Weekly Notes: Promotions, draft signings highlight week

Here are this week's minor-league notes:

• On Wednesday, the Red Sox officially announced the signings of 11 draft picks, including first-round pick Trey Ball (pictured), who signed for roughly $500,000 under slot. Ball will report to the Gulf Coast Red Sox, which starts its season today. Prior to Boston's announcement, MassLive.com's Evan Drellich reported that the club agreed to terms with Jalen Willams and Danny Bethea, Alex Speier of WEEI.com reported the signings of Bryan Hudson and Jantzen Witte, and Jim Callis of Baseball America reported the signing of Jake Drehoff.  
• Yesterday, Callis reported the signing of Corey Littrell, whom the Red Sox selected in the fifth round. Boston has officially signed Littrell and 19th-rounder Gabe Speier this morning, per Alex Speier. 
• Ball has been included in the our updated prospect rankings, which were first released by SoxProspects Editor in Chief Mike Andrews on ESPNBoston.com. In the piece, Andrews notes the top levels of the organization look stronger than they have since 2007, the year of Jacoby Ellsbury, Dustin Pedroia and Clay Buchholz.
• SoxProspects Staff Writer Will Woodward was interviewed by Alex Skillin of BallGameBanter.com. In it, they discussed Ball's and other draftees' position among Boston's top prospects. 
• Before it became Ball's week, all the focus was on top prospect Xander Bogaerts and his Triple-A debut -- after which he was mentioned in the same breath as Angels phenom Mike Trout. The 20-year-old has already enjoyed the ups and downs in the batter's box during his first series with Pawtucket, as noted by Mike Scandura of MassLive.com.
• Sandura also has a story in which he describes how Allen Webster's personality has him poised for success in Boston. Webster will make his third major-league start on Saturday when the Red Sox face the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park. 
• Garin Cecchini topped off a week of promotions when he received a promotion from Salem to
  Double-A Portland on Thursday. Cecchini, who has yet to make his Double-A debut, batted .350/.469/.547 in 63 games with Salem. 
• As noted in the Cecchini piece, Cody Koback was promoted from Greenville to Salem, Jeremy Kehrt was promoted from Portland to Pawtucket to aid its embattled bullpen, and Mike McCarthy was promoted from Salem to Portland to fill Kehrt's void. McCarthy joins Portland for the second time this week as he was called upon from Salem to make a spot start for the Sea Dogs on Saturday. Brock Huntzinger also enjoyed a promotion from Portland to Pawtucket, as noted in the McCarthy piece.
• Long before this season's buzz surrounding Cecchini and Bogaerts, Jackie Bradley was the talk of the town. Bradley has endured the traversing of the farm system, but despite calling six stadiums home over the last two years he's found success and comfort, as noted by Annie Maroon of WEEI.com.
• Anthony Ranaudo and Keury De La Cruz earned this week's SoxProspects Pitcher and Player of the Week, respectively. Ranaudo tied a Sea Dogs' record with 13 strikeouts in his two hit, 7 2/3 innings scoreless start against the Erie SeaWolves on June 13, while Da La Cruz batted .462/.500/.692 during the award period. 
• De La Cruz was included in this week's SoxProspects' Video of the Week, which featured a handful of other A-Ball hitters. 
• SoxProspects Director of Scouting Chris Mellen discusses the players he saw in Greenville and Salem with Chris Hatfield and Jon Meoli in Part 1 of their two-part podcast this week. They also talked about Bogaerts and Red Sox third-round pick Jon Denney. 
• Help keep SoxProspects free by participating in the 2013 Annual Drive. 

Photo Credit: Trey Ball by Gail Oskin. 

Kevin Pereira and Will Woodward are Staff Writers for SoxProspects. Follow them on Twitter @kevinrpereira and @SPWill. 

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