Minor Notes: Washington and Scherff nab players of the week

Here are Monday's minor league notes:

• SoxProspects.com's Director of Scouting Ian Cundall joined the Over the Monster podcast, The Red Seat, this week to take a deep dive on the state of the farm system. 

• Portland first baseman Josh Ockimey (pictured, right) has always shown the consistent ability to work the count and get on-base, with a .364 on-base percentage as a professional. He has also flashed some power as well, and Kevin Thomas of the Portland Press Herald writes about his "ridiculous raw power".
• Coming off the April that won him Pitcher of the Month honors, lefty Jalen Beeks continued to dominate Triple-A hitters, throwing 6 2/3 innings while allowing 5 hits, 2 earned runs, 1 walk, and 9 more strikeouts. Amazingly that impressive start actually caused his ERA to rise, now sitting at 1.71 while striking out an incredible 15.7 batters per 9 innings. The PawSox twitter account even featured a video of his final pitch of the night. It is no surprise that his strong 2018 performance has led to him rising from 13th in the start of the season SoxProspects.com rankings, up to 8th where he sits currently.
• Jordan Betts struggled while playing for Portland to open the 2018 season. However, he has started raking since his promotion to Pawtucket. In his first 12 games, .293/.348/.537 with 4 doubles, 2 home runs, 5 runs, and 10 RBI. The PawSox game him their Super Play of the game with his sacrifice fly yesterday to help the PawSox to a 2-0 win over the Triple-A Yankees.
• After being drafted in the eighth round in the 2008 draft, Jeremy Barfield has been on a wild ride, playing in leagues all across North America. Entering his second season with the Red Sox, Barfield seemed close to his first major league call-up after hitting .293/.368/.589 with 28 home runs in 2017 mostly for Portland with his final three games at Pawtucket, though he has struggled to open 2018. New England Baseball Journal's Craig Forde chronicles Barfield's career journey.
• Suzie Cool made history this week as she became the first female broadcaster in Carolina League history when she sat in on the broadcast on Friday. She will join Salem Red Sox Director of Broadcasting and Media Relations Ben Gellman on select broadcasts this year as Gellman writes for MiLB.com.
• Nothing more fun than watching an outfielder rob a home run. On Saturday night, left fielder Lorenzo Cedrola did exactly that for the Greenville Drive. The play proved pivotal as the Drive went on to win by a single run.
• Falling just short of Pitcher of the Week honors, Chandler Shepherd had a great start this Saturday for Pawtucket, nonetheless, throwing 7 shutout innings scattering four hits without a walk. It was by far his best start of the year and even made it onto MLB.com's top performers' video series for Saturday.

Players of the Week

Kyri Washington, OF, Salem

6 G, 24 AB, 9 H, 3 2B, 4 HR, 4 R, 8 RBI, 1 BB, 9 K, .375/.400/1.000

Kyri (pictured, left) had strong performances all week, getting a hit in each game. The performance that secured this award for him came on Friday. In the first game against the Potomac Nationals, Washington hit three home runs with five RBI as SoxProspects.com Executive Editor Chris Hatfield looked on. 

Washington also spent all of his shortened 2017 season in Salem where he struggled, hitting only .250/.308/.350 in 18 games. Prior to this week, Washington was hitting .216 with only 3 extra base hits, but the strong week has elevated his 2018 slash line to a solid .266/.376/.494. One area to watch is strikeouts where Kyri is striking out over 37 percent of the time after adding 9 more this week.

Alex Scherff, RHP, Greenville

1 GS, 5 IP, 0-0, 0.00 ERA, 2 H, 1 BB, 4 K, 0.60 WHIP

Scherff has struggled a bit out of the gate to start the 2018 season. He was selected in the fifth round of the 2017 draft but did not pitch professionally that year. Thus far Scherff has struggled in 2018, with a 7.25 ERA and 1.61 WHIP in 22 1/3 innings over 5 starts. In his four starts prior to this week, he has allowed at least 4 runs and at least 7 combined hits and walks. At 20 years old, he is two years younger than the league average pitcher in the South Atlantic League, and hopefully, Thursday's strong outing is a sign he is starting to turn the corner. 

Photo Credit: Josh Ockimey and Kyri Washington by Kelly O'Connor.

Will Woodward is a Co-Owner and Senior Staff Writer for SoxProspects.com. Follow him on Twitter @SPWill. 

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