Fall/Winter Round-up: Yorke delivers grand slam

With a litany of postponements across the Dominican Republic and Venezuela, it was a quiet week in the Fall and Winter Leagues, aside from a grand slam from Nick Yorke (pictured) on Monday for the Scorpions, while Pedro Castellanos made his debut in Venezuela and Franklin German did the same thing in the Dominican.

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Arizona Fall League 

The Arizona Fall League is entering the home stretch, as its regular season closes November 12. Thaddeus Ward did not pitch again this week after his left oblique strain, but Jacob Webb had two appearances, with a clean inning each time. He struck out three batters over the week. Aaron Perry coughed up one run and two hits over his inning of work, while Ryan Zeferjahn struggled in his start on Tuesday. In three innings, he gave up five hits and three runs, all three of which came on a three-run homer.

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Fall/Winter League Roundup: Yorke has big week, Scott belts two home runs

The Arizona Fall League and Dominican Professional League both continued into another week while the Venezuelan Professional League has gotten underway. The Scorpions had a nice week, winning three of their six games while also tying one. 

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Arizona Fall League 

Scottsdale scored a bunch of runs this past week, and Sox prospects were a big part of it. Nick Yorke (pictured) led the way by going 7 for 17 this past week, roping three doubles with three RBI. He also drew a couple walks and scored three times. In 66 plate appearances this fall, Yorke is batting .340 with a .911 OPS. 

Stephen Scott had yet another big week at the dish as well. The catcher made three starts and went 4 for 11 with a couple home runs, a walk, and four RBI. In nine games this fall, he is batting .400 with a 1.232 OPS. Among qualified hitters, he is leading the AFL in slugging percentage at .800. 

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Brayan Bello: 2022 SoxProspects.com Pitcher of the Year

This concludes Awards Week here at SoxProspects.com. Over the past several day, we have recognized All-Star pitchers and position players, as well as Graduate, Homegrown, Ex-Prospect, Rookie, Comeback, and Breakout Players of the Year. Earlier today we announced the Player of the Year, and the week concludes with the Pitcher of the Year. 

Pitcher of the Year

Brayan Bello (pictured) earns the honor after a huge breakout season that ended with him having lots of success at the MLB level for the Red Sox. He was also named the Graduate of the Year. Bello entered the season ranked fifth overall here at SoxProspects.com, and he was the highest-ranked pitcher. Bello did nothing but live up to that, coming right out of the gate with five shutout innings and 10 strikeouts for the Sea Dogs. It only took six starts in Portland for him to be called up to Worcester. In those six starts, Bello posted a dominant 1.69 ERA across 37 1/3 innings with 48 strikeouts, 12 walks, and a 0.804 WHIP. 

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Ceddanne Rafaela: 2022 SoxProspects.com Player of the Year

Welcome to the fifth and final day of SoxProspects.com Awards Week. Throughout the week, we have recognized our All-Star pitchers and position players, our Graduate, Homegrown Player, and Ex-Prospect of the Year, and our Rookie, Comeback, and Breakout Players of the Year. Today, we start by naming the winner of the top award given out by SoxProspects.com each season, the Player of the Year.

Player of the Year

Our Breakout Player of the Year is also our overall Player of the Year. Ceddanne Rafaela burst onto the scene this season and opened the eyes of many thanks to impressive production at the plate and on the field. 

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2022 SoxProspects.com Awards: Rookie, Comeback, and Breakout players of the year

Welcome to the fourth day of SoxProspects.com Awards Week. Today, we introduce our Rookie of the Year, Comeback Player of the Year, and Breakout Player of the Year. All three players were recognized earlier in the week as members of the 2022 All-Star cohort. 

Rookie of the Year: Luis Perales

This pick comes after a slight change in how the site considers rookies. In previous campaigns, anyone with previous game experience was no longer considered a rookie (hence Triston Casas not winning in 2019), but with the later draft making it hard for there to be a real crop of same-season rookies, we altered our qualifications: hitters with fewer than 50 plate appearances and pitchers with fewer than 20 innings will remain eligible. 

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2022 SoxProspects.com Awards: Graduate, Homegrown and Ex-Prospect

We continue our SoxProspects.com Awards season with the 2022 Graduate of the Year, Homegrown Player of the Year, and the Ex-Prospect of the Year. The Graduate and Homegrown players of the year may be at two opposite ends of their tenures with Boston, while the Ex-Prospect of the year had another All-Star campaign out west. 

Graduate of the Year: Brayan Bello

Bello ended the 2021 season with 15 starts in Portland, and that is where he returned to start 2022. He quickly proved he needed a new challenge after pitching to a 1.69 ERA with 48 strikeouts in 37 1/3 innings. He was promoted to Worcester and made his debut on May 18. He struck out 10 batters over six innings that game and then proceeded to do the same thing in his next start. He threw 58 2/3 innings with the WooSox, going 6-2 with a 2.76 ERA. He struck out 81 as he missed even more bats in Triple-A than in Double-A. 

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2022 SoxProspects.com All-Stars: Pitchers

Following up on Monday's position player All-Stars, today brings the SoxProspects.com 2022 All-Star pitchers. While the hitters ended up weighted towards players in Class A, with none of the nine selections having played above Portland, the cohort of eight pitchers features six who pitched in Worcester, including three who made major league debuts in 2022.

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Starting Pitcher: Brayan Bello

Building upon a breakout 2022 campaign, Bello got off to a hot start and Portland, earned an early promotion to Worcester, and finished the season seemingly cementing himself with a spot on the major league squad's 2023 starting rotation. Bello set the tone for the season in his very first start, firing five scoreless innings and striking out 10 of the 21 batters he faced. He would make six starts for the Sea Dogs, going at least five innings each time and never allowing more than two runs. With a 1.60 ERA and 42 strikeouts in 33 2/3 innings, Bello made his way to Worcester. He continued his excellence, posting a 2.81 ERA in nine starts before getting the call for his major league debut on July 6 against the Rays at Fenway. After some uneven results in his early major league action, Bello stood out in September and October, firing a 2.59 ERA in 31 1/3 innings. He finished his minor league system with a 2.34 ERA, the lowest in the organization among players with at least 60 innings while striking out 129 against 36 walks in 96 innings. This marked Bello's second straight season as an end-of-year All-Star.

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2022 SoxProspects.com All-Stars: Position Players

Welcome to the 2022 SoxProspects.com Awards week! Over the next five days, we will be presenting our annual awards on the news page, recognizing the standout performers from the season. The schedule will be as follows:

Monday: All-Star position players

Tuesday: All-Star pitchers

Wednesday: Graduate of the Year; Homegrown Player of the Year; Ex-Prospect of the Year

Thursday: Rookie of the Year; Breakout Player of the Year; Comeback Player of the Year

Friday: Player of the Year; Pitcher of the Year

We kick things off with the position players selected by the SoxProspects.com staff for their All-Star performances. While we do consider factors such as age advancement and opponent quality, these awards are in recognition of the players' in-game performances rather than a commentary on any status as a prospect. However, the Red Sox also got notable production from its most highly rated prospects: eight of the nine position players selected rank among the top 22 prospects in the system. This group also represents the injection of new talent into the system, with eight of the nine appearing on the list for the first time. 

Catcher: Nathan Hickey

Often a position of weakness in recent campaigns, the Red Sox boasted several strong performances from their backstops in 2022, with Hickey's the most notable. One of four 2021 draftees who will be receiving All-Star recognition, Hickey was a fifth-round selection out of the University of Florida. Assigned to Salem out of spring training, Hickey reached safely in his first 11 games of the year and did not look back. He hit .271/.429/.507 with 12 doubles, seven homers, and as many walks as strikeouts (39) in 41 games before getting a late-June promotion to High-A Greenville. His play stayed remarkably consistent, with a .252/.397/.539 line after moving up. He finished the year ranked 20th in the system.

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Fall/Winter League Roundup: Casas debuts in Dominican, Ward suffers oblique strain

The second week of the 2022 Arizona Fall League season is in the books. At an even 6-6, the Scottsdale Scorpions will kick off Week 3 of AFL play by traveling to Peoria to take on the 7-5 Javelinas later Monday afternoon. Elsewhere, the Dominican Professional Baseball League got underway on Saturday.

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Arizona Fall League

Stephen Scott has remained locked in at the plate for Scottsdale. Through six games, the left-handed hitter has slashed .417/.440/.750 with one triple, two home runs, eight RBIs, nine runs scored, one stolen base, one walk, and four strikeouts over 25 trips to the plate. He currently owns the sixth-highest OPS (1.190) among qualified AFL hitters. Defensively, Scott has seen all his playing time with the Scorpions come at catcher. The 25-year-old backstop has logged 49 innings behind the plate thus far and has thrown out three of 15 base runners.

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Podcast Ep. #263: '22 in Review, pt. 2, low-minors pitching

Chris and Ian had plenty to discuss among the upper-minors pitchers last week. So, how about lower in the system? How important was the breakout of Luis Perales this season? Is there another wave of arms coming, and if so, do we even know who's in it yet? Plus, as always, your emails.

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Fall/Winter League Roundup: Arizona Fall League begins; Yorke and Ward impress

Now that the minor league season has been completed, the fall and winter league campaigns have begun. Follow the Red Sox prospects through these weekly roundups and our Fall and Winter Leagues page. Eight players have already seen action in the Arizona Fall League, while the other leagues will start in the coming weeks. A list of those leagues and the players expected to participate is included below.

Arizona Fall League

The top prospect for the Red Sox in Arizona is Nick Yorke. After struggling through injuries for most of the 2022 season, Yorke looks back in form in the first week of action. He is hitting .368/.480/.526 with five walks and three strikeouts over five games. He has three doubles and seven runs scored. Stephen Scott (pictured) is one of the few players out-hitting Yorke, with a line of .385/.385/.769. He has one home run and four RBI over three games.

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Podcast Ep. #262: '22 in Review, Pt. 1, upper-minors pitching

With the MLB season coming to a close, it's time to look back on the year that was. Chris and Ian start their multi-part review with the arms in the system closest to MLB. We said at the beginning of the year that the organization had the most depth it had in some time... so how did it wind up turning out? Have the Red Sox finally ended their drought in developing starting pitching? The answers to that and more in this episode - plus, your emails!

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September Players of the Month: David Hamilton and Victor Santos

David Hamilton and Victor Santos have been named the SoxProspects.com Players of the Month for the month of September. Both Hamilton (pictured) and Santos ended their first full seasons in the Red Sox organization on a strong note. 

In his final 14 games with Portland, Hamilton batted a stout .429/.508/.643 (215 wRC+) with four doubles, one triple, two home runs, 10 RBIs, 15 runs scored, 10 stolen bases, nine walks, and 14 strikeouts over 67 plate appearances. On the 2022 campaign as a whole, the speedy left-handed hitter slashed .251/.338/.402 (104 wRC+) with 16 doubles, nine triples, 12 homers, 42 runs driven in, 81 runs scored, 70 stolen bases, 56 walks, and 119 strikeouts across 119 games (531 plate appearances). He set the Sea Dogs' single-season stolen base record on Sept. 10. His 70 stolen bases were tied for the third-most in all of Minor League Baseball. As a result of such feats, he was named the Red Sox' Minor League Baserunner of the Year. 

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