Minor Notes: Bello, Whitlock ready to go; Dalbec called up to Boston

Four Sox affiliates are officially in-season, as Portland, Greenville, and Salem all got underway this past week. The Sea Dogs have yet to lose a game in their first three contests. Be sure to catch the Minor Notes here at SoxProspects every Tuesday with updates from the past week on the minor league system.

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Hot Starts

Miguel Bleis, currently ranked third in the latest SoxProspects rankings, is off to a very nice start for Salem. The 19-year old his hitting .357 with a .900 OPS to go along with a double and a stolen base in his first three games. Allen Castro, another 19-year old, is also off to a scorching start in Salem with a .462/.563/.615 line. Down in Greenville, 30th-ranked prospect Chase Meidroth is 3 for 5 with four walks so far this year, good for a ridiculous .778 OBP. As part of Portland's great start to the year, seven members of the Sea Dogs currently boast an OPS of at least .900. That includes Nick Yorke, the sixth-ranked prospect, who is 3 for 10 with four free passes to start 2023. David Hamilton (pictured, left) has also been fantastic for Worcester, with more on him later. 

Norwith Gudiño has been great on the mound so far this year. He has appeared in two games and has yet to surrender an earned run for Worcester. Brock Bell and Luis De La Rosa of Salem have each given up a pair of runs but have posted impressive strikeout-to-walk ratios of 4:0. More on Shane Drohan (pictured, below) below. 

Dalbec called up 

With the unfortunate news of Adam Duvall hitting the injured list, Bobby Dalbec, as first reported by Christopher Smith of MassLive, is joining the big league club for their series in Tampa Bay. The Sox are facing a string of left-handed starting pitchers in the coming days, so this is a good spot for Dalbec to get some at-bats. He has a career .855 OPS against lefties at the MLB level (330 PA). So far this year with Worcester, Dalbec is 6 for 23 with a double, a triple, and a home run. He has also played all around the infield with the WooSox, seeing action at shortstop, third base, and first base. 

Updates on Garrett Whitlock and Brayan Bello 

The Red Sox are set to get some major help in their rotation soon with the return of Garrett Whitlock and Bryan Bello. Both have pitched in the past week, as Whitlock got a start with Portland and went six innings, allowing just one hit and one walk with eight strikeouts. He will join the rotation and pitch tonight in Tampa Bay. Bello tossed five innings and 72 pitches down at JetBlue Park in an extended spring training game, according to Alex Speier of The Boston Globe. He struck out eight hitters. He will also pitch tonight, but for Worcester. 

New at SoxProspects.com, including rankings

The very first set of rankings here at the site was released this past week. This isn't a ton of change at the top, as the first four remain in the same order as the final rankings list from 2022. Be sure to check out the rest at SoxProspects.com. You can also see prior rankings on the Rankings History page. 

Director of Scouting Ian Cundall has been rolling out new Notes from the Field pieces from the brass' annual trip down to Fort Myers. First up, it's four arms that Cundall saw on the back fields, including Dalton Rogers, Noah Dean,  Nathan Landry, and Alex Hoppe. Ian also got a look at the top pitching prospect in the system, Bryan Mata, as well as the third-ranked pitching prospect in left-hander Brandon Walter. 

Check out the 2023 SoxProspects.com pre-season all-stars. Part one is the position players, headlined by top prospect Marcelo Mayer. Part two is the pitchers, led by Mata and Walter. 

The latest edition of the SoxProspects podcast is also out with episode #278. Chris Hatfield joins Ian to talk about the start of a new season by breaking down each affiliate's roster. 

With the season now in full swing, the Cup of Coffee is going strong with recaps of each game from the previous night. Check it out on the news page. 

 

Players of the Week 

David Hamilton, SS, Worcester Red Sox

6 G, 22 AB, 9 H, 1 2B, 1 3B, 1 HR, 4 R, 4 RBI, 5 SB, .409/.409/.682

Hamilton is off to a great start in his second season in the Sox' system. He was acquired from the Brewers back in December of 2021 in the Hunter Renfroe trade for Jackie Bradley Jr. The shortstop hit .251/.338/.402 last year for Portland and was a stolen base machine with 70 thefts. The 25-year-old is currently ranked 26th here at SoxProspects. 

Shane Drohan, LHP, Worcester Red Sox

1 G, 1-0, 0.00 ERA, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 K

Drohan, a left-hander currently ranked 12th in the system, tossed five shutout innings in his first start of the year with five strikeouts. Cundall had been hearing great things about Drohan in spring training as well. He was drafted by the Sox in the fifth round in 2020 out of Florida State. Drohan had a solid season last year between Greenville and Portland, making 27 appearances (25 starts) and posting a 3.89 ERA across 129 2/3 innings. He had 157 strikeouts and 51 walks. 

Photo Credit: David Hamilton and Shane Drohan by Kelly O'Connor 

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