After completing his 50-game suspension, Bautista remained on the restricted list for the rest of the season.

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Fort Report: Pitchers and catchers report

The Fort Report is back for another year! Every Monday during spring training, we will be detailing all the Red Sox minor league news and notes from the week that was down in Fort Myers. With pitchers and catchers reporting on Saturday, and position players reporting tomorrow, baseball if officially back. 

Here are this week's minor league notes:

• ESPN's Keith Law joined Chris, Matt, and Ian to discuss his Red Sox top 10 prospect list on the latest edition of the SoxProspects.com Podcast. Keith provides great insight on his selections, and also discusses a few highly touted prospects who just missed the list.

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