Minor league thread 2023

JM3

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That's a lot of dongs.

But they may be waiting to see if he can bring down his k rate, ~28% is a bit high considering he was at ~19% in low A. It could be a whole approach thing. Or maybe not and pitchers are just desperate to stay away from him so they just throw junk and he does enough damage that he just keeps swinging at border line stuff and still walks 20% of the time. Hard to know without watching the at-bats or looking at advanced stats we probably don't have.
He's been terrible against lefties is my understanding. But still walks a lot against them.
 

shaggydog2000

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He's been terrible against lefties is my understanding. But still walks a lot against them.
He's only got 8 at bats against lefties with Greenville, with 50% walks and 50% Ks. That's not making much of an impact overall. Taking those out, he still has a jump up to a 25% K rate against righties. But like I said, his overall situation is not normal right now so it may be hard to tell if this is predictive of his future hitting.
 

Heating up in the bullpen

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As noted in one of the daily MILB threads, Sox Prospects updated their rankings this week (https://soxprospects.com/)

Here's their top 30, with previous ranking in (), age, position, and current team.

1 (1) Marcelo Mayer, 20, SS, Portland AA
2 (11) Roman Anthony, 19, CF/RF, Greenville A+
3 (3) Miguel Bleis, 19, CF/RF, Salem A (injured shoulder, out for the year since May)
4 (4) Ceddanne Rafaela, 22, CF/SS, Worcester AAA
5 (--) Kyle Teel, 21, C, FCL R
6 (6) Nick Yorke, 21, 2B, Portland AA
7 (8) Luis Perales, 20, RHP, Greenville A+
8 (14) Wikelman Gonzalez, 21, RHP, Portland AA
9 (--) Nazzan Zanetello, 18, SS/CF, FCL R
10 (7) Mikey Romero, 19, SS/2B, Salem A
11 (12) Shane Drohan, 24, LHP, Worcester AAA
12 (22) Brainer Bonaci, 21, SS/2B, Greenville A+
13 (9) Brandon Walter, 26, LHP, Worcester AAA
14 (37) Johanfran Garcia, 18, C, FCL R
15 (48) Yoeilin Cespedes, 17, SS, DSL
16 (30) Chase Meidroth, 22, 2B/3B, Portland
17 (15) Enmanuel Valdez, 24, 2B, Worcester AAA
18 (19) Nathan Hickey, 23, C, Portland AA
19 (18) Blaze Jordan, 20, 1B/3B, Portland AA
20 (33) Allan Castro, 20, CF/LF, Greenville A+
21 (5) Bryan Mata, 24, RHP, Worcester AAA (IL since May with right shoulder inflammation -- set for rehab assignment mid-Aug)
22 (26) David Hamilton, 25, SS/2B, Worcester AAA
23 (24) Wilyer Abreu, 24, OF, Worcester AAA
24 (10) Eddinson Paulino, 21, SS/IF, Greenville A+
25 (16) Elmer Rodrigues-Cruz, 19, RHP, Salem A (IL since mid-July)
26 (--) Antonio Anderson, 18, IF, FCL
27 (32) Ryan Fernandez, 25, RHP, Worcester AAA
28 (21) Marvin Alcantara, 18, SS/2B, FCL
29 (NR) Yordanny Monegro, 20, RHP, Salem A
30 (23) Cutter Coffey, 19, SS/IF, Salem A

Notables:
From the 2023 Draft: Teel (5), Zanetello (9), and Anderson (26) make the Top 30
Fast Risers: Roman Anthony shoots up from 11 to 2; Wikelman Gonzalez gets a nice bump from 14 to 8; Brainer Bonaci 22 to 12; Johanfran Garcia 37 to 14; Yoeilin Cespedes 48 to 15; Chase Meidroth 30 to 16; Allan Castro 33 to 20; and Yordanny Monegro from NR to 29.
Falling Fast: Bryan Mata, who's been injured most of the season, from 5 to 21; Eddinson Paulino from 10 to 24; Elmer Rodriguez-Cruz from 16 to 25; and Cutter Coffey from 23 to 30.

One thing I can't figure out from this list is what happened to -- and who was -- the former #2. My best guess is it was Triston Casas, who they list as graduating from prospect status in May '23. They list his peak ranking as #1, but I guess that doesn't mean he couldn't have been bumped down to #2 by the time he graduated. In fact, I think it would have been Casas and the mystery is solved.
 

OCD SS

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That's a lot of dongs.

But they may be waiting to see if he can bring down his k rate, ~28% is a bit high considering he was at ~19% in low A. It could be a whole approach thing. Or maybe not and pitchers are just desperate to stay away from him so they just throw junk and he does enough damage that he just keeps swinging at border line stuff and still walks 20% of the time. Hard to know without watching the at-bats or looking at advanced stats we probably don't have.
Wouldn’t that fly directly in the face of his promotion from low A? There he refused to chase and despite bad batted ball luck was moved up because his underlying batted ball data was great. Seems unlikely that he switched his approach ow when he’s being challenged a bit more…
 

BringBackMo

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Every now and then a prospect comes along who just has it. I can’t believe I’m going to argue for this, but I think Roman Anthony should be promoted again. I know, I know. Only 110 or so AB in high-A, where he’s apparently the youngest player by six months. But he’s destroying the league. .304/.443/.679 with 10 dongs. Apparently all the underlying metrics are outstanding. Strap a rocket to this kid.
The Boston Red Sox have finally come to their senses and started promoting Roman Anthony aggressively. No longer really young for A+ ball, he’s now really young for AA.

Teel also promoted to Portland. Is this being discussed elsewhere? I couldn’t find it.

View: https://twitter.com/SPChrisHatfield/status/1698698717459632536?s=20
 
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BringBackMo

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Thank, JM3!

Poking around over at SoxProspects, some of the forum posters there (not staff) have done some digging and believe that Romulus may be the youngest Sox prospect to make AA in more than 40 years. I guess Xander was also 19, but Anthony may be younger…?

Sooner or later, a main board thread dedicated to the caliber of prospects at Portland right now may be appropriate. In addition to the superstar trio, we also have Yorke, Bonaci, and Wikelman. That is a ton of talent with legitimate MLB potential.

And Anthony may turn out to be the best of them.
 

JM3

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They seem to have accidentally switched Blizzard & C Note's awards.
 

The Gray Eagle

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They seem to have accidentally switched Blizzard & C Note's awards.
That's what I thought too but the Glob has an article about it that makes it seem intentional?

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/09/25/sports/red-sox-minor-league-awards/

Infielder David Hamilton claimed Defensive Player of the Year after making his debut with the big-league ball club this season. The 25-year-old never really found a rhythm at the plate, but contributed with his glove when called upon to play shortstop before Trevor Story’s return from injury.
That seems inaccurate. I am hoping that this Glob writer just took the press release as-is and made up some justification for it.
Rafaela got the baserunner of the year award for stealing 21 fewer bases in the minors (with more caught stealing) than Hamilton?
was the Sox’ Baserunner of the Year after swiping 37 bases across three levels in 2023.
Seems weird. But Sox Prospects and MLB.com have it the same way. Surely if it was a mistake, someone from the organization would have let the media know about it by now. I guess the press release must be correct.
 

JM3

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That's what I thought too but the Glob has an article about it that makes it seem intentional?

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/09/25/sports/red-sox-minor-league-awards/



That seems inaccurate. I am hoping that this Glob writer just took the press release as-is and made up some justification for it.
Rafaela got the baserunner of the year award for stealing 21 fewer bases in the minors (with more caught stealing) than Hamilton?
https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/08/24/sports/plate-discipline-seems-be-final-step-rising-red-sox-prospect-ceddanne-rafaela/?p1=BGSearch_Overlay_Results&p1=Article_Inline_Text_Link

Seems weird. But Sox Prospects and MLB.com have it the same way. Surely if it was a mistake, someone from the organization would have let the media know about it by now. I guess the press release must be correct.
Yeah, I was joking. It's just a dumb thing they did because I believe Blizzard got baserunner & C Note got defense last year, & they probably didn't want to give them the same thing again.

Makes the whole thing pretty pointless. Why not give base runner to Rosier if you want to mix in different names? Or defense to someone who is good at defense?
 

mwonow

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JM3

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Hickey, Bonaci, Rosier, Olds, Troye & Mata are the 6 pictured left to right.

They're also sending Cepeda & Penrod.
 

Chainsaw318

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Burned . . . Blacklisted
Hickey, Bonaci, Rosier, Olds, Troye & Mata are the 6 pictured left to right.

They're also sending Cepeda & Penrod.
It’s also worth knowing that Rosier is JM3’s close to the show fave, with Yordanny and JohnFran lurking in the lower levels.

If Rosier has a solid AFL and spring, he could be a cup of coffee guy at some point next season. Another player who would be more intersting in this organization if he could play center, or hit right handed (or both).
 

JM3

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It’s also worth knowing that Rosier is JM3’s close to the show fave, with Yordanny and JohnFran lurking in the lower levels.

If Rosier has a solid AFL and spring, he could be a cup of coffee guy at some point next season. Another player who would be more intersting in this organization if he could play center, or hit right handed (or both).
My love for Rosier is nowhere near my love for lots of our other guys. I just think SoxProspects is traditionally too low on him & it annoyed me they had him batting 9th for Portland.
 

JM3

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JM3, thanks for bringing The Farm back to life here.

Must reading and greatly appreciated!
My pleasure!

Every time I see your SN it reminds me of one of the main places I played little league, even though it was spelled with an 'e'.
 

JM3

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Dec 14, 2019
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So - turns out 2021 and 2023 are *different years!* Sorry about that, all - many thanks to BMHH for pointing out the age of the Winky clip.
Yeah, sorry, 2021 AFL. He won't be playing this season.