7/24 MiLB Gameday: Workman and Owens

[Cuzittt]

Today's Games:

IL:Pawtucket (SUSP/Brandon Workman) @ Lehigh Valley (SUSP/Brad Lincoln) [6:05pm]
EL: Portland (Henry Owens) @ New Britain (Jose Berrios) [7:05pm]
CL:Salem (Simon Mercedes) @ Lynchburg (Jarrett Miller) [7:05pm]
SAL: Greenville (Myles Smith) @ Lakewood (Jon Prosinski) [7:05pm]
NYPL: Lowell (Kevin McAvoy) vs. Hudson Valley (TBD) [7:05pm]
GCL: GCL Sox vs. GCL Rays [11:00am]
DSL: DSL Sox @ DSL Reds [10:30am]

Notes:

Pawsox have won 7 consecutive games.

Pawsox lead the suspended game 3-2, 2 outs, bottom 4th. Game is scheduled for 9. Second game scheduled for 7.

Scoreboard:

Boston Red Sox Minor League Scores

Media:

MiLB TV
MiLB Radio

Local Media:

Pawsox:

Providence Journal
Pawtucket Times

Seadogs: Portland Press Herald

Salem: Roanoke Times

Greenville: Greenville Online

Lowell: Lowell Sun

 

[Plympton91]

I would have thought they'd get Workman lined up with Peavy. Though maybe they're keeping him lineup up with De La Rosa on the idea that Ruby will hit an innings limit at some point.

 

[Cuzittt]

Pawsox win the suspended game, 7-2.

Boxscore

Steven Wright went 3 2/3 innings, allowing 2 runs on 2 hits; striking out one. Ryan Verdugo went 3 1/3 innings, walking one and striking out 3. Miguel Celestino went 2 innings, striking out 3.

Travis Shaw went 3/4. Matt Spring went 2/3 with 2 doubles and a walk. Mookie Betts, Will Middlebrooks and Garin Cecchini each went 1/5; Middlebrooks with a HR. Alex Hassan went 0/0 with 4 walks. Carlos Rivero went 0/2 with 2 walks and a SF. Deven Marrero went 0/3 with a walk. Jonathan Herrera went 0/4 with a walk.

 

[Cuzittt]

DSL Sox win 4-1.

Boxscore

Gerson Bautista went 6 innings, giving up 4 hits and 2 WPs; striking out one. Carlos Caceres went 3 innings, allowing a run on 4 hits; striking out one.

Isaias Lucena, Roldani Baldwin and Samuel Miranda each went 2/4; Lucena with a double, Baldwin with a HR and a CS. Jesus Perez went 1/3 with a HR and a HBP. Yoan Aybar went 1/4. Gerardo Carrizalez went 0/2 with 2 walks. Juan Hernandez went 0/4 with a HBP. Carlos Tovar and Luis Alejandro Basabe each went 0/4.

 

[Cuzittt]

GCL Sox lose 5-4.

Boxscore

Brayan Villarreal went an inning, giving up 3 hits while striking out one. Jose Almonte went 3 2/3 innings, allowing 4 runs (3 earned) on 6 hits and a walk; striking out 2. Carlos Garcia went 4 1/3 innings, allowing a run on 6 hits and a walk; striking out 2.

Derek Miller went 2/2 with a walk after replacing Bryce Brentz who went 0/2. Luis Alexander Basabe went 3/4 with a double. Trenton Kemp went 2/4. Alex McKeon went 1/1 after replacing Jhon Nunez who went 0/2 with a SF. Jeremy Rivera went 1/4 with a walk. Rafael Devers went 1/4. Javier Guerra went 1/5. Darwin Pena went 0/4. Victor Acosta went 0/5.

 

[Cuzittt]

Drive lose 8-3.

Boxscore

Myles Smith went 5 1/3 innings, allowing 5 runs on 7 hits, 2 walks and a WP; striking out 2. Jacob Dahlstrand went 2 2/3 innings, allowing 3 runs on 4 hits; striking out 4.

Cole Sturgeon went 2/4 with a double and a walk. Zach Kapstein went 2/4 with a double. Tim Roberson, Jake Romanski, Jimmy Rider and Aneudis Peralta each went 1/4; Rider with a double. Wendell Rijo went 1/5. Franklin Guzman went 0/3 with a sacrifice. Kevin Mager went 0/4.

 

[Cuzittt]

Seadogs lose 7-1.

Boxscore

Henry Owens went 4 innings, allowing 5 runs on 5 hits (1 HR) and 4 walks; striking out 6. Jeremy Kehrt went 3 innings, allowing 2 runs on 4 hits, 4 walks and a WP; striking out 3. Aaron Kurcz went an inning, giving up 2 hits and a walk; striking out one.

Blake Swihart went 2/4 with a double. Stefan Welch went 1/3. Derrik Gibson went 0/3 with a walk. Sean Coyle, Michael Almanzar, Keury de la Cruz, Michael Brenly, Jonathan Roof and Heiker Meneses each went 0/3.

 

[Cuzittt]

Spinners lose 9-3.

Boxscore

Kevin McAvoy went 1 2/3 innings, allowing 5 runs on 7 hits and a WP; striking out 2. Enfember Martinez struck out the one batter he faced. Ty Buttrey went 5 innings, allowing 4 runs (3 earned) on 5 hits, 3 walks, a WP and a Balk; striking out 5. Ryan Harris went 2 innings, giving up a hit and a walk.

Sam Travis went 3/4 with a double before being replaced by Cisco Tellez who went 0/1. Mauricio Dubon and Bryan Hudson went 2/4. Danny Mars went 2/5. Raymel Flores went 1/3 with a walk and a sacrifice. Jordan Procyshen went 1/3 with a walk. Jordan Betts went 1/4. Mike Meyers and David Sopilka each went 0/4.

 

[Cuzittt]

Pawsox win 5-1.

Boxscore

Brandon Workman went 6 innings, allowing a run on 5 hits and a walk; striking out 6. Tommy Layne went an inning, allowing a hit and striking out one.

Ryan Roberts went 3/4 with 2 doubles and a CS. Travis Shaw went 2/3 with a double. Mookie Betts went 1/3 with a walk. Deven Marrero and Dan Butler each went 1/3; Butler with a double. Will Middlebooks went 1/4 with a HR. Carlos Rivero, Alex Hassan and Mike McCoy each went 0/3.

 

[Cuzittt]

Salem loses 5-0.

Boxscore

Simon Mercedes went 5 innings, allowing 5 runs on 7 hits (1 HR), a WP and a walk; striking out 6. William Cuevas went 3 innings, walking one and striking out 7.

Carlos Asuaje went 2/4. Mike Miller, Mario Martinez, and Matt Gedman each went 1/4; Gedman with a double. Reed Gragnani, Jantzen Witte and Nick Moore each went 0/3 with a walk. Jordan Weems went 0/3 with a HBP. Matty Johnson went 0/3.

 

[Plympton91]

Season effectively ends, Ortiz gets hurt and Owens gets bombed. Could this day be any worse in RSN?

 

[SouthernBoSox]

Season effectively ends, Ortiz gets hurt and Owens gets bombed. Could this day be any worse in RSN?

Well,  Shaw has officially turned it on at AAA and become a legitimate piece.
 
He's a "top ten" type of prospect, just not in this system. He very easily could be one of the the bats that this team needs.

 

[jscola85]

Well,  Shaw has officially turned it on at AAA and become a legitimate piece.
 
He's a "top ten" type of prospect, just not in this system. He very easily could be one of the the bats that this team needs.

 
Yeah, the most impressive thing to me over the last month has been his K/BB ratio, which now stands at 12/13.  He's hitting for power this month AND not selling out with lots of K's / bad plate discipline.  If he can keep that up the rest of the summer, you'd have to start getting excited about his potential to help out at 1B or DH next year.

 

[SouthernBoSox]

 
Yeah, the most impressive thing to me over the last month has been his K/BB ratio, which now stands at 12/13.  He's hitting for power this month AND not selling out with lots of K's / bad plate discipline.  If he can keep that up the rest of the summer, you'd have to start getting excited about his potential to help out at 1B or DH next year.

Exactly.
 
He's basically hitting exactly like he was in AA this year, and for a guy who repeated AA this is a fantastic sign that he made a quick adjustment to AAA.
 
He's young enough to get excited about.

 

[Buzzkill Pauley]

Have to say I'm starting to become rather intrigued by "unranked-prospect" Luis Alexander Basabe.  If the Sox system weren't so deep and didn't have Devers and Margot already, would we be hearing more about this guy?
 
20 2B, 13 3B, 1 HR is a goodly amount of XBH for 452 PA as a 16-17 year old in the DSL.  As is 79 BB and the .141 isoD thereby created.
 
But if the swing has no loft and it's all footspeed?  Am I looking at a stat line for the Venezuelan Che-Hsuan Lin?

 

[Drek717]

 

Have to say I'm starting to become rather intrigued by "unranked-prospect" Luis Alexander Basabe.  If the Sox system weren't so deep and didn't have Devers and Margot already, would we be hearing more about this guy?
 
20 2B, 13 3B, 1 HR is a goodly amount of XBH for 452 PA as a 16-17 year old in the DSL.  As is 79 BB and the .141 isoD thereby created.
 
But if the swing has no loft and it's all footspeed?  Am I looking at a stat line for the Venezuelan Che-Hsuan Lin?

He signed with his twin brother, here is the blurb Baseball America had on the two of them:

 
 
The Red Sox also made a pair of signings that sound almost too bizarre to be true. They signed identical twins from Venezuela, both named Luis Basabe, both switch-hitters who throw righthanded, both are around the same size and each of whom signed for $450,000 when they turned 16 on Aug. 26. Luis Alexander Basabe is an athletic, 5-foot-11, 165-pound center fielder with above-average speed, a 55 arm that could be plus in the future and solid power. Luis Alejandro Basabe is a 5-foot-10, 160-pound second baseman who also has plus speed. Alejandro has shown better ability to manipulate the bat head than his brother, though Alexander has more power. Alejandro has an average arm and some scouts think he might end up joining his brother in the outfield too. The brothers are from Anaco and trained with Jorge Agudelo.

 
So Alexander doesn't sound like a Lin clone living on speed.  His 7 2B and 11 3B in the DSL this year suggests that he's got some pretty good line drive power if nothing else.  The interesting thing now that he's been moved to the GCL is how his K:BB ratio advances.  In the DSL it was 36:30, staying anything close to that would be pretty huge for someone so young.

 

Exactly.
 
He's basically hitting exactly like he was in AA this year, and for a guy who repeated AA this is a fantastic sign that he made a quick adjustment to AAA.
 
He's young enough to get excited about.

His AAA slash line v. RHP is VERY close to his total AA slash this year actually, while he's struggled against LHP since advancing the level.
 
He's had some level of reverse split every season from 2011 to 2013, so that isn't normal for him, and while I can't find his AA splits now that he's in AAA his seasonal slash line against LHP is .245/.307/.381 in 154 ABs versus a AAA only slash of .207/.266/.293 in 58 ABs.  While I might reverse calculate his AA splits if this continues and I get curious, the disparity in those numbers make it pretty clear that the split he's developed is a very new phenomenon.
 
It might be a statistical anomaly as we are talking about a pretty small sample size here.  However, it might also be an indicator as to how he's achieved the improvement in his power numbers this year: by getting more pull happy and being less able to handle inside pitches from LHP as a result.  
 
It will be interesting to see how his splits progress going forward, and if his plate approach is altered as a result.  Shaw seems like a very savvy guy for his age and if the change in his splits was a result of him altering his approach to produce more power I wouldn't be at all surprised if he makes another adjustment to at least bring his contact and OBP against LHP up.

 

[Quintanariffic]

 
His AAA slash line v. RHP is VERY close to his total AA slash this year actually, while he's struggled against LHP since advancing the level.
 
He's had some level of reverse split every season from 2011 to 2013, so that isn't normal for him, and while I can't find his AA splits now that he's in AAA his seasonal slash line against LHP is .245/.307/.381 in 154 ABs versus a AAA only slash of .207/.266/.293 in 58 ABs.  While I might reverse calculate his AA splits if this continues and I get curious, the disparity in those numbers make it pretty clear that the split he's developed is a very new phenomenon.
 
It might be a statistical anomaly as we are talking about a pretty small sample size here.  However, it might also be an indicator as to how he's achieved the improvement in his power numbers this year: by getting more pull happy and being less able to handle inside pitches from LHP as a result.  
 
It will be interesting to see how his splits progress going forward, and if his plate approach is altered as a result.  Shaw seems like a very savvy guy for his age and if the change in his splits was a result of him altering his approach to produce more power I wouldn't be at all surprised if he makes another adjustment to at least bring his contact and OBP against LHP up.
 

 
I've seen multiple stories/anecdotes indicating that his getting away from being pull happy was the key driver of his break-out from the funk in 2013.  Also seen a lot of tweets about his XBH going the opposite way this year.  Take that for what it's worth.

 

[SouthernBoSox]

 
I've seen multiple stories/anecdotes indicating that his getting away from being pull happy was the key driver of his break-out from the funk in 2013.  Also seen a lot of tweets about his XBH going the opposite way this year.  Take that for what it's worth.

He's got 5 oppo HR's.
 
When he hit's it on the ground it's almost always pulled, but he has a lot of hits up the middle and the other way.  Type of approach that should thrive at Fenway.

 

[minischwab]

Throwing this in here a few days late...I was at the Sea Dogs game on Thursday, sitting 4th row behind home plate, in front of and behind a bunch of Sea Dogs AND Rock Cats scouts/employees.  The general opinion on Owens was he is too good for AA and may be bored right now.  His fastball was sitting around 89-90 on the stadium gun, but a Rock Cats employee told me the gun has been 2-3 mph slow for the last week or so, meaning Owens was closer to 91-93 for his 4 innings.  Sea Dogs guys said usually when he hits the middle innings, the velocity jumps a little bit too.   The grand slam he allowed to Kennys Vargas was on a hanging change-up, I think it was a 2-2 pitch with 2 outs.  Vargas hadhit one off the base of the wall in dead center in his 1st AB, not sure what pitch that was.  
 
Sitting right behind home gave me a great view of Owens' release.  Most of the change-ups he threw, I couldn't tell they weren't fastballs till they just stopped right in front of the plate.  Same arm action, arm angle, delivery on every single pitch.  Worked a solid curve in as well, but no 4th pitch.
 
Swihart ripped a couple balls too in his first 2 ABs.  Very quick swing and strong wrists.  Vargas is also a MONSTER.  No future for him with MIN if Mauer is there, but he was hitting to all fields with power from both sides. The pitcher for the Rock Cats, Berrios, had a pretty good slider too.