Minor Notes: Sea Dogs begin playoff run, Sox sending eight to AFL

Another affiliate has completed is regular season, as the Sea Dogs wrapped up on Sunday. Their season isn't over yet, with a trip to the postseason that kicked off last night The Red Sox have also made decisions on 11 players so far on where they will be playing this upcoming fall/winter. 

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Sea Dogs begin postseason 

The Sea Dogs' regular season came to a close on Sunday, and they kicked off their Divisional playoff series yesterday at Hadlock Field with a loss to the Somerset Patriots. 

Statistical standouts for Portland in 2022 include David Hamilton, who led the Eastern League with 70 stolen bases, while nobody else had more than 44. 

Christian Koss' big year landed him on the leaderboards as well, as he finished fourth in the league with 127 hits and third in RBI with 84. He was seventh in total bases as well with 210. With 17 home runs and 16 stolen bases, he is the first Sea Dogs player with at least 15 of each in a single season since Jeremy Hazelbaker had 19 home runs and 33 stolen bases back in 2012. 

On the pitching side, Jacob Wallace finished tied for second in the Eastern League with eight wins. Among pitchers with at least 30 innings, Bryan Bello led the league in ERA at 1.69, while Bryan Mata was fourth at 1.85. 

Eleven Sox players' fall/winter whereabouts announced

The Arizona Fall League is going to kick off soon along with other fall/winter leagues. Boston will be sending four position players and four pitchers to the AFL to play for the Scottsdale Scorpions. The position players include catcher Stephen Scott, first baseman Niko Kavadas, second baseman Nick Yorke, and outfielder Wilyer Abreu. The pitchers include Thaddeus Ward, Aaron Perry, Jacob Webb, and Ryan Zeferjahn. 

Ceddanne Rafaela will follow up his marvelous 2022 season by playing in the Roberto Clemente Professional Baseball League in Puerto Rico this upcoming fall, while Triston Casas and Frank German will be playing in the Dominican Professional Baseball League

Transactions

The highlight of the week for transactions was the release of backup catcher Kevin Plawecki, which allowed the Sox to call up Frank German and add him to the 40-man roster. German has pitched in one game and struggled, allowing four runs without getting an out. 

Links

Alex Speier of The Boston Globe wrote about how much Brayan Bello has impressed with Boston this year and why he is primed to be a member of the 2023 Red Sox starting rotation. 

Speier also wrote about David Hamilton and talked to him about his historic season on the base paths. 

With Bello graduating, MLB Pipeline has added shortstop Luis Ravelo into their top 30 prospects in the system. After playing most of the year for the FCL Red Sox, Ravelo got a taste of the Carolina League, where he hit .240 with a .721 OPS in seven games. 

Players of the Week

Stephen Scott, C, Portland Sea Dogs

4 G, 15 AB, 5 H, 1 2B, 1 HR, 4 R 4 RBI, 3 SB, .333/.500/.600

Scott (pictured, top) was great this past week against Somerset, recording multiple hits in two of the four games he played. He had at least five total bases in a single game for the fifth time this season n Tuesday. Scott is having a really nice September for Portland, hitting .289/.407/.400 over 45 at-bats. He also has five stolen bases without getting caught during the month. 

After being selected in the 10th round of the 2019 draft, Scott has spent three seasons playing in the organization. Last year between Salem and Greenville he hit .291 with a .914 OPS in 100 games. This year, he has a .723 OPS with 31 extra-base hits and 45 RBI in 96 games with Greenville and Portland. 

Brian Keller, RHP, Worcester Red Sox

2 G, 0-0, 5 2/3 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 8 K

Keller (pictured, left) appeared in two games this past week out of the bullpen and was fantastic for multiple innings in both games. He struck out four without allowing an earned run or a walk on Tuesday and struck out four more in 2 2/3 innings on Sunday. Keller has been great in September with a 2.45 ERA and 17 strikeouts in 14 2/3 innings. 

Keller is in his first year in the Sox system, as he was taken from the Yankees in the Rule 5 draft this past winter. He has thrown 109 1/3 innings this year in Triple-A and has a 3.38 ERA with 119 strikeouts and an opponents' batting average of just .202. 

Photo Credit: Stephen Scott and Brian Keller by Kelly O'Connor

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