Minor League Update

As we keep our eyes focused on the strong early season of the big club, the farm teams have also gotten things underway. I want to take today to glance through the farm system, taking a look at the early returns in Pawtucket, Portland, Wilmington and Greenville, pointing out some of the hottest and coldest players for each team through the first week and a half of the season.
Pawtucket Red Sox: 3-4, t-3rd, 1.5 games back
Who’s Hot:
Rodney Nye, IF – .278/.350/.444, 1 HR, 2 BB, 7 K in 18 AB
Abe Alvarez, SP – 1-0, 1.50 ERA, 0.50 WHIP, 2 BB, 5 K in 12 IP (2 GS)
Manny Delcarmen, RP – 0-0, 0 SV, 0.00 ERA, 0.69 WHIP, 2 BB, 5 K in 4.1 IP (2 G)
Who’s Not:
Trent Durrington, 3B – .182/.250/.273, 1 3B, 1 BB, 4 K in 22 AB
Jimmy Serrano, SP – 0-1, 11.57 ERA, 2.14 WHIP, 2 BB, 3 K in 4.1 IP (1 GS)
Mike Bumatay, RP – 1-0, 6.00 ERA, 2.33 WHIP, 0 BB, 5 K in 3 IP (2 G)
Pawtucket is off to a somewhat rough start, going 3-4 over their first seven games. Last night’s marathon contest took a 2-2 tie into extra innings, and though both teams scored 1 run in the 14th to keep the game alive, the Rochester Red Wings finished it with a run in the 16th off emergency reliever 3B Trent Durrington.
The PawSox suffered early on by having to host a David Wells rehab stint that saw Boomer get shelled almost as badly as he did last night; The Large One went 5 innings allowing 7 runs, while uncharacteristically walking 3. AAA Ace Jon Lester also struggled somewhat in his first outing, lasting only 2.1 innings after running his pitch count up with 3 walks and 3 K’s. He allowed only 1 earned run, but suffered due to a lack of control.
The offense has been without potential catalysts Dustin Pedroia (DL, shoulder) and Hee Sop Choi (DL), which has led to a somewhat lackluster offensive performance to this point, especially power-wise: Pawtucket has hit just 3 HR to this point, and only 8 extra-base hits.
The bright spot so far has been the bullpen, which has been stellar, especially between Manny Delcarmen, Craig Breslow, Cla Meredith, and Jermaine Van Buren.
Portland Sea Dogs, 3-3, 3rd, 2.5 games back
Who’s Hot:
Chris Durbin, OF – .467/.556/.600, 2 2B, 3 BB, 1 K in 15 AB
David Pauley, SP – 0-1, 2.89 ERA, 3 BB, 7 K in 9.1 IP
Edgar Martinez, RP – 0-0, 0 SV, 0.00 ERA, 0 BB, 7 K in 4 IP
Who’s Not:
Keoni De Renne, IF – .100/.143/.100, 1 BB, 5 K in 20 AB
Jose Vaquedano, SP – 0-0. 10.12 ERA, 2 BB, 1 K in 2.2 IP (1 GS)
Jonathan Searles, RP – 0-1, 0 SV, 6.75 ERA, 3 BB, 4 K in 4 IP (3 G)
Portland experienced a pretty big talent drop from last season, a year that featured a rotation including Jon Lester, Jonathan Papelbon and Anibal Sanchez and an offense featuring Dustin Pedroia and Hanley Ramirez. Though – and surprisingly – the entire Portland OF has remained intact, the infield aside from 1B Jeremy West is completely turned over, and most expect a pretty big drop from Portland’s 2005 win total.
The rotation is a potential bright spot, and is full of sleeper prospects like David Pauley and Jose Vaquedano, who project in general as no better than #4 starters but could do quite well in AA. Joining them are solid mL pitchers like Chris Smith and Kason Gabbard, players who aren;t likely to go anywhere but can at least provide innings out of the rotation.
The bullpen, like Pawtucket’s, is a bright spot: led by Craig Hansen and Edgar Martinez, it will give up very very little, at least until those two players advance to either Pawtucket or Boston.
Wilmington Blue Rocks, 2-5, 4th, 3.0 games back
Who’s Hot:
Jacoby Ellsbury, OF – .367/.387/.567, 1 HR, 1 3B, 1 2B, 1 BB, 7 K in 30 AB
Luis Mendoza, SP – 1-1, 3.24 ERA, 3 BB, 10 K in 8.1 IP (2 GS)
Randy Newsom, RP – 0-0, 1.80 ERA, 1 BB, 4 K in 5 IP (2 G)
Who’s Not:
Andrew Pickney, 3B – .150/.308/.200, 1 2B, 3 BB, 2 K in 20 AB
Adam Blackley, SP – 0-1, 6.75 ERA, 1 BB, 4 K in 4 IP (1 GS)
Michael James, RP – 0-1, 4.91 ERA, 3 BB, 4 K in 3.2 IP (3 G)
A very rough beginning for Wilmington, a team that features some of the most exciting players in the low minors but also has a lot of question marks. The good news is that the more exciting prospects are all doing quite well to open the season; Jacoby Ellsbury, Jed Lowrie, and Jeff Corsaletti are hitting well, and pitchers Tommy Hottovy and Andrew Dobies have had solid starts. On the other side, some of the more questionable prospects on the club – players like Ian Bladergroen, Mickey Hall, Pinckney and John Otness – have struggled early.
The pitching staff, especially the rotation, does appear to be in good shape; Dobies is the highest-ceiling hurler on the club, but Hottovy has some promise, and Mendoza is a guy that despite not coming up in conversation too often, looks like a potential sleeper to me.
Should hitters like Bladergroen and Pinckney realize some of their potential, and Ellsbury and Lowrie stick around for a bit, Wilmington could become a team to reckon with in the Carolina League. But given their promise – and the lack of blocakge for either in Pawtucket – expect both Lowrie and Ellsbury to move up quickly, leaving Wilmington with a strong staff but a potentially troublesome offense.
Greenville Drive, 2-4, 7th, 3 games back
Who’s Hot:
Jeff Natale, 2B – .348/.483/.652, 2 HR, 1 2B, 6 BB, 6 K in 23 AB
Phil Seibel, SP – 0-0, 0.90 ERA, 0.40 WHIP, 0 BB, 9 K in 10 IP (2 GS)
Kyle Fernandes, RP – 0-0, 0.00 ERA, 0.75 WHIP, 1 BB, 4 K in 4 IP (2 G)
Who’s Not:
Chris Turner, OF – 0.91/.259/.227, 1 HR, 4 BB, 12 K in 22 AB
Luis Segovia, IF – .208/.208/.375, 0 BB, 3 K in 24 AB
James Zink, RP – 0-1, 33.75 ERA, 0 BB, 1 K in 1.1 IP (2 G)
You’ll notice that Greenville is the only team in which no SP appeared on the Who’s Not list; that’s because none of Greenville’s starters aren’t hot. in total, Greenville’s rotation – one full of potential – has thrown 31 innings and allowed just 3 earned runs for an ERA of 0.87. The whole rotation, through 6 starts. Much of the credit goes to two of the most exciting young arms in the system: Clay Buchholz and Michael Bowden were both sandwich picks in the first round of the 2005 draft, and both have extremely good arms and extremely high ceilings. The rotation is further supported by Phil Siebel, a journeyman whose experience and age should allow him to dominate the SAL in 2006 – assuming he doesn’t earn a promotion at any point. The bullpen features some interesting talent, but no one with a flaming red arrow attached to them; it could be a weakness, or it could be a strength. It all depends on how certain members adapt to a new level of competition.
The offense also features a few 2005 draftees; Jeff Natale has been a pleasant surprise throughout his short pro career, and has gotten off to a fantastic start in 2006. Also from that draft class are OF Yahmed Yema and IF Matt Mercurio. Both are off to fairly slow starts. Also among the positional players are a few other guys with potentially high ceilings; many have predicted a breakout year from OF Luis Soto in 2006, and to this point he’s holding a solid .835 OPS with one HR and 6 RBI as Greenville’s biggest power threat. OF Chris Turner also has solid raw power, though he’s moved slowly through the system to this point. SS Christian Lara has a great deal of raw potential, but has not yet converted any of it into results; at 21, he’s at about the right age for low-A ball, and this will be a telling season for him.
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So, that’s the basic state of the minors right now. None of the farm clubs have a winning record yet, but there are some exciting players on each club, and I’d expect that before the month is out, at least one of the two A-ball clubs will have begun a very solid run. With another big draft coming up in June, we can expect another good infusion of talent into the low minors, making our system even stronger, top to bottom.