August 10, 2012 at 2:00 PM
Weekly Notes: Bogaerts highlights several promotions
This week's minor league notes:
- As you may have heard, #1 prospect Xander Bogaerts (pictured) was promoted to Double-A Portland yesterday, and promptly introduced himself to Eastern League pitching with a 2 for 5 performance that included a game-deciding sixth inning home run.
- SoxProspects.com senior columnist Jon Meoli details Bogaerts' rise in a column for ESPN Boston.
- Ben Buchanan gives his take on the Bogaerts promotion at Over the Monster, and points out the he is six months younger than Hanley Ramirez was when he debuted for Portland. Before his promotion, he was named the Carolina League Offensive Player of the Week by MILB.com.
- Not to be lost in the all of the Bogaerts discussion is a bevy of other roster moves made this week:
- Clayton Mortensen was recalled to Boston to take the place of the injured Vicente Padilla in the Red Sox bullpen
- Pitchers Josh Fields and Steven Wright move up from Portland to Pawtucket. Fields, 26, finished with a 2.62 ERA in 44.2 innings with the Sea Dogs, and made his Pawtucket debut with a scoreless inning on Sunday. The knuckleballer Wright made one start for Portland following his acquisition in a deal for Lars Anderson, and is scheduled to pitch for the PawSox this weekend.
- Catcher Dan Butler joins Fields and Wright in Pawtucket. He is 3 for 13 with a double in four games since the promotion.
- Pitcher Brandon Workman and catcher Christian Vazquez were promoted from Salem to Double-A Portland, along with Bogaerts. Ranked #15 and #31, respectively, on SoxProspects.com, they are the two highest regarded prospects on the move this week.
- Mike McCarthy advances to Salem after completing his Greenville career with 22.0 consecutive scoreless innings. He is scheduled to make his Salem debut on Sunday.
- Seventh round draft choice Kyle Kraus out of the University of Portland was promoted to Greenville after posting a 2.61 ERA in ten appearances at Lowell.
- Relief pitcher Garrett Mock was traded to the Houston Astros for cash considerations. Mock was signed in the offseason as a minor league free agent. He made 35 appearances out of the PawSox bullpen, compiling a 3.33 ERA in 48.2 innings.
- July's Player of the Month winner Jeremias Pineda was traded to the Minnesota Twins in exchange for third baseman and former University of Miami standout Danny Valencia. The second runner up in the 2010 Rookie of the Year balloting, Valencia had spent most of this season with Triple-A Rochester after a tough sophomore campaign last year. He was assinged to Pawtucket.
- The Red Sox journey of Justin Erasmus came to a close. The South Africa-born, Australia-raised 2007 signee was named a preseason All-Star by the SoxProspects.com community, but battled injuries and ineffectiveness all season, finishing with a 9.24 ERA in 49.2 innings pitched. See his interview with Jon Meoli from August of 2011.
- Ben Badler of Baseball America reports that the Red Sox have signed Dedgar Jimenez, a 16-year old left-hander out of Venezuela, giving him a $175K signing bonus. The scouting report states that Jimenez "shows good pitchability for his age with a fastball up to 88-89 mph and flashes feel to spin a curveball" but also has an "extra-large, David Wells-type frame."
- Cody Kukuk made his long-awaited debut, this week, allowing a run on in 2.0 innings over two appearances out of the bullpen for the GCL Red Sox. The 2011 seventh-rounder was given an $800K signing bonus, but missed the first several months of the 2012 season on the restricted list.
- The Red Sox signed 40th round pick Kevin Heller out of Amherst College, and assigned him to the Gulf Coast League. As a college senior, the July 15 signing deadline did not apply in this case.
- SoxProspects.com Northeast Scout Ian Cundall published The Book on supplemental first round pick Pat Light.
- Three members of the Lowell Spinners were named to the New York-Penn League All-Star game, set to take place on Tuesday, August 14 in Mahoning Valley, OH. Infielder Dreily Guerrero (pictured), hitting .286/.348/.333 with ten stolen bases, and pitcher Francisco Taveras, sporting a 4-1 record and 1.82 ERA in 49.1 innings pitched, will be traveling to Ohio. Pitcher William Cuevas, with a 5.2 record, 1.61 ERA (3rd in the league) and 50 strikeouts against only 12 walks in 56.0 innings pitched, was named to the team but will not be making the trip.
- Bryce Brentz spoke with Andrew Pentis of MiLB.com about the adjustments he made to break out of his slump in a big way on Sunday. Brentz went 3 for 5 with five RBI, falling a triple short of hitting for the cycle.
- Rehab continues for Andrew Bailey. He made consecutive appearances for the first time on Wednesday and Thursday for Pawtucket, throwing a scoreless inning in each outing.
