Weekly Notes: Iglesias graduates, Bogaerts dominates

While the amateur draft has dominated this week's discussion, it has been an eventful week in the Red Sox system even outside the selections of pitchers Trey Ball and Teddy Stankiewicz.

• Congratulations to shortstop Jose Iglesias (pictured), who graduated from prospect status this week when he reached 130 major league plate appearances. The defensive whiz peaked as the #2 prospect in the system according to SoxProspects.com in 2011.
• Xander Bogaerts is becoming one of the dominant forces in minor league baseball. He topped the weekly Hot Sheet at Baseball America and his picture was featured on the main page of the publication's website holding a novelty oversized baseball bat. Ben Buchanan at Over The Monster speculates that Bogaerts may enter 2013 as baseball's best prospect. 
• Right-hander Brandon Workman was promoted from Double-A Portland to Triple-A Pawtucket. Workman was drafted in the second round of the 2010 draft out of the University of Texas, and has risen steadily through the system. He graduates Double-A after making only 16 appearances at the level. Since his promotion to Portland in August 2012, he was 8-2 with a 3.57 ERA and 1.036 WHIP in 90 2/3 innings. Most impressively, he struck out 97 and walked only 22. Workman joins fellow 2010 draftees Bryce Brentz and Chris Hernandez on the PawSox roster.
• The biggest stories of the week, of course, have come out of the Rule 4 amateur draft. 
• SoxProspects.com Editor-in-Chief Mike Andrews discusses the Ball and Stankiewicz picks in a column for ESPN Boston. Chris Hatfield, Ian Cundall, and Jon Meoli got together last night for a Podcast discussing day one of the draft. 
• Surprised by the Trey Ball pick? If you had followed the SoxProspects.com pre-draft coverage, you wouldn't have been. Andrews identified him as one of five likely targets for Boston with the seventh pick. 
• We often hear about prospects being athletic, but, as WEEI.com's Alex Speier discusses, Ball is exceptionally so. 
• The excellent play of Iglesias at the major league level has created some major league roster questions. Griffin Tewksbury of WEEI.com reports that one possibility is that Will Middlebrooks, in Pawtucket on a rehab assignment as he recovers from a lower back strain, will remain in Triple-A after his rehab is over. The third baseman struggled mightily in the season's first two months, but has homered in his first two starts for the PawSox.
• Former Red Sox farmhand Chris McGuinness has been called up to the majors for the first time. He joins the Rangers after an injury to starting first baseman Mitch Moreland. McGuinness went from Boston to Texas in the August 2010 deal for Jarrod Saltalamacchia.
• The Red Sox have acquired corner infielder Stefan Welch from the Pirates. The terms of the deal are not yet known. The Pirates and Red Sox have been common trading partners in recent years, including a deal just one week ago that sent pitcher Graham Godfrey Pittsburgh-bound, and the offseason deal that brough Joel Hanrahan and Brock Holt to Boston.
• The Dominican Summer League began its season on Saturday, and the Red Sox affiliate is off and running to a 4-1 start. Early standouts have been thrid baseman Victor Acosta, who has hit safely in all five games going 8 for 22, and the highly touted right-hander Jose Almonte, who allowed just one run on two hits in his professional debut.
• A pair of pitchers departed the Red Sox organization this week. Veteran right-hander Oscar Villareal was granted his release from Pawtucket, and Braden Kapteyn, a 2011 draft pick most recently with Greenville, announced his retirement.
• Continue to follow days two and three of the draft here at SoxProspects.com. Check the news page for updates and commentary, and join the discussion over in the forums. 

Photo Credit: Jose Iglesias by Kelly O'Connor

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