July 25, 2013 at 1:28 AM
Players of the Week, 7/15-21: Henry Owens and Wendell Rijo
This week's SoxProspects.com Player and Pitcher of the Week honorees hail from the lower levels of the Red Sox system, in the form of Salem's Henry Owens and the GCL Red Sox's Wendell Rijo.
In his sole start of the week July 17 at Frederick (Orioles) Owens worked six no-hit, shutout innings, striking out ten while walking only four and earning the win. On the season Owens is 8-4 with a 2.78 ERA, having allowed 30 earned runs on 62 hits, striking out 116 while walking 50 in 97.0 innings pitched over 19 starts, and has held opposing batters to a .182 batting average. Owens also was named Carolina League Pitcher of the week for the same period. He is currently the sixth-ranked prospect in the organization by SoxProspects.com.
Rijo posted a .435/.519/.652 (10-for-23) line with five doubles, five runs scored, two runs batted in and three bases on balls in 27 plate appearances over six games played last week. He also swiped two bases as a runner. Rijo's best outing of the week came July 16 against the GCL Rays when he went 4-for-5 with three doubles and two runs scored. Through 22 Gulf Coast Games this season Rijo is batting .333/.457/.543 (25-for-75) with nine doubles, 15 runs scored and six batted in, 15 bases on balls versus nine strikeouts and eight stolen bases (4 CS).
Honorable Mentions, batting:
Michael Almanzar (POR)
Mookie Betts (SAL)
Mark Hamilton (PAW)
Stefan Welch (SAL)
Honorable Mentions, pitching:
Matt Barnes (POR)
Luis Diaz (GRE)
Brian Johnson (GRE/GCL)
Noe Ramirez (POR)