July 27, 2011 at 1:20 AM
Players of the Week, July 18-24: Ryan Lavarnway & Mario Alcantara
This week's SoxProspects.com Player and Pitcher of the Week, Pawtucket's Ryan Lavarnway and the GCL Red Sox Mario Alcantara, hail from the highest and lowest levels of the system.
Lavarnway literally powered his way to victory with four home runs and three doubles, i.e. seven of his nine hits were for extra bases and he posted a .409/.519/1.091 line in 22 at-bats over six games. He was also named the International League Player of the Week for the same period. On the season Lavarnway is batting .318/.393/.603 with 27 home runs and 20 doubles in 355 at-bats over 93 games between Portland (55) and Pawtucket (38) and is currently the fifth ranked prospect in the organization by SoxProspects.com.
Alcantara hurled six perfect innings last Thursday (July 21) against the GCL Orioles with three strikeouts, earning his second win of the season. In six 2011 starts Alcantara owns a 2-2 record with a 2.70 ERA, allowing nine earned runs on 22 hits over 30.0 innings, holding opposing batters to a .210 average. Signed as an international free agent in 2009, Alcantara, 18 spent last season in the Dominican.
Honorable mention: Brandon Duckworth was named International League Pitcher of the Week and Garin Cecchini was named NY-Penn League Player of the Week.