Minor Notes: Minor league camp begins, no movement in lockout

Despite the lockout washing out the first two series of the 2022 season at the major league level, the minor league season is getting going as scheduled. Minor league camp is now open and intrasquad games are beginning, while our own SoxProspects crew will be journeying to Fort Myers later in the month.

While it's unclear when the MLB lockout will end, minor league baseball will be business as usual, providing a fix for baseball fans.

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Red Sox sign five to minor league contract with an invitation to Spring Training

The organization has been building depth in case of a protracted lockout all offseason and this strategy continued throughout February and the early part of March. Yolmer Sánchez and Roberto Ramos came first on February 9. Sánchez is a glove-first infielder who has accrued five years and change of service time with the White Sox before spending last year with Triple-A Gwinnett in the Atlanta organization. Ramos, who played 2020 and 2021 for the LG Twins in the KBO, is a first-base-only player who hit .309 with 30 home runs with Triple-A Albuquerque in 2019.

The team also signed three right-handed arms in Tyler Danish, Silvino Bracho and Darin Gillies. Danish, who was inked to a deal on Feb. 22, is a reliever with a sinker/slider repertoire who was a second-round pick of the White Sox in 2013. Potentially a reclamation project, he struggled after being pushed, potentially too aggressively, to the majors in 2016. Bracho has 89 2/3 major league innings, most of which were with Arizona, since his debut in 2015. He spent last year in the San Francisco organization. Gillies was a 10th-round pick in 2015 by Seattle and went as high as Triple-A before being released this offseason.

Brett Netzer released

A third-round pick in 2017 out of UNC Charlotte, Netzer was cut on Feb. 26 following a string of homophobic and anti-Semitic social media posts, some of which were directed at Chief Baseball Officer Chaim Bloom. The second baseman did not play in the 2021 season after being placed on the restricted list but played in the Arizona Fall League in 2019 after spending the season in Portland with a .247/.320/.357 line.

Boston releases two infielders

The organization cut loose a pair of infielders that had yet to make their stateside debuts. Marco Cardoso participated in the Fall Instructional League in 2017, but after returning to Germany, he never appeared in a game for the organization. Sebastian Guerra was signed as an international free agent in 2019 and hit .200/.264/.200 across 65 at-bats in the DSL in 2021.

Key Links

Our own Ian Cundall provided some quotes on Brayan Bello, who will return from Tommy John surgery once the lockout ends, in this article from Mac Cerullo of CHNI Sports Boston.

Director of Amateur Scouting Paul Toboni sat down for a Q&A with Fangraph's David Laurila, covering everything from what an amateur scout does to how the organization changed since Chaim Bloom took over.

For Baseball America, frequent podcast guest Alex Speier wrote up Triston Casas, who heads into a crucial year near the top of many prospect lists.

Where are they now?

Minnesota snagged Daniel Gossett, who Boston signed as a minor league free agent in December 2020, with another minor league deal. Gossett pitched 98 innings across 20 appearances, 18 of which were starts, for Worcester in 2021.

Jose Adames came to the organization for the 2021 season and split his year between Portland and Worcester. He will join the Dodgers organization after signing a minor league contract.

Josh Ockimey (pictured), who was ranked in the SoxProspects top 10 during most of 2018, will depart the organization for Philadelphia after signing a minor league contract. The fifth-round pick in 2015 has a first-base-only profile but was viewed as a potential solution at first base after ascending to the top 20 in the rankings during the 2016 season. Despite his platoon splits, Ockimey hit 25 home runs for Pawtucket in 2019 and has shown plus-to-better raw power.

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Photo Credit: Josh Ockimey by Kelly O'Connor

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