Red Sox Farm System

[Blue387]

Are there any updates on Ryan Kalish?

[Therwil Flyer]

Keith Law's ranking of minor league systems is up (but behind Insider walls). What I could get was this: The top three (in that order) are San Diego, Tampa Bay and Toronto. The Yankees come in at 10, the Orioles at 17 and the Red Sox at 18.

The Sox have a lot of high ceiling prospects at the lower levels. If those players have good seasons, the ranking could look quite different next year. But both TB and Toronto in the top 3... yieks!

[Therwil Flyer]

Keith Law's ranking of minor league systems is up (but behind Insider walls). What I could get was this: The top three (in that order) are San Diego, Tampa Bay and Toronto. The Yankees come in at 10, the Orioles at 17 and the Red Sox at 18.

The Sox have a lot of high ceiling prospects at the lower levels. If those players have good seasons, the ranking could look quite different next year. But both TB and Toronto in the top 3... yieks!

BA released it's 2012 organization talent rankings today: link

Red Sox come in at 9, right behind the Rays (8th)!
The Blue Jays are - not surprisingly - pretty high on the list at no. 5.
The Yankees come in at 13 and the Orioles at 21 (poor O's, I guess they won't compete any time soon).

My personal opinion is that two years from now the Sox will have one of the more exciting farm systems in the majors (assuming they will continue to draft well).

[scaffolds]

BA ranking is more accurate than Keith law's one.

[Mike D.]

How about a round of applause for the Red Sox development system?

With today's rotation announcement, the Sox will feature a rotation that is 4/5ths "home grown" and the 5th guy (Beckett) was acquired in a trade made possible by the Sox having good prospects to move.

[Mike D.]

Orioles Claim Luis Exposito

Not sure bringing up Spears and Repko is worth losing Exposito...who's no star, but a solid backup catcher type who still is just 25.

Best of luck to Expo with the Orioles.

[scaffolds]

Orioles Claim Luis Exposito

Not sure bringing up Spears and Repko is worth losing Exposito...who's no star, but a solid backup catcher type who still is just 25.

Best of luck to Expo with the Orioles.

Exposito is far from a top prospect, but he is a lot better than Dan Butler

[Mike D.]

Exposito is far from a top prospect, but he is a lot better than Dan Butler

Yes, I'd say he's nice organizational depth and injury protection, with an upside of maybe being an acceptable backup catcher in the bigs.

No word yet on Bowden's status.

[scaffolds]

Yes, I'd say he's nice organizational depth and injury protection, with an upside of maybe being an acceptable backup catcher in the bigs.

No word yet on Bowden's status.

That may be a big stretch, depite already being 25 yrs Butler hasn't hit in AA, Exposito did.

[Therwil Flyer]

That may be a big stretch, depite already being 25 yrs Butler hasn't hit in AA, Exposito did.

I think Mike was talking about Expo, not Butler.

[Therwil Flyer]

That may be a big stretch, depite already being 25 yrs Butler hasn't hit in AA, Exposito did.

I think Mike was talking about Expo, not Butler.

[Mike D.]

I think Mike was talking about Expo, not Butler.

Yes, my bad for being unclear. I'd say Butler is an "organizational player". More of a taxi squad type than a starter, even.

[Mathies_dane]

Anyone had a look at our 1st rd pick from last yr Matt Barnes at Greenville? 2-0 in 3 GS 0.00 ERA and 25 K's in 16 IP. That is what is called making a name for yourself early and often. Should be exciting to follow.

[Mike D.]

Anyone had a look at our 1st rd pick from last yr Matt Barnes at Greenville? 2-0 in 3 GS 0.00 ERA and 25 K's in 16 IP. That is what is called making a name for yourself early and often. Should be exciting to follow.

Yes, he's started the year really well. The Sox have said they started him at Greenville to "get into 5-day routine", but will probably move him up a level at some point to High A. I think they did something similar with Casey Kelly and it was 8 or 10 starts before the promotion.

Exciting young arm, though...and one that could climb quickly.

[Therwil Flyer]

Yes, he's started the year really well. The Sox have said they started him at Greenville to "get into 5-day routine", but will probably move him up a level at some point to High A. I think they did something similar with Casey Kelly and it was 8 or 10 starts before the promotion.

Exciting young arm, though...and one that could climb quickly.

I'd expect him to be moved up around mid may. Looking forward to see how he'll do in high-A.

[Therwil Flyer]

Anyone had a look at our 1st rd pick from last yr Matt Barnes at Greenville? 2-0 in 3 GS 0.00 ERA and 25 K's in 16 IP. That is what is called making a name for yourself early and often. Should be exciting to follow.

Henry Owens, a fellow 2011 draft pick, might also be interesting to follow in Greenville. In 10.2 IP over 3 games so far he has allowed 14 runs (all earned) but at the same time has struck out 22 batters. Wow.

[SwissRedSoxFan]

Anyone had a look at our 1st rd pick from last yr Matt Barnes at Greenville? 2-0 in 3 GS 0.00 ERA and 25 K's in 16 IP. That is what is called making a name for yourself early and often. Should be exciting to follow.

Yeah, I follow him closely. He is one of the bright spots in an otherwise slow start of our top prospects. Brentz hasnt shown the ability to hit RHP at the AA level yet. José Iglesias is cirque du soleil with his glove and a wild swinging cyclops with no idea at the plate, Ranaudo and Workman are in XST, Swihart, Cechini, Coyle, Jacobs, Vitek have all slugging percentages below .400. Bradley, Lavarnway, Middlebrooks (yet with no plate discipline), Bogaerts and Tejeda have had good starts. Still early, but if we talk about good or bad starts, I would say it's a rather bad start.

[Therwil Flyer]

Yeah, I follow him closely. He is one of the bright spots in an otherwise slow start of our top prospects. Brentz hasnt shown the ability to hit RHP at the AA level yet. José Iglesias is cirque du soleil with his glove and a wild swinging cyclops with no idea at the plate, Ranaudo and Workman are in XST, Swihart, Cechini, Coyle, Jacobs, Vitek have all slugging percentages below .400. Bradley, Lavarnway, Middlebrooks (yet with no plate discipline), Bogaerts and Tejeda have had good starts. Still early, but if we talk about good or bad starts, I would say it's a rather bad start.

Form Speier:

Middlebrooks had yet another tremendous game, going 3-for-4 with a homer in five plate appearances. Almost as notable was Middlebrooks’ walk, his second of the year, on a full-count pitch. While it would be easy to look at an OBP (.389) that is just 24 points higher than his average and conclude that Middlebrooks is a free-swinger who will struggle against more advanced pitching, that doesn’t appear to be quite accurate.

Middlebrooks has simply shown a consistent ability not to miss the pitches that he feels he can drive. Moreover, he has a well-defined approach when at the plate, looking to get in advantage counts and then to drive pitches that are middle-away from center to right-center. (His homer on Wednesday was to center off of Nats starter John Lannan.)

“He’s never been a high-walks guy, but right now he’s getting a lot of pitches to hit. He’s not striking out a lot and he’s not chasing a lot of bad pitches,” said Sox farm director Ben Crockett. “No matter what, to some extent, that’s the kind of hitter he’s going to be with some power, but his approach, more than anything, in terms of being able to use the entire field, it makes it hard for pitchers to pitch to him because of that. It’s really his strength. His ability to drive the ball to right field makes him dangerous.”

The 23-year-old ranks fourth in the International League with a .365 average, fourth with a .654 slugging mark, fifth with a 1.043 OPS, is tied for third with four homer runs and second with 12 RBI. He is currently scorching, with four multi-hit games in his last five contests, a stretch in which he’s 9-for-21 with three homers and nine RBI. Anytime that a top prospect goes on such a run — particularly at the start of the year, when there are no slumps on a player’s record to drag numbers down from the stratosphere, it is natural to suggest he’s ready for the big leagues.

Crockett, while noting that all players in Triple-A are by definition close to the majors, still has just over 100 plate appearances in Triple-A to his credit.

“It’s still really early in the season. Obviously we’re happy and pleased with the way things have started, but we’re [14] games into the season so I think speculation beyond that is premature. [But] If the numbers finish like this,” Crockett mused, “we’ll be pretty happy.”

[SwissRedSoxFan]

Form Speier:

Well, plate discpline is probably something you learn in the minors. You can't just say, he is not a OBP-guy and never has been. Even if he is good enough to hit a high amount of pitches in AAA and has therefore not many walks, I don't think that approach will be succesful in the majors. I feel he could be a .270/.320/.460-hitter. That is quite good, but never ever Youkilis-level. His defense will make up for it WAR-wise. We shall see.

Iglesias AAA stats are just scary. Is it possible to DH for a fielder and let John Lester hit instead?

[SwissRedSoxFan]

Vitek, Coyle and Iglesias are heating up in the minors:

http://www.milb.com/milb/stats/stats...pbp&pid=592231

http://www.milb.com/milb/stats/stats...pbp&pid=592830

http://www.milb.com/milb/stats/stats...pbp&pid=578428

[Therwil Flyer]

Matt Barnes continues to cruise. In last night's matchup against top prospect Dylan Bundy he pitched 5 scoreless innings with 9 k's (2 bb's and 3 hits). Bundy by the way was perfect for 4 with 6 k's. The Drive unfortunately lost 4-2.

[Mike D.]

Matt Barnes continues to cruise. In last night's matchup against top prospect Dylan Bundy he pitched 5 scoreless innings with 9 k's (2 bb's and 3 hits). Bundy by the way was perfect for 4 with 6 k's. The Drive unfortunately lost 4-2.

Nice to see the kid have some success right out of the gate. I figure it'll be another 2-3 starts and he'll be bumped up. You want them to taste success early, but not get TOO comfortable.

[SwissRedSoxFan]

Nice to see the kid have some success right out of the gate. I figure it'll be another 2-3 starts and he'll be bumped up. You want them to taste success early, but not get TOO comfortable.

Yeah, it is. Though you have to consider, that Bundy was a high school player. Good college pitcher should dominate A-ball. That's why it was so dissapointing to see Ranaudo and even more Workman struggle a little bit last year. Barnes is soon 22 years old. He should finish the season at AA. Trevor Bauer is a college guy too, six month younger than Barnes and killing AA-hitters.

[Mike D.]

Yeah, it is. Though you have to consider, that Bundy was a high school player. Good college pitcher should dominate A-ball. That's why it was so dissapointing to see Ranaudo and even more Workman struggle a little bit last year. Barnes is soon 22 years old. He should finish the season at AA. Trevor Bauer is a college guy too, six month younger than Barnes and killing AA-hitters.

Bauer is one of the most talented young pitchers on the planet (and one of the more interesting), so we can't expect his level of dominance from many other guys.

That being said, Barnes will certainly move up soon to High-A (now that he's gotten his feet wet in pro ball and gotten on a 5-day schedule). If he does well there, could he get a taste of AA at the end of the year? Sure...it all depends on how he does in High-A over the summer.

If he gets a taste of AAA at the end of the year, an aggressive rise would be 2013 being a AA/AAA year and him being in the bigs in September 2013 and in 2014. Less aggressive would be a full year of AA in 2013 and AAA in 2014 with a Sept 2014 callup and big leagues in 2015.

All depends on how he reacts and pitches as he climbs the ladder, though!

[Therwil Flyer]

Barnes promoted to Salem.

from rotoworld:

Red Sox prospect Matt Barnes has been promoted to High-A Salem after a short stay in the South Atlantic League.
Barnes allowed just one run and registered a dominant 42/4 K/BB ratio in 26 2/3 innings for Low-A Greenville. The 21-year-old right-hander was a first-round pick of the Red Sox in last year's June Amateur Draft and should continue rising quickly through Boston's farm system.