Minor Notes: Sox sign 16 draft picks

Here are Monday's minor league notes:

• The 160th episode of the SoxProspects.com podcast is now available. Listen to Chris Hatfield and Ian Cundall discuss Bryan Mata, Marco Herandez, Mike Shawaryn, and Michael Chavis. They also recap the draft and talk about the June rankings update. 
• The Red Sox have signed 16 of their draft picks, including six of their top eight selections. Their top pick, Cameron Cannon, signed for under slot value at $1.3 million. They also signed their battery from Kansas, Ryan Zeferjahn and Jaxx Groshans, and did not have to go over slot for either. 
• Other players the Sox have signed include Chris Murphy, Brock Bell, Will Dalton, Alex Erro, Jacob Herbert, Joe Davis, Dylan Spacke, Dom D'Alessandro, Leon Paulino, Dean Miller, Brandon Walter, Devon Roedahl, and Luke Bandy. Bell will play for the GCL Sox, while Zeferjahn, Groshans, Dalton, Erro, and Bandy have joined the Lowell Spinners. 
• Dan Guttenplan of the New England Baseball Journal (subscription required) wrote about Sebastian Keane, who was drafted in the 11th round by the Sox and will either sign with he team or head to Northeastern to pitch. 
• Red Sox 12th round pick, Brendan Cellucci, will pitch in the Cape Cod League this summer before making a decision on signing in July. 
• Joon Lee of ESPN.com wrote about the Red Sox' fourth round pick, Noah Song, from Navy. Lee talked to Song about his thought process and some of the difficult decisions he has had to make. 
• Marco Hernandez is back in Boston and already making a huge impact, as he tied the game in the ninth inning on Sunday in Baltimore by taking a changeup low and away and depositing it over the left-center field wall for a home run. It has been a difficult road back to the show for Hernandez, and Christopher Smith of MassLive.com wrote about his long journey back. 
• Triston Casas landed on Baseball America's most recent Hot Sheet. Casas has a .973 OPS with 10 doubles and 10 home runs since May 1. 
• Jason Mastrodonato of The Boston Herald wrote about six women broadcasters who are making history. He talks about Melanie Newman and Suzie Cool in the Salem Red Sox broadcast booth and Jill Gearin, who interned at WEEI in 2018. 
• Darwinzon Hernandez has been all over the place recently, as he was promoted to Pawtucket. Over the past week, Hernandez has been with Boston, Portland, and now Pawtucket. 

Players of the Week (June 10 through June 16)

Rusney Castillo, OF, Pawtucket

6 G, 23 AB, 15 H, 2 2B, 2 HR, 8 R, 7 RBI, 1 BB, 1 K, .652/.667/1.000

It had been a bit of a struggle for Castillo (pictured, above) this season, but he just completed an incredible week. He recorded multiple hits in five of six games and had three consecutive games with three or more hits. He saw his season batting average rise from .249 to .289 over the week. He also now has a respectable .757 OPS this year with 12 doubles and six home runs. 

Bryan Mata, RHP, Salem

1 G, 6 IP, 1-0, 0.00 ERA, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 5 K, 0.83 WHIP

Mata (pictured, left) induced a lot of worm-killers in his lone start of the week, as he allowed 13 ground balls to just one fly ball to go along with his five strikeouts. The young right-hander has been incredible since coming off the Injured List, throwing 11 shutout innings. Mata has a 1.56 ERA this year and has been getting ground balls all year with a 5.23 ground ball-to-fly ball ratio.



Photo Credit: Rusney Castillo and Bryan Mata by Kelly O'Connor

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