August 17, 2012 at 12:19 PM
Weekly Notes: Bogaerts and Iglesias stay hot, Maddox debuts
This week's minor league notes:
- 2012 3rd round selection, Austin Maddox (pictured) made his professional debut with the Rookie-GCL Red Sox. Maddox is 0-1 with a 3.00 ERA in 3.0 innings pitched across two appearances thus far.
- In a minor trade this week, the Red Sox sent catcher Kelly Shoppach to the New York Mets in exchange for reliever Pedro Beato. Beato, 25, cracked Baseball America's top 100 prospects list in 2007 and is expected to debut shortly with Triple-A Pawtucket.
- Two big names continued their rehabilitation this week. Andrew Bailey, who was activated by the team Tuesday, finished up his rehab assignment with a 1.42 ERA and 10 strikeouts in 6.1 innings pitched. Daisuke Matzusaka, who has been up-and-down on his way back from a neck injury, took the loss on Wednesday against the Scranton-Wilkes Barre Yankees. Matzusaka is scheduled to make another start on Monday and could be activated by the Red Sox shortly thereafter.
- While Red Sox fans have had little to cheer about pitching wise this season from the major league squad, there is plenty to be intrigued about on the farm. This week, SoxProspects took an in-depth look at many of the top pitching prospects in the Red Sox system.
- SoxProspects Senior Editor Matt Huegel spoke with one of the newest additions to the Pawtucket rotation, knuckle-ball hurler Steven Wright. Wright speaks about how he came to focus on the knuckler and also speaks about honing his craft with fellow knuckle-ball pitchers.
- SoxProspects Northeast Scout, Ian Cundall, checked in with scouting reports on multiple prospects, including hurlers Alex Wilson, Chris Carpenter, and Brian Johnson.
- Having a chance to talk to both pitcher and pitching coach, SoxProspects Senior Columnist, Jon Meoli had a chance to speak with Greenville's Kevin Walker and Keith Couch on Couch's outing on August 11.
- Giving his take on a bevy of pitching prospects, SoxProspects Scouting Director Chris Mellen checked in with The Book on Matt Barnes, Henry Owens, Drake Britton, Brandon Workman, Anthony Ranaudo, Stolmy Pimentel, Brian Johnson, Pat Light and Ty Buttrey.
- Xander Bogaerts has been on fire since his promotion to Double-A Portland, hitting .385/.385/.731 with two home runs and four RBI in just six games.
- Another recent promotion to Portland, pitcher Brandon Workman, was superb in his Double-A debut on Tuesday, hurling 6.0 shutout innings while striking out six against the Altoona Curve (PIT).
- The New York Penn League All-Star game took place this Tuesday, with two members of the Lowell Spinners taking part in the contest. Dreily Guerrero was 0 for 2 after entering the contest as the designated hitter and Francisco Taveras tossed a scoreless inning of relief. The American League All-Stars ultimately fell 8-1 to their National League counterparts.
- PawSox radio broadcaster Aaron Goldsmith talked to shortstop Jose Iglesias (pictured) about his August success. The 22-year-old is hitting .305/.379/.390 in 15 games this month.
- Tomorrow marks the annual Futures at Fenway contests with Short-Season-A Lowell taking on the Hudson Valley Renegades (TB) in game one and Pawtucket squaring off against the Buffalo Bisons (NYM) in game two.
