Prospect Bottlenecks - Hoarding?

[MongoLikeSox]

Rough day in Greenville. Apparently Mikey Romero, our 2022 1st rounder, had to be carried off the field after fielding a grounder. Some sort of leg injury. Second injury this season. Noah Song also had his first rough outing since coming back.

[SeaBeachFred]

Can't figure out why so many of our prospects seem to come up injured, maimed or just pooped out by the time they are ready to make a move to the big club, but I have my own ideas why this may be so.

[Sea Dog 23]

The transformation of the Sox into a really good contender with home grown talent, is on its way -- but may have to wait until 2025 to see their best forces on the field.  Getting Raphaela and Mayer next year - Mayer will have to get up to AAA to be sure - will start the ball rolling.

But in 2025 the debuts of Roman Anthony and Kyle Teel will really fill the lineup with quality studs.  Anthony will have to continue mashing to get there in 2025.

Greenville Drive 5, Hickory Crawdads (TEX) 2
The dominant  debut from first-round pick Kyle Teel continued on Thursday night. The backstop did not record an out in any of his five plate appearances, going 3 for 3 with a double, two walks, a run scored, an RBI, and a stolen base. It was the fourth time Teel has recorded three hits in nine games with the Drive. Roman Anthony continued to shine as well, going 2 for 4 with a double, an RBI, and two runs scored. Eddinson Paulino also doubled as part of a two-hit night, driving in a pair.

Dalton Rogers turned in a strong start, giving up one run on just two hits in five innings, striking out five and walking two. Joey Stock struck out four and allowed one hit in two scoreless innings of relief. Felix Cepeda finally saw his scoreless streak come to a close. After going unscored upon in 14 innings across his first eight Greenville appearances, Cepeda added to that with a scoreless eighth before surrendering a solo shot to South Atlantic League home run leader Abimelec Ortiz.

[MongoLikeSox]

Seadog, I've been watching some of these guys off and on again this year. I think your assessment is spot on. Some ramblings to add to it, perhaps.

Abreu looks like he might be at least the solid sort of player we had hoped for. Nobody saw his offensive breakout season coming. Maybe breakout month is more like it. Still, he forced his way onto the team for at least a couple of weeks.

I would not be surprised to see an OF-5 made up of Duran/Yoshida/Rafaela*/Abreu/Refsnyder next season. The obvious flaw is 4 out of 5 are Lefties. (*Rafaela would not appear until 3rd week of April or something for 6 years of control as he is young).

As far as infielders go, it would be nice to see Mayer come back from his IL stint very soon and turn his AA season around. He's still not broken through at that AA level yet.  It could easily end up being 2025 before we see him.

Second base going forward interesting, assuming the competition is between Valdez, Yorke and Meidroth. Nick Yorke is still having a nice season on both sides of the ball. Only 4 errors where the scorers actually charge defenders with errors, and I mean to say the score keepers seem loathe to credit a hit on close plays. The eye test on Yorke has matched what I've seen so far. He even seems ahead of the curve base-running from what little one can see with the MiLB telecasts. His swing is so much like the one he had before getting homer-happy last season. Enmanuel Valdez has a more explosive bat, but cannot field the position. Meidroth can play 2B, SS and 3B. I think Meidroth will end up being a very good all around hitter, though the past month has been iffy. Bloom and company need to be shot on sight if Yorke starts next year in Portland and Valdez is in Worcester.

They're gonna have to plow the road for Teel based on defense alone. They've got Scott and Hickey in front of him right now. If either of them could throw runners out they might have McGuire's job next Spring. Teel's just plain fun to watch behind the plate. Energy galore and can pounce out from behind the plate like few we've ever seen. Hickey is about as consistent a hitter BA-wise as you'll see. Good power, too.

Anthony had his slump and came back out of it, which is darned impressive at 19 years old. I'd love to see some improvement on that swing and miss. His K-rate has been in the mid 30's. Rosier(AA) is a nice hitter, too, but fielding has been iffy from what I've seen. Especially some of the throws. I've seen Anthony far less, so can't really comment.

There's some talent in spots down on the farm.

[longgame]

We'll still have to rely on the brain trust to a) not screw these guys up too badly and b) give them some supporting veteran players who can bring them along.  Also, beyond Bello, someone will have to pitch too.  Crawford may have earned himself a spot.  Houck will be here too.  Whoever is in charge needs to strengthen the team with those kind of moves, not go after the old and injured.

[MongoLikeSox]

A far too early potential lineup for the playoff push in 2025. The only reason I did this is to illustrate what the lack of balance could look like. We'd have 7 LH batters and 5 players with 2 or less years of MLB experience. It would be a very young team. Lots of mistakes like we had last night with Wong's base-running gaffe. Can the Manager and organization teach and win at the same time?

Lack of balance aside, we'd have 2 "plus" defenders and 2 starters and 3 out of 4 bench players with great speed. There is a potential for a few more better than average defenders as time progresses.

Each of these prospects still needs to do some work to even get to Boston, let alone stay here for at least a few years.   

(notes - Players' # of MLB years in 1st parens.)
(current MLB or Minor League level in last parens.)
(A "+" sign after the position is for plus defense.)

(5)Duran* - LF    (MLB)
(9)Devers*  - 3B  (MLB)
(3)Casas*   - 1B   (MLB)
(2)Rafaela - CF+    (AAA)
(3)Yoshida*   - DH (MLB)
(2)Abreu*   - RF    (AAA/MLB)
(R)Mayer*   - SS  (AA)
(R)Yorke    - 2B    (AA)
(R)Teel*  - C+  (A+/AA) (Wong, Hickey or Scott if Teel is still a year away.)

Bench:
Meidroth   (IF) (AA)
Hamilton* (MI) (AAA)
Rosier*  (OF)   (AA) (This is a stretch, though hitting and speed are nice.)
Wong     (C)     (MLB)

Waiting in the wings of mid-late 2026, though they could be busting the doors down in 2025 if their ascent doesn't slow.)
Bonaci# - MI (A+/AA)
Anthony* - LF  (A+)
Bleiss - OF    (A+)
Jordan - 1B/3B   (AA)

The pitching is a whole different thing, but some of that young foundation is beginning to take shape. It looks better now than it did in March. 

[MongoLikeSox]

Been a rough week in Red Sox Land. Some good news, perhaps?

Grant Gambrell missed most of 2021 and all of 2022. He got in one game after being traded to us by the Royals in 2021. He had been dealing with some chronic heal pain in his right foot. They soon found out he had a benign tumor in that heel. He needed 5 surgeries to get it fixed. The last one he described somewhere as being liquid bone injections. Ended up doing a lot of rehabbing with Chris Sale.

So fast foward to last week. He had an impressive AAA debut and followup start last two outings. Gambrell started his year in Greenville, needing about 5-6 games to make things click and getting used to pitching again before going to Portland.

He continued to throw well in Portland, though his strike percentage (63%) could be higher. In 15 starts, he laid one egg giving up 6 runs in 5 innings two games after giving up 5 runs in 5 innings. 8 quality starts in 15 attempts while giving up 2 runs or less in 10 of 15 starts. I saw him pitch on MiLB TV more than anyone else. When he's on, there's a breaking pitch that fools hitter with regularity and I "think" he throws in the 94-95 MPH gas.

He got promoted to AAA last week and broke a growing tradition of starting pitchers bombing after being promoted from AA to AAA. In two starts for Worcester, he's gone 10.2 IP allowing 2 runs on 7 hits, 6 BB's and 14K's. I think the lone blemish of concern is 4 walks in his first start.

I think he's nearing the end of his season. 126 IP is more than twice his professional total before this season, and almost as much as he threw in 3 years of college ball.