Minor Notes: Mata makes Portland debut, Wilson named Player of the Month

Here are Thursday's Minor League Notes:

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• Our director of scouting Ian Cundall (@IanCundall on twitter) has been hard at work this summer putting together updated scouting reports for many of the lower-level Red Sox prospects. The scouting reports updated include the GCL's Aaron Perry and the red-hot Yusniel Padron-Artiles of Lowell. You can find these scouting reports on the player pages on the website. 

• The unranked Trevor Kelley was called up by the Red Sox this week following a superb 2019 campaign with the PawSox. In his time in Triple-A Kelley has a 0.96 ERA with 34 strikeouts in 37 2/3 innings pitched. 

• Bryan Mata (pictured right) was excellent in his long-awaited Double-A debut as he shut down the Trenton Thunder. Mata didn't miss a beat as he hurled six innings of one-run ball and struck out five.

• With Mata's promotion to the Sea Dogs Christopher Smith of MassLive.com took the time to feature the hard-throwing righty in a short piece. The column includes video of Mata from Spring Training and some statistical analysis on Mata's career and time in Salem. 

• The strong run of form that earned Mata his promotion to Portland also helped him earn Player of the Month honors from SoxProspects.com. Joining him as the position player of the month was Chad De La Guerra (pictured below), who saw a power surge lift his offensive output to never before seen levels in the month of June. The infielder smacked eight home runs in June, a career high.

• Although he just missed out on the Player of the Month award for SoxProspects, Marcus Wilson took home the Carolina League honors with his torrid June. Wilson leads the Carolina League in average (.375), OPS (1.227) and home runs (six), and June marks the second month in a row that a Red Sox prospect has won the Player of the Month award.

• With July 2nd coming and going the International Amateur signing period has officially opened up with a number of names being linked to the Red Sox. Ben Badler of Baseball America does a great job tracking the signings every year, and you can also track the signings on SoxProspects.com here. Thus far the Red Sox have dipped heavily into the Venezuelan market, with only three confirmed signings coming out of the Dominican, and one player being linked out of Brazil. 

• After a red-hot May in which he smacked eight home runs and put up a .279 average, Bobby Dalbec had a rough June in which he only hit .198. However, Dalbec is getting back to his typical form as Joe Bloss of MiLB.com notes. Dalbec's peripherals never faltered in June (he walked more and struck out less despite the lower batting average), but the results have been starting to show for the slugger who has homered in four of his last five games.

• The reigning position player of the month Chad De La Guerra has made the most of his second stint in Pawtucket writes Peter Gobis of Attleboro's Sun Chronicle. The utility man made his ill-fated debut with the PawSox in 2018 but struggled mightily in his short stint. However, De La Guerra has put all of that behind him as he is on pace to put up career-best numbers in almost every offensive category despite battling injuries to begin the season. 

• With the Red Sox pitching staff faltering mightily and the payroll as tight as it is, Christopher Smith of MassLive.com argues that the Red Sox may be forced to look internally for relief. If they are forced to do so Smith opines that Tanner Houck and Darwinzon Hernandez are the two best internal options available. Both starters have long been linked to bullpen roles, and a transition to the pen could make the step up to the big leagues that much more manageable. 

Photo Credit: Bryan Mata and Chad De La Guerra by Kelly O'Connor

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