Weekly Notes: Moncada to play winter ball in Puerto Rico

Here are this week's minor league notes:

• The SoxProspects.com Community voted on the 2015 year-end All-Stars, and the results were released on Friday. James Dunne provided great background on each of the winners, which included nine of the site's top 10 prospects. The only player from the top 10 who did not make the cut was Michael Kopech, who was a lock to make the list before he was suspended 50 games in July. 

• Alex Speier of the Boston Globe reported last week that Yoan Moncada (pictured) will play for Caguas in the Roberto Clemente Professional Baseball League (Puerto Rico) this offseason. Play starts in October, and Moncada will be on the same team that Rusney Castillo played for last winter, which is managed by Alex Cora. 

• It may seem like ancient history to some, but Moncada only hit .200/.287/.289 over his first 25 games with Greenville. He quickly erased any questions people had about his performance by hitting .310/.415/.500 with 45 steals over his last 56 games. Speier posted a great article last week going over some of the reasons for his slow start, and how he was able to get up to speed afterwards. 

• After breaking into the big leagues in 2012, Tommy Layne has been shuffled around frequently between Triple-A and the majors, but 2015 has represented the first year where most of his time has been spent on the big league roster. Tim Britton of the Providence Journal talked with Layne about what it takes to say in the majors. Lefties are only hitting .145 this season against the left-handed Layne, but right-handed batters are batting .325. Used correctly, Layne can be a useful piece in the bullpen.

• The proposal to move the PawSox to the former Route 195 land and Brown University property in Providence is dead according to Rhode Island House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello. With McCoy Stadium in Pawtucket not a long-term option, this will be a story PawSox fans will want to follow closely over the next few years. 

• Ryan Hannable of WEEI.com released his end-of-year top five prospects in the system, with Yoan Moncada taking the top spot. He does not include players who have appeared in a major league game, and even still, the ceiling for the five prospects he lists are impressive. 

• With Anthony Rizzo batting .282/.391/.526 with 30 home runs this season, Speier revisited the trade that sent him to San Diego in exchange for Adrian Gonzalez in 2011. Unwinding that transaction would cause massive ripple effects throughout the organization, and with hindsight being 20/20, holding on to the young first baseman would have the Red Sox in a better position heading into 2016. 

• The biggest question for the 2016 team will undoubtedly be the starting rotation, and Eduardo Rodriguez has been doing his best to earn a spot. Matt Collins of Over the Monster broke down Rodriguez's rookie season, with most of the traditional and advanced statistics pegging Rodriguez as either average or a slightly above average starter in his age-22 season. 

• Since being called up on September 1, Noe Ramirez has struck out 10 in only 6 1/3 innings while allowing three runs over nine relief appearances. Gordon Edes of ESPNBoston.com talked with Ramirez about growing up in a rough section of Los Angeles, and how that neighborhood has driven him to success. 

• Yesterday was the 12-year anniversary of the launch of SoxProspects.com. Thank you to all the readers who take the time to come to this site to learn about Boston’s farm system, and with more top talent coming up through the minors, we are all excited to see how they progress over the next year. 

Photo Credit: Yoan Moncada by Kelly O'Connor

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