Minor Notes: Reyes pitches a gem, Casas and Dalbec on a roll

Here are Thursday's minor league notes:

• The SoxProspects.com Player's of the Month for April have been revealed, with Jarren Duran and Bryan Mata (pictured) taking home the honors. Duran's victory should come as no surprise as he has batted a spectacular .404/.462/.553, which is made even more impressive by the fact that he has done this as a full-time center fielder. His teammate Mata was similarly dominant, allowing only four earned runs in the month of April and striking out 26 as the youngest pitcher in the Carolina League.

• With the Red Sox starting pitching depth being tested early in May, a series of strong pitching performances will come as welcome news to Sox fans. In just his third outing since his return from the IL Teddy Stankiewicz dominated, pitching six shut out innings Tuesday night. In Portland, Kyle Hart remains on a roll, while Denyi Reyes had his best outing of 2019 on Wednesday night. Hart has now allowed only three earned runs over his last 18 1/3 innings pitched.

• Given Boston's quickly disappearing pitching depth, John Tomase of NBC Sports Boston asks if Mike Shawaryn could be the next prospect to receive the call from the big league club.

• On the offensive side of things, Bobby Dalbec (pictured) and Triston Casas have continued to improve on their slow starts to the season. Dalbec has now reached base safely in six of his last seven games including a three-hit night on Wednesday, while Casas has recorded an extra-base hit in five of his last seven games as part of a six-game hitting streak that ended Wednesday night.

• Given his amazing start to his professional career, Michael Chavis has been a hot topic of discussion since his April promotion. Chavis has been a major part of the recent improvement of the Red Sox fortunes, and Zachary Rymer of Bleacher Report has proclaimed him the savior of their 2019 season. 

• Rob Bradford of WEEI agrees that Chavis is quickly becoming an invaluable piece of the Red Sox offense, and caught up with the young infielder to discuss how Chavis will adapt his approach in the face of adjustments from opposing pitchers.

• Chavis's success is due in large part to his place as the unlikely leader of the Red Sox offense in exit velocity. Andrew Simon of MLB.com explored Chavis's rise to Statcast prominence and just how Chavis is able to hit the ball as hard as he does and how this is reflected in his results.

• As he has quickly become a permanent fixture in the Red Sox lineup, Chavis has begun tracking balls in the outfield in order to increase his defensive flexibility according to a report by Alex Speier. 

• In non-Michael Chavis related news, Kevin Thomas of the Portland Press Herald wrote a piece signaling Jarren Duran's eventual promotion to Portland and the familiarity he has to former Sea Dog Jacoby Ellsbury.   

• With the emergence of Michael Chavis, Hunter Noll of BoSox Injection wanted to shine a spotlight on the rest of the Red Sox farm system with a big picture overview of the first month of minor league action. Noll covered many prospects in this article but specifically highlighted Triston Casas's steady improvements thus far in May and what that means for the Red Sox farm system.

• Despite being heralded as the most advanced player in the 2018 draft, Chris Mason of the Eagle-Tribune writes that Durbin Feltman still has some kinks to work out before he is ready for the major leagues.

• MassLive.com's Christopher Smith agreed that Feltman still needs some seasoning in the minors, and discussed other bullpen options that the Red Sox could look to including Jenrry Mejia, Travis Lakins, Bobby Poyner, and Josh Taylor.

Photo Credit: Bryan Mata and Bobby Dalbec by Kelly O'Connor

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