Red Sox Farm Watch: Memorial Day Weekend

Ryan Fox

Baseball and Memorial Day weekend go hand-in-hand with one another. As everybody is fixated on the Boston Red Sox, there is a lot of noise being made down in the farm system by their prospects. Who knows, maybe one day Red Sox nation will be watching one of those prospects playing at Fenway during next year's Memorial Day weekend.

Pawtucket Red Sox—AAA
--Things have been a little dicey for the Pawtucket Red Sox during the past few games. Currently finishing up their 6-game road trip at Louisville, the PawSox are going batty against the Louisville Bats as they are currently 1-2 in the weekend series. Last Saturday night in a 6-1 loss to the Bats, the PawSox were stifled at the plate by Bats starter Josh Smith. Smith held the PawSox to just five hits (CF Quinten Berry and SS Jeff Bianchi each has two hits while RF Allen Craig had the other one) and one run (sac fly by Bryce Brentz in Top 6th), while striking 7 batters.

--PawSox pitching prospect Eduardo Rodriquez (#4 overall prospect in Red Sox farm system, 82nd overall in Top 100 prospects per mlb.com) was on the mound for the PawSox. He took the loss in the contest, going 7 full innings while allowing 9 hits, 5 runs (2 were only earned), and threw 6 strikeouts. Rodriquez also managed to drop his season ERA from 3.05 to 2.98.

--The team will finish up their weekend series with the Louisville Bats today at 6:05 p.m. Afterwards, the PawSox will travel back to McCoy for a 6-day home stand, starting with a Memorial Day contest against the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Railriders at 6:16 p.m.

Portland Sea Dogs—AA
--The Sea Dogs are in the midst of finishing up their 5-game Memorial Day weekend series against the Reading Fighting Phils. The Sea Dogs lost on Friday night at home but were able to split the double-header last Saturday night, taking the second game 2-1.

--Infielder prospect Carlos Asuaje (#25 overall prospect in Red Sox farm system per mlb.com) tore it up at the plate in the contest. He went 3-for-4 at the plate with 2 doubles and a run scored during the contest. In his last 10 games, Asuaje went 11-for-36 (.306) with 1 home runs, 9 RBIs, 8 walks, and 9 runs scored.

Salem Red Sox—High-A
--The Salem Red Sox were able to snap a 5-game skid with a much needed 4-3 victory over the Winston-Salem Dash this past Saturday night. Leading the way was SS Tzu-Wei Lin, who collected 3 hits during that game. Over the past 10 games, Lin has hit for a .297 batting average and has had 3 multi-hit games during that stretch.

--Taking the mound in a Sunday 4:05 p.m. start for the Salem Red Sox is Trey Ball (#12 overall prospect in the Red Sox farm system per mlb.com). Currently Ball is 2-4 in 7 starts with an ERA of 5.45. In his last outing, he took the loss in a 6-1 blowout against the Lynchburg Wildcats this past Tuesday. During the contest, Ball went 5 innings, giving up 4 hits, 3 runs (1 earned), while striking out 2.

--Top Red Sox outfielder prospect Manuel Margot (#6 overall in Red Sox farm system, 91st overall in Top 100 prospects per mlb.com) is still in the process of rehabbing his sore shoulder. He was placed on the disabled list back on May 13 with shoulder soreness.

Greenville Drive—Single-A
--Yoan Moncada’s stock continues to rise higher and higher. He collected his 6th hit of the season in a 5-4 loss to the Charleston RiverDogs this past Saturday. Currently as it stands, the #1 overall prospect in the Red Sox farm system is hitting .333 (6-for-18) with 2 RBIs, a .400 OBP, a .444 SLG, and a .844 OPS in 5 games this season.

--In the field, Moncada has displayed good defensive awareness (12 putouts, 16 assists, and 2 double-plays) but has also shown some areas he needs to polish (3 errors committed). If given proper time to grow into the game, we could see Moncada grow into his own and become the heir to current Boston Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia. 

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