Minor league thread 2023
- Thread starter TimScribble
- Start date
The end of that column notes that Brian Abraham thinks Mayer, Bleis and Romero are all progressing well, and can be full go when spring training starts.
Adding Romero and Bleis to the crop of prospects, and not just on paper, makes the system feel a bit more live.
Adding Romero and Bleis to the crop of prospects, and not just on paper, makes the system feel a bit more live.
Thx! I can't read Herald stuff. That's what I had heard about those guys, too.
Of course, injuries are going to happen every year to every franchise, but it's less fun when some of the most exciting prospects are out.
In terms of pitching it seems like we're coming into next year in pretty good position injury-wise. The only 2 I can think of who would be missing next year because of TJ are Wyatt Mills & Taylor Broadway.
They also drafted a few guys with injuries who should be ready for next season like Justin Riemer, Caden Rose & Nelly Taylor. More BrooKs Brannon would be nice.
& I'm looking forward to the Diego Hernandez era. He's the injured DSL pitcher we acquired from the Yankees for Greg Allen.
Lots to look forward to. Both rationally & irrationally.
In terms of other pitchers who missed all or most of last year who I think will be back next year...
#126 Victor Santos - Have talked about him a bit lately. He missed all season but is pitching in LIDOM right now & re-signed as an MLFA. Santos was promoted to Worcester a month after turning 22. He wasn't amazing in his 9 starts (4.95 ERA), but didn't embarrass himself & had some other positive signs like a 4.01 xFIP, 9.7 k/9 & 2.9 bb/9. For reference purposes, Luis Guerrero was the youngest pitcher to pitch for Worcester this year when he was called up a month after his 23rd birthday, & he was over a year younger than anyone else to pitch for Worcester this year. I'm cautiously optimistic about Santos in the WooSox rotation next year, especially since he's already up to 3-inning outings in LIDOM.
#130 Jeremy Wu-Yelland - JWY was a 4th round pick in '20...& has pitched all of 80 innings since then, including 4 this year. In those 80 innings, he's allowed 62 hits & struck out 92. But he's already 24 & his highest level was 9 innings at Greenville in '21. He had TJ in April '22. No clue how his recovery is going, but apparently his water park game is strong...
View: https://twitter.com/jeremyelland/status/1706838733062865085
More of these later.
#126 Victor Santos - Have talked about him a bit lately. He missed all season but is pitching in LIDOM right now & re-signed as an MLFA. Santos was promoted to Worcester a month after turning 22. He wasn't amazing in his 9 starts (4.95 ERA), but didn't embarrass himself & had some other positive signs like a 4.01 xFIP, 9.7 k/9 & 2.9 bb/9. For reference purposes, Luis Guerrero was the youngest pitcher to pitch for Worcester this year when he was called up a month after his 23rd birthday, & he was over a year younger than anyone else to pitch for Worcester this year. I'm cautiously optimistic about Santos in the WooSox rotation next year, especially since he's already up to 3-inning outings in LIDOM.
#130 Jeremy Wu-Yelland - JWY was a 4th round pick in '20...& has pitched all of 80 innings since then, including 4 this year. In those 80 innings, he's allowed 62 hits & struck out 92. But he's already 24 & his highest level was 9 innings at Greenville in '21. He had TJ in April '22. No clue how his recovery is going, but apparently his water park game is strong...
View: https://twitter.com/jeremyelland/status/1706838733062865085
More of these later.
#137 Diego Hernández - As mentioned, we acquired Diego for Greg Allen. I am almost certainly irrationally high on a guy the Yankees signed for $25k as an IFA out of Puebla, Mexico in January '22. In his one DSL season, Hernandez has a 2.10 ERA (3.31 xFIP) with 12.6 k/9 & 3.7 bb/9 in 34.1 innings.
View: https://twitter.com/SmittyOnMLB/status/1659736357051441154
View: https://twitter.com/Beisbolpuro/status/1659738406992183296
View: https://twitter.com/SmittyOnMLB/status/1659736357051441154
Listening to this now.
View: https://twitter.com/ByAndrewParker/status/1722255850788868222
Any time you can take a nickname from Snooki & Deena you kind of have to do it.
View: https://twitter.com/ByAndrewParker/status/1722255850788868222
Any time you can take a nickname from Snooki & Deena you kind of have to do it.
I got distracted a bit in the middle, but did he hit on what he was working on this off season & his struggle throwing out runners (13 of 99 this season)? I heard the goals question...I like the question but both responses I've heard seen to mention #s. Maybe ask them what they are looking to accomplish baseball-wise this off season & if there's anything they are trying to improve by Spring Training?
Seems like a good dude. My concern with his hitting is that when he was mashing, every home run highlight seemed to be on a breaking ball mistake out over the plate, & then he struggled down the stretch, which I wonder if it might coincide with a scouting report getting out of "hey don't do that".
Seems like a good dude. My concern with his hitting is that when he was mashing, every home run highlight seemed to be on a breaking ball mistake out over the plate, & then he struggled down the stretch, which I wonder if it might coincide with a scouting report getting out of "hey don't do that".
Back to the injured pitcher series...
#143 Tyler Uberstine - I think I probably have him too high, & overestimated his ability to help Team Tyler next year. He didn't have his TJ surgery until June 14th so he's a maybe at the end of the year type of guy. The '21 19th round pick pitched 91.2 innings in '22 across A-Ball & High-A, with a 3.83 ERA, 1.27 WHIP, 9.9 k/9, 3.4 bb/9. The 6'1 righty from Northwestern turns 25 in June.
#163 Yizreel Burnet - Yizzy has pitched a grand total of 25 innings across 3 seasons in the Red Sox org, including 1 this season, since he was signed for $125k in January '21 out of Willemstad, Curaçao. Why is he rated this high? He just kind of...looks like a pitcher. Although it might help if he pitched with his eyes open?
Photo credit to @sittingstill
In those 25 innings, Burnet has a 1.80 ERA, 0.92 WHIP, 9 k/9 & 4.3 bb/9. The 6'4 RHP turns 20 in January.
#143 Tyler Uberstine - I think I probably have him too high, & overestimated his ability to help Team Tyler next year. He didn't have his TJ surgery until June 14th so he's a maybe at the end of the year type of guy. The '21 19th round pick pitched 91.2 innings in '22 across A-Ball & High-A, with a 3.83 ERA, 1.27 WHIP, 9.9 k/9, 3.4 bb/9. The 6'1 righty from Northwestern turns 25 in June.
#163 Yizreel Burnet - Yizzy has pitched a grand total of 25 innings across 3 seasons in the Red Sox org, including 1 this season, since he was signed for $125k in January '21 out of Willemstad, Curaçao. Why is he rated this high? He just kind of...looks like a pitcher. Although it might help if he pitched with his eyes open?
Photo credit to @sittingstill
In those 25 innings, Burnet has a 1.80 ERA, 0.92 WHIP, 9 k/9 & 4.3 bb/9. The 6'4 RHP turns 20 in January.
Side note on Carolina bbq...
Eastern Carolina is in fact known for vinegar-based sauce (do not like), but Western Carolina is known for ketchup-based sauces...not mustard...that would be weird. Although, 1 of the 4 types of South Carolina bbq is apparently mustard-based.
Here is a way-too-deep dive into the subject...
https://outerbankscoastallife.com/north-carolina-barbecue-east-vs-west/
#186 Ovis Portes - He only pitched 4.2 innings at the end of the year, striking out 9, walking 6 & hitting 3. He's 6'4 & from St. John's, Antigua. Beautiful place, so I assume he gets it together this season. Turns 19 in December. Signed as an IFA in March '22 for $25k. Put up a 1.21 ERA in 22.1 DSL innings in '22, 1.25 WHIP, 11.3 k/9, 4.4 bb/9.
Ed hinted pretty heavily about who it was yesterday on Twitter lol. Good get.
I literally have never Tweeted or DM'd on Twitter. But I can probably figure it out, & I do have an account. If I ever get out of this meeting I'll message you.
Hunter Noll's video highlights & excitement were a huge part of the daily threads.
View: https://twitter.com/EdHand89/status/1722335874531168326
View: https://twitter.com/EdHand89/status/1722335874531168326
#196 Austin Ehrlicher - Was drafted in '22 in the 18th round as a "draft & follow" & then signed in June '23 for $200k. The 6'5 righty (who also is a LHH DH) played baseball & basketball at Santa Rosa Junior College.
View: https://twitter.com/jimcallisMLB/status/1674151609616433154
Here is more on Ehrlicher, his choice to commit to ASU, & some of the lead up to the decision on whether to sign with the Red Sox.
https://www.theoakleafnews.com/magazine/2023/05/11/srjc-baseball-star-faces-big-decision/
& here's a little bit from Brendan Campbell about the original pick & how draft & follow works with junior college players.
https://bloggingtheredsox.com/2022/07/19/red-sox-select-santa-rosa-junior-college-right-hander-austin-ehrlicher-with-18th-round-pick-in-2022-mlb-draft/
& here's the MLB.com description of the rule:
The reason I put him in this series is the following tidbit from SP...
https://www.soxprospects.com/players/ehrlicher-austin.htm
So yeah, not really sure what's going on with his health or if he'll be available next year either.
View: https://twitter.com/redsoxsam_/status/1722564242379792721
This post about JOHANFRAN seems a bit hyperbolic as he had 4 PBs all season, but I know Sam goes to some of the FCL games so he definitely could have seen borderline things that were called WPs officially. Maybe someday I'll get around to actually responding on Twitter now that Parker had me writing on it for the first time.
Scott & Hickey's arms just don't really play, though. People run with impunity against them.
For similar level comparisons, someone stole a base every 6.05 innings against Scott this season & every 12.29 innings against Hernandez.
Someone stole a base every 5.01 innings against Hickey & every 11.13 innings against Marrero.
Going to have to take a break from listening for a bit as I got to the gym a few minutes ago & I would feel weird just continuing to sit out here but it's a really good listen. ROMAN is just a polished baseball human. Hard to believe he's only 19.
Side note - I feel like Henrique should consider pronouncing his name "HEN-ri-KAY".
Side note - I feel like Henrique should consider pronouncing his name "HEN-ri-KAY".
New binky for me. But didn't Okajima pitch with his head completely turned away from home plate? I actually can imagine that once you've committed to the pitch and your arm is in motion, keeping your eyes open actually may not help at all and may even lead towards "aiming".... maybe?
Each pitcher has their own process that works (more or less) for them.
Should we predict a YORDANNYesque '24 for Burnet? & call him the Zreel Deal? & get excited for the Zreel/Teel battery in '26?
For reference purposes, in '22 this was YORDANNY's FCL season stats...
25.2 IP, 7.36 ERA (5.03 xFIP), 1.87 WHIP, 8.4 k/9, 4.9 bb/9.
They are both 6'4 RHPs. Burnet was signed a year after for a larger bonus ($125k to $35k) & is about 15 months younger. & both have names that start with Y.
If we can have b2b CBOs with the initials CB who went to Yale & live in Newton, I assume we can have b2b breakout pitching stars with similar similarities.
25.2 IP, 7.36 ERA (5.03 xFIP), 1.87 WHIP, 8.4 k/9, 4.9 bb/9.
They are both 6'4 RHPs. Burnet was signed a year after for a larger bonus ($125k to $35k) & is about 15 months younger. & both have names that start with Y.
If we can have b2b CBOs with the initials CB who went to Yale & live in Newton, I assume we can have b2b breakout pitching stars with similar similarities.
Comprehensive list of Y-name Red Sox Prospects...
#7 Yordanny Monegro
#8 Yoeilin Cesedes
#70 Yosander Asencio
#96 Yoiber Ruiz
#134 Yorberto Mejicano
#163 (& in line for an irrational bump) Yizreel Burnet
#181 Yonfi Rodriguez
#219 Yohander Linarez
#239 Yoelvin Chirino
#241 Yermain Ruiz
#249 Yusniel Padron-Artiles
#250 Yodrian Beltre
Just a slew of quality names.
#7 Yordanny Monegro
#8 Yoeilin Cesedes
#70 Yosander Asencio
#96 Yoiber Ruiz
#134 Yorberto Mejicano
#163 (& in line for an irrational bump) Yizreel Burnet
#181 Yonfi Rodriguez
#219 Yohander Linarez
#239 Yoelvin Chirino
#241 Yermain Ruiz
#249 Yusniel Padron-Artiles
#250 Yodrian Beltre
Just a slew of quality names.
In honor of ROMAN's appearance on the Pod, here are the R-name Red Sox Prospects...
#2 Roman Anthony
#42 Ryan Fernandez
#63 Ronaldo Hernandez (now an MLFA)
#75 Ryan Zeferjahn
#82 Ronald Rosario
#101 Reidis Sena
#115 Railin Perez
#129 Ricardo Rodriguez
#135 Ryan Fitzgerald
#160 Ruben De La Cruz
#168 Raimundo De Los Santos
#174 Ryan Ammons
#178 Rio Gomez (MLFA)
#194 Royman Blanco
#226 Ryan Miller
#231 Rivaldo Avila
My main takeaway is that we roll 5 Ryan's deep. & unlike the 5 Tylers, 2 aren't MLFAs.
#2 Roman Anthony
#42 Ryan Fernandez
#63 Ronaldo Hernandez (now an MLFA)
#75 Ryan Zeferjahn
#82 Ronald Rosario
#101 Reidis Sena
#115 Railin Perez
#129 Ricardo Rodriguez
#135 Ryan Fitzgerald
#160 Ruben De La Cruz
#168 Raimundo De Los Santos
#174 Ryan Ammons
#178 Rio Gomez (MLFA)
#194 Royman Blanco
#226 Ryan Miller
#231 Rivaldo Avila
My main takeaway is that we roll 5 Ryan's deep. & unlike the 5 Tylers, 2 aren't MLFAs.
This isn't exactly a return to the injured pitcher series, but we could expand it to being a missing pitcher series...
#207 Smil Guzman - This can also be part of the cool names series. Because that's a cool name.
Smil had actually turned 19 a few weeks before this piece from April 27th, but the point remains - intriguing arm who was impressing people in Spring Training this year. The 6'0 right hander from Bonoa, DR signed for $22,500 in October '21 & made his pro debut in '22 with the DSL Red Sox Red. His #s didn't jump off the page - 3.98 ERA (4.37 xFIP), 1.40 WHIP, 9.1 k/9, 4.9 bb/9, but apparently the stuff did & he seemed headed to the FCL this season.
But then on May 3rd he was placed on the Restricted List:
This is the same list Brainer Bonaci finds himself on as of October 4th:
Obviously Bonaci is currently a different level of prospect than Guzman, so there was reporting that Bonaci was placed on the list for violating the joint domestic violence, sexual assault and child abuse policy.
Wander Franco was also placed on the Restricted List on August 4th this year before being placed on Administrative Leave on August 12th. But there are other, less sinister, reasons players go on the Restricted List.
Here's a bit of an explainer on the list:
There are a lot of people in various organizations placed on this list. Found this from Baseball Cube:
https://www.thebaseballcube.com/page.asp?PT=tranx&View=offroster
& noted that Gabriel Mavarez (#223) was also placed on this list on June 28th. Which is a bit confusing since he made his season debut on June 30th (he was 1-4 with 2 walks & 2 runs).
A bit of a deeper dive shows that was the day he was activated from the Restricted List:
Despite never showing up as having been placed on the Restricted List...
So yup, this is why I'm so confused about Smil Guzman (& where to rank him).
#207 Smil Guzman - This can also be part of the cool names series. Because that's a cool name.
http://news.soxprospects.com/2023/04/notes-from-field-emptying-spring.html
Smil had actually turned 19 a few weeks before this piece from April 27th, but the point remains - intriguing arm who was impressing people in Spring Training this year. The 6'0 right hander from Bonoa, DR signed for $22,500 in October '21 & made his pro debut in '22 with the DSL Red Sox Red. His #s didn't jump off the page - 3.98 ERA (4.37 xFIP), 1.40 WHIP, 9.1 k/9, 4.9 bb/9, but apparently the stuff did & he seemed headed to the FCL this season.
But then on May 3rd he was placed on the Restricted List:
| 05/03/23 | FCL Red Sox placed RHP Smil Guzman on the restricted list. |
This is the same list Brainer Bonaci finds himself on as of October 4th:
| 10/04/23 | Portland Sea Dogs placed SS Brainer Bonaci on the restricted list. |
Obviously Bonaci is currently a different level of prospect than Guzman, so there was reporting that Bonaci was placed on the list for violating the joint domestic violence, sexual assault and child abuse policy.
Wander Franco was also placed on the Restricted List on August 4th this year before being placed on Administrative Leave on August 12th. But there are other, less sinister, reasons players go on the Restricted List.
Here's a bit of an explainer on the list:
https://puckettspond.com/posts/what-is-the-restricted-list-mlb-01h37wgg7j1y
There are a lot of people in various organizations placed on this list. Found this from Baseball Cube:
https://www.thebaseballcube.com/page.asp?PT=tranx&View=offroster
& noted that Gabriel Mavarez (#223) was also placed on this list on June 28th. Which is a bit confusing since he made his season debut on June 30th (he was 1-4 with 2 walks & 2 runs).
A bit of a deeper dive shows that was the day he was activated from the Restricted List:
| 06/28/23 | DSL Red Sox Blue activated SS Gabriel Mavarez from the restricted list. |
Despite never showing up as having been placed on the Restricted List...
|
June 28, 2023 | DSL Red Sox Blue activated SS Gabriel Mavarez from the restricted list. |
|
|
June 5, 2023 | SS Gabriel Mavarez assigned to DSL Red Sox Blue from DSL Red Sox Blue. |
|
April 15, 2023 | Boston Red Sox signed free agent SS Gabriel Mavarez to a minor league contract. |
|
April 15, 2023 | SS Gabriel Mavarez assigned to DSL BOS Red. |
So yup, this is why I'm so confused about Smil Guzman (& where to rank him).
With superstars @edhand and @byAndrewParker here... would it be too much/out of line to ask for a AMA type of chat with some of these prospects? I promise I won't fanboi too much with T-Roye
Oops, do I need to scrub the semi-critical post about Troye's command I just made in the AFL thread?
I think that any pitcher (or player, really), have days where they don't 'have it' So no need to scrub
Smil was actually 211 in my most recent rankings, not 207.
I had posted a Jorge Rodriguez write-up here, but I realized too late I had posted pieces on 2 separate tabs & kind of messed up the whole thing. It's not quite the teaser as "we have Roman Anthony on our podcast", but it is what it is lol
I had posted a Jorge Rodriguez write-up here, but I realized too late I had posted pieces on 2 separate tabs & kind of messed up the whole thing. It's not quite the teaser as "we have Roman Anthony on our podcast", but it is what it is lol
#235 Jorge Rodriguez - I might be too low on the 23 y/o LHP from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico who signed for $37,500 in November 2017 based on this from SoxProspects:
That looks like it came from a report from March 1, 2021:
http://news.soxprospects.com/2021/03/scouting-report-updates-jorge-rodriguez.html
That was a bit surprising to read before I saw the date & looked further back on his stats because the results haven't necessarily been there since 2019 in the Gulf Coast League when he put up a 1.91 ERA (2.27 xFIP) in 47 innings in his age 18 season. 11.1 k/9, 1.7 bb/9, 0.94 WHIP. Those are pretty elite #s & he had a cup of coffee in low-A Lowell (4.2 innings) back when that was still a thing.
After missing the entire '20 season due to the pandemic, in '21 he pitched 68 not great innings in A-Ball: 5.56 ERA (4.36 xFIP), 1.68 WHIP, 7.2 k/9, 2.5 bb/9. He only got into 1 game on April 10th, 3.1 IP, before being shut down for the year in '22. He had TJ surgery in June '22 & missed the entire '23 season, but one would expect will be ready to go for '24 Spring Training.
He seems to have been unfortunately derailed by the pandemic & injury, but he doesn't turn 24 until August & if he comes back healthy, maybe he'll show what the hype was about 3 years ago.
A Sittingstill photo from '21 of the 5'11 lefty:
https://www.soxprospects.com/players/rodriguez-jorge.htm
That looks like it came from a report from March 1, 2021:
http://news.soxprospects.com/2021/03/scouting-report-updates-jorge-rodriguez.html
That was a bit surprising to read before I saw the date & looked further back on his stats because the results haven't necessarily been there since 2019 in the Gulf Coast League when he put up a 1.91 ERA (2.27 xFIP) in 47 innings in his age 18 season. 11.1 k/9, 1.7 bb/9, 0.94 WHIP. Those are pretty elite #s & he had a cup of coffee in low-A Lowell (4.2 innings) back when that was still a thing.
After missing the entire '20 season due to the pandemic, in '21 he pitched 68 not great innings in A-Ball: 5.56 ERA (4.36 xFIP), 1.68 WHIP, 7.2 k/9, 2.5 bb/9. He only got into 1 game on April 10th, 3.1 IP, before being shut down for the year in '22. He had TJ surgery in June '22 & missed the entire '23 season, but one would expect will be ready to go for '24 Spring Training.
He seems to have been unfortunately derailed by the pandemic & injury, but he doesn't turn 24 until August & if he comes back healthy, maybe he'll show what the hype was about 3 years ago.
A Sittingstill photo from '21 of the 5'11 lefty:
The SoxProspects photo was by someone different, though, Bryan Green. So that led me down a little rabbit hole looking at some of his pictures of FCL guys from this season.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/begreen90/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/begreen90/
Finally got around to finishing the ROMAN pod.
So natural & on point & polished on all baseball topics & teammates & such. His answers about working hard every day & working hard every day to make it so they would have to drag him out of center? Great.
So at a loss about non-baseball topics. What would he do on a rainy day? No idea. Favorite fast food fried chicken? Does Chipotle count?
Straight up baseball robot in the best way.
So natural & on point & polished on all baseball topics & teammates & such. His answers about working hard every day & working hard every day to make it so they would have to drag him out of center? Great.
So at a loss about non-baseball topics. What would he do on a rainy day? No idea. Favorite fast food fried chicken? Does Chipotle count?
Straight up baseball robot in the best way.
What we have done before is is to have questions submitted ahead of time. maybe curated for content, and given to the athlete. They then can "reply" to the questions here. So not a live chat, per see. More of the mailbox q&a style of things.
I was going to do a Noah Song piece in honor of Veterans Day, but I honestly don't have the energy to do it justice on my phone today.
Red Sox got a new guy for Worcester today, Mark Contreras.
View: https://twitter.com/tylermilliken_/status/1723099194301321632
Red Sox got a new guy for Worcester today, Mark Contreras.
View: https://twitter.com/tylermilliken_/status/1723099194301321632
Seems kind of like this year's Bradley Zimmer?
View: https://twitter.com/SoxProspects/status/1723090197699531214
View: https://twitter.com/SoxProspects/status/1723090197699531214
Grant Gambrell. I guess we'll find out if he's this year's Thad Ward.
View: https://twitter.com/ByAndrewParker/status/1723351221413548092
Will listen later.
View: https://twitter.com/ByAndrewParker/status/1723351221413548092
Will listen later.
