March 5, 2024 at 9:00 AM
Fort Report: Song debuts; Cron signed to minor league deal
It was a full week of games, with Boston going 4-3. Some highlights from the week were Roman Anthony going 2 for 2 against Detroit, Noah Song (pictured) earning a save against Tampa Bay, and Rule 5 pick Justin Slaten continuing to cement his place in the major league bullpen.
Grissom strains groin
Vaughn Grissom's status for Opening Day is in doubt as he is recovering from a groin strain. Pablo Reyes and Enmanuel Valdez are the two most likely candidates to get the start at second base on March 28 in Seattle.
Latest podcast
After recapping the first weekend of games and some recent transactions, Ian sits down with Geoff Pontes of Baseball America in the latest episode of the SoxProspects.com Podcast. They discuss some of the key underlying metrics they look at when evaluating prospects, and also talk about some upcoming rule changes for the minor leagues.
CJ Cron signed to a minor league contract
Cron, 34, also received an invitation to spring training. He appeared in games for both the Rockies and Angels last season, and in 2022 he accumulated 29 home runs and 102 RBI. He is vying for a bench role with the Red Sox as a right-handed complement to Triston Casas at first base.
Five players released
Andrés Núñez, Yusniel Padron-Artiles, Connor Butler, Enmanuel Martinez, and Bryant Zayas all were released last week. Padron-Artiles was the only one who had appeared in the site's top-60 list, peaking at 58.
Key links
Jim Callis of MLB.com released his list of Boston's top 30 prospects. The list is headlined by Marcelo Mayer, and has some interesting deviations from the SoxProspects.com list. Franklin Arias in particular has an eye-catching ranking.
Prospects Live released their 2024 Preseason Top 100 list, with five Red Sox prospects appearing in the top 75.
Minor-leaguers in major-league games
Each year, we track the players who are not in major-league camp who get pulled over for MLB games. Here is the list, with current ranking in parentheses, of the 28 minor-leaguers who were featured in games over the last week:
Pitchers: Jason Alexander, Brendan Cellucci, Theo Denlinger, Jordan DiValerio, Juan Daniel Encarnacion, Garrett Ramsey, Cody Scroggins, Noah Song.
Position players: Roman Anthony (1), Alex Binelas, Allan Castro (15), Juan Chacon, Cutter Coffey (38), Nick Decker, Kelvin Diaz, Max Ferguson, Blaze Jordan (20), Niko Kavadas, Christian Koss, Ahbram Liendo, Matthew Lugo (55), Tyler McDonough (43), Tyler Miller, Eddinson Paulino (18), Angel Pierre, Luis Ravelo, Phillip Sikes, Karson Simas.
Photo Credit: Noah Song by Kelly O'Connor