Minor league thread 2023

Manzivino

Manzivino

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Shane Drohan is getting some buzz coming out of spring training for bumping his velocity and adding a cutter, solid first start today - 5 shutout innings, 3H, 1BB, 5 K.
 
Heating up in the bullpen

Heating up in the bullpen

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Big offensive day on the farm today, mirroring the Sox's 14-5 win.
SaleSox bang out 13 hits in a 10-2 win.
SeaDogs rap 13 hits in a 13-3 win.
WooSox knock 18 hits -- including 4 HRs -- in a 13-4 win.
(Greenville was rained out.)
 
LogansDad

LogansDad

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David Hamilton is destroying AAA early in the season. 1.467 OPS through 4 games, 3 XBH, 4 steals (though 2 CS).

I would love to see him make a leap this year. I know he was disappointing after the trade last year, but I really think he has a skillset that can thrive under the new ruleset.
 
budcrew08

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checking out the Salem Red Sox tonight, Miguel Bleis batting second. Interested to see what’s up in the Carolina League. Handful of scouts here, including one from the NYY.
 
The Gray Eagle

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Luis Guerrero is a great story-- he grew up in Boston, overcame a serious knee issue as a baby that still impacts him, and is now in Portland, throwing gas out of the bullpen.

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/04/13/sports/bostons-own-luis-guerrero-hasnt-let-disability-keep-him-hard-work-rising-red-sox-pitching-ranks/?

“I got surgery in my knee when I was a year or so old. I was hospitalized for nine months,” said Guerrero. “Those muscles didn’t grow up like the other muscles, so that’s why I have limited mobility in my knee.
“[But] for pitching, you just need to bend [the back knee] a little bit,” he added. “My knee bends just as much as I need it to.”
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But when he returned to Fort Myers this spring, his fastball had increased by 1-2 m.p.h. and his splitter had sharpened, suggesting he’d raised his ceiling. That development, combined with his status as one of the hardest workers in the organization and someone with makeup to handle both adversity and success, resulted in an assignment to Portland.
“We learned a while ago not to put any limitations on what he can do,” said Haviland. “We’re just going to continue to challenge him and hope that he goes out and beats Double-A and then beats Triple-A and hopefully will be pitching in a leverage spot for us in the big leagues.”
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From the same article, Hamilton is hitting the ball better in AAA. If he was a right handed hitter, he might have have already been called up. If he keeps it up, he could be up soon.

Middle infielder David Hamilton — just outside Baseball America’s top 30 Red Sox prospects entering the year — is off to an electrifying start in Triple-A Worcester, hitting .419/.438/.839 with three homers and five steals in eight games. While the 25-year-old hit a ton of infield pop-ups last year, trying to force power to the pull side, Hamilton has been crushing line drives and fly balls while taking more of an all-fields approach this year. Eight of his first 24 balls in play had exit velocities of more than 100 m.p.h.
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AlNipper49

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Saw Wikelman pitch the other night. As advertised on the velo side. It remains to be seen what he can mix it up with. I fear we will not be able to know much more until he gets called up, the simple fact being I'm not sure how many players in high A are going to be comfortable with a guy who was consistently 96-97.
 
RoDaddy

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At the end of the day, I'm not sure Yorke is all that much of a prospect. I think we all got justifibably caught up in his excellent 2021 season but that aside, what does he bring to the table? One tool as far as I can see - hitting - and even that is a question mark after last year. I guess the best we can hope for him is a Wil Cordero type as in pretty good stick and decent power major leaguer (with nothing else). SoxProspects has him ranked as our #6 guy but that seems high for a one tool guy.
 
Yelling At Clouds

Yelling At Clouds

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RoDaddy said:
At the end of the day, I'm not sure Yorke is all that much of a prospect. I think we all got justifibably caught up in his excellent 2021 season but that aside, what does he bring to the table? One tool as far as I can see - hitting - and even that is a question mark after last year. I guess the best we can hope for him is a Wil Cordero type as in pretty good stick and decent power major leaguer (with nothing else). SoxProspects has him ranked as our #6 guy but that seems high for a one tool guy.
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Just “scouting the stat line” here, but a good comp for a reasonable best-case might be this guy? I think most people would be okay with that.

EDIT: Maybe not quite Uggla-level power. "Chase Utley but without the defense" sounds kind of too good?
 
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nighthob

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I mean he had one off year that coincided with a lot of injuries. And I think people are way overselling the bad defense thing. I think he’s going to be an adequate defender and above average hitter. I really don’t see that as a bad result. I mean would Jordan Walker have been a better result? Yeah, having him in RF (improving the offensive profile and the lopsidedness of the lineup) would have been a better result. But a lot of other teams missed on him too.
 
Jimbodandy

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nighthob said:
I mean he had one off year that coincided with a lot of injuries. And I think people are way overselling the bad defense thing. I think he’s going to be an adequate defender and above average hitter. I really don’t see that as a bad result. I mean would Jordan Walker have been a better result? Yeah, having him in RF (improving the offensive profile and the lopsidedness of the lineup) would have been a better result. But a lot of other teams missed on him too.
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Yep. I don't get it either. He hit the crap out of the ball in 2021. Spent most of 2022 battling injuries and struggled. Then went to the AFL and hit the crap out of the ball again as a 20yo (post-covid, which is really more like a 19yo). The knocks on him right now are 1) doesn't play well when injured, and 2) can he keep the Ks down against elite pitching. He's a perfectly fine defensive second baseman.
 
TimScribble

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Portland game is on the app if you want to see Drohan, Yorke, etc

Drohan struck out 2 in the first.
 
GB5

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Does Mayer have an early career K problem or nothing to worry about? The K rate from the date he signed until now seems high. Not what I expected from someone who had an elite bat profile. I know he is a high schooler, but is this anything that needs to be watched?
 
TimScribble

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Someone has mentioned it before but he is young. Definitely something to keep an eye on as he progresses.
 
TimScribble

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He only had 5 appearances in AA last year, so I assume it’s just to get his feet under him this year and then we’ll see the bump.
 
Manzivino

Manzivino

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Sandy Leon Trotsky said:
Shouldn’t he be in AAA to face more similarly aged hitters or is it still believed that AA has the actual better players and not stuffed with AAAA types?
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The average age for hitters in the Eastern League this year is 24 per bref and he turned 24 in January, he's not particularly old for the league.

Rovin Romine said:
Looks like everyone in the video was a RH. I know it's a SSS but does he have a handedness split issue?
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Last year he allowed a 205/273/373 line against righties and 279/365/415 against lefties; this year he's faced 12 lefthanded hitters, struck out 3 and only let one reach base (on a single). With the reported leap his stuff made this offseason, I don't think we'll have a good sense of his potential against lefties until the lion's share of this season is through (for reference, in the full season last year he only faced 167 lefties).
 
Heating up in the bullpen

Heating up in the bullpen

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Tough night on the farm -- only win comes from the SaleSox.
In AAA, WooSox lost 4-3 in 11. David Hamilton (SoxProspects #26) was 1-4 with a Sac Fly. Stole another base (that's 11, with 3 cs). He's got an 11 game hit streak.
Sea Dogs lost 10-1. Lone bright spot was Matthew Lugo (SP #13) , 2-3 with a HR and a double, boosting his OPS to .798.
Greenville Drive lost at Greensboro 2-1. Tyler Miller (NR) was 3-4 with a double in his season debut. ***I may try to get to tomorrow's game if it doesn't get rained out. Any SOSHers in NC want to meet me there?***
Salem won 5-4 in 10. Cutter Coffey (SP #23) was 2-5, including the game-winning single in the 10th to plate zombie runner Miguel Bleis.
 
Sandy Leon Trotsky

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Heating up in the bullpen said:
Tough night on the farm -- only win comes from the SaleSox.
In AAA, WooSox lost 4-3 in 11. David Hamilton (SoxProspects #26) was 1-4 with a Sac Fly. Stole another base (that's 11, with 3 cs). He's got an 11 game hit streak.
Sea Dogs lost 10-1. Lone bright spot was Matthew Lugo (SP #13) , 2-3 with a HR and a double, boosting his OPS to .798.
Greenville Drive lost at Greensboro 2-1. Tyler Miller (NR) was 3-4 with a double in his season debut. ***I may try to get to tomorrow's game if it doesn't get rained out. Any SOSHers in NC want to meet me there?***
Salem won 5-4 in 10. Cutter Coffey (SP #23) was 2-5, including the game-winning single in the 10th to plate zombie runner Miguel Bleis.
Click to expand...
With questions about Yorke, should Lugo be getting more time at 2nd?
 
nighthob

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What questions? His OPS is .846, his wOBA is .384 and he’s sporting a 20.7 BB%. Minuscule sample size to be sure, but then what else are you referring to? His injury plagued ‘22 season? When healthy Yorke hits. And given the lopsidedness of Boston’s lineup it might be handy to have a good RH 3B (like Lugo) to move Raffi to DH long term (now that he has his extension I don’t think it’s as big a deal to him). Or even have the option of moving him to RF.
 
Fishy1

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nighthob said:
What questions? His OPS is .846, his wOBA is .384 and he’s sporting a 20.7 BB%. Minuscule sample size to be sure, but then what else are you referring to? His injury plagued ‘22 season? When healthy Yorke hits. And given the lopsidedness of Boston’s lineup it might be handy to have a good RH 3B (like Lugo) to move Raffi to DH long term (now that he has his extension I don’t think it’s as big a deal to him). Or even have the option of moving him to RF.
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He's also only 21, and has walked as many times as he's struck out so far. That's pretty hard to do and is usually a sign of a hitter who's both got very good control of the strike zone and is seeing the ball really well.
 
nighthob

nighthob

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Fishy1 said:
He's also only 21, and has walked as many times as he's struck out so far. That's pretty hard to do and is usually a sign of a hitter who's both got very good control of the strike zone and is seeing the ball really well.
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Yeah, that’s what I mean, literally everything points to him being a plus hitter. The only real knock on him is that the arm limits him to 2B or DH. But he’s been an adequate defensive 2B to date and I see no reason that he can’t continue to be so. Lugo was a SS, so they can always move him back to 2B if they have to. But he’s got a good throwing arm, so Lugo you don’t mind taking reps at 3B or even the OF as that opens up more options for the Sox.
 
Sandy Leon Trotsky

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nighthob said:
Yeah, that’s what I mean, literally everything points to him being a plus hitter. The only real knock on him is that the arm limits him to 2B or DH. But he’s been an adequate defensive 2B to date and I see no reason that he can’t continue to be so. Lugo was a SS, so they can always move him back to 2B if they have to. But he’s got a good throwing arm, so Lugo you don’t mind taking reps at 3B or even the OF as that opens up more options for the Sox.
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More looking at his defense than offensive upside. The defense seems like it's a concern while the offense looks good but will need to have a consistent good year, injury free for some level of comfort with his upside projections, no?
 
nighthob

nighthob

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The concern with Yorke’s defense is that he doesn’t have the arm for OF or the left side of the infield, not that he’s a bad fielder. The right shoulder means that his possible positions are 2B, 1B, or DH. And that’s a limitation. So long as he’s a plus hitter he’s fine at 2B.
 
RoDaddy

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He's got a pretty good ceiling. Remember last years amazing 14 k's and 32 swings and misses in 5.2 innings game?! And this year he's throwing even harder. Wouldn't be surprised if he becomes the (minor league) system's best lefty
 
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