Fall/Winter League Roundup: Castillo, Vazquez impress in PR finals

Here is a recap of the past week's action in Fall and Winter leagues. For the full list of Red Sox prospects participating in these leagues, check out our Fall & Winter Leagues page, which will be updated continuously through the offseason. This week's roundup covers the period of January 16 - January 22.

Roberto Clemente Professional Baseball League (Puerto Rico)

Caguas and Santurce continue to face off in the league's championship series, with Caguas leading 4-3 in the best-of-nine series after a win on Sunday. Rusney Castillo (pictured), who has been starting in left field, has been a key factor in Caguas' success as he went 8 for 21 in five games during the week, swatting two doubles and two home runs. Christian Vazquez has been similarly impressive for Santurce, as he is coming off a 7-for-15 week which saw him knock two doubles, a triple, and two walks. 

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Scouting Report Update: Groome, Shawaryn lead first Lowell updates

As promised on Wednesday, we have a small but exciting set of scouting report updates today featuring a trio of arms scouted with the Lowell Spinners (and Fall Instructional League), including the top pitcher in the system, Jason Groome. 

Numbers in parentheses indicate current SoxProspects ranking.

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Scouting Report Updates: GCL updates from Fall Instructs

With the holidays behind us, prepare for a flurry of updates to our scouting reports here at SoxProspects.com. You may be able to figure this out, but our plan is to work our way up the ladder to the majors, so today's update includes a number of players who finished 2016 in the GCL, as well as a couple of unfortunate additions to players' career notes.

Expect a smaller update later this week with three updates that are already in the hopper, but with some bigger names... think top five... (cue ominous music).

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Fall/Winter League Roundup: Castillo, Vazquez meet in PR finals

Here is a recap of the past week's action in Fall and Winter leagues. For the full list of Red Sox prospects participating in these leagues, check out our Fall & Winter Leagues page, which will be updated continuously through the offseason. This week's roundup covers the period of January 9 - January 15.

Roberto Clemente Professional Baseball League

Christian Vazquez and Santurce are facing off against Rusney Castillo and Caguas in the league's championship finals after both teams advanced earlier in the week, with the series currently tied at one. During the past week, Castillo went 3 for 14 with a walk and three runs scored, including a 1-for-7 showing so far in the finals. Vazquez had another productive week by going 3 for 8 with a triple, a walk, and two RBI. His two-run triple in game two of the finals helped Santurce to a 6-3 victory. Vazquez was the DH in two of his three games this past week, catching the middle contest.

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Fall/Winter League Roundup: Leon debuts, Elias strikes out seven

Here is a recap of the past week's action in Fall and Winter leagues. For the full list of Red Sox prospects participating in these leagues, check out our Fall & Winter Leagues page, which will be updated continuously through the offseason. This week's roundup covers the period of January 2 - January 8.

Dominican Baseball League

The round-robin tournament continued this week, with Roenis Elias (pictured) and Fernando Abad helping the Aguilas jump out to an 8-1 record. Elias started one game, striking out seven and walking four over five innings of one-run ball. Abad did not give up a run in his two appearances, recording four outs while allowing two hits. 

Licey is currently tied for second-place at 3-5, with Hanley Ramirez and Marco Hernandez both getting playing time. Ramirez started every game this week, going 7 for 21 with all of the hits being singles, while Hernandez went 0 for 9 in his three games. 

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SoxProspects.com's Top Posts of 2016

This is about a week late, but happy new year! Closing the book on 2016, we saw the Red Sox return to the playoffs after a pair of last-place finishes, while President of Baseball Operations Dave Dombrowski continued his trend of trading away pieces of the farm system to augment the Major League roster. In an annual tradition, we look back at our most-read News Page posts of the year. When you're done checking these out, look back at the top posts of 2015, 2013, and 2012!

Thanks to everyone for reading. Cheers to a great 2017!

- Chris

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December Notes: Sox deal key prospects for Sale, Thornburg

Here are this month's minor league notes:

• The 2016 Winter Meetings were extremely hectic for Dave Dombrowski, as the Red Sox acquired All-Star left-hander Chris Sale and right-handed reliever Tyler Thornburg in trades that made a sizable dent in the Red Sox farm system. After the dust settled, SoxProspects.com top prospect Yoan Moncada, Michael Kopech, Luis Alexander Basabe, and Victor Diaz went to Chicago in the Sale trade a few hours after Mauricio Dubon, Josh Pennington, and Travis Shaw were sent to the Brewers as part of the Thornburg deal.
  
  This meant that SoxProspects.com's Director of Scouting Ian Cundall, with help from Senior Staff Writer James Dunne and Staff Writer Conor Duffy, was busy as well. He wrote a two-part analysis on the Sale trade, one discussing the hitting prospects that were dealt, and the other discussing the pitchers. He also wrote a detailed analysis on the players traded for Thornburg.  
• Episode 110 of the SoxProspects.com podcast was also dedicated to the pair of trades Dombrowski made. Cundall and SoxProspects.com Executive Editor Chris Hatfield talked about the trades, discussed their opinions, and reviewed the state of the Red Sox major league club, as well as what's left of the minor league system.
• The trades led to the challenge of re-ranking the system for the SoxProspects.com team. New rankings were posted in the middle of the month, with Andrew Benintendi, Rafael Devers, and Jason Groome rounding out the top three.

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Fall/Winter League Roundup: Rodriguez tweaks knee, Castillo rakes

Here is a recap of the past week's action in Fall and Winter leagues. For the full list of Red Sox prospects participating in these leagues, check out our Fall & Winter Leagues page, which will be updated continuously through the offseason. This week's roundup covers the period of December 26 - January 2.

Venezuelan Professional Baseball League

Eduardo Rodriguez (pictured) tweaked his right knee slipping on a wet mound during his start for Magallanes on Tuesday, lasting just 1/3 of an inning and allowing two runs before exiting. The Red Sox are not concerned with the injury, though it is the same knee that Rodriguez injured during spring training last season. Rodriguez pitched to a 8.59 ERA in six first half starts with the Red Sox while recovering from that ailment before settling in with a 3.24 ERA with 79 strikeouts and 28 walks in 77 2/3 innings in the second half.

The league's round-robin semifinals began on Monday and the Tiburones, Caribes (Carlos Tovar has completed his season and is inactive), Tigres, Aguilas (Austin Maddox has completed his season and is inactive), Bravos (Luis Ysla), and Cardenales (Deiner Lopez is inactive) are in the mix.

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