The 2009 Red Sox Minor League System

Quick…

Name all of the Red Sox minor league affiliate towns off the top of your head.

Pawtucket, RI
Portland, ME
Salem, VA
Greenville, SC
Lowell, MA
Lancaster, CA
Fort Myers, FL

When you look at that list you feel like you should be able to remember them all, but most Red Sox fans don’t recall past Lowell and usually forget Salem. None of it really matters to Red Sox fans because until you prove you can perform in Boston, it’s really just hype. We’ve seen it enough before.

Jacoby Ellsbury came with plenty of hype and is proving to be legitimate. Jon Lester was tagged as a front-end ace pitcher and has been as good as advertised. Jonathan Papelbon was ranked #1 in the system in 2006. In 2007, he was the closer for the World Champion Red Sox.

Even Dustin Pedroia came with the hype, but many disliked him immediately after scouts compared him to David Eckstein. Eckstein? C’mon.

When Pedroia came up to the big leagues, he swung like a man twice his size and struck out a lot. Many fans and some of the local Boston media called for the little second baseman to shorten up his swing. Pedroia didn’t change his approach and turned into a 40+ doubles hitter who ended up claiming the AL MVP in 2008 after slugging 18 home runs with a .326 BA.

On the other side of the coin, Stanford’s Jed Lowrie has struggled to live up to his 1st-round status as he has battled injuries, inconsistent performance and a revolving door at shortstop. The time is ticking on Lowrie in Boston.

Saint John’s Craig Hansen was a bust in Boston also. After being dealt to Pittsburgh, many Red Sox fans began to feel that Hansen was rushed to Boston too quickly was unable to click mentally. He appeared to be on the fast track to stardom but his devastating approach quickly vanished and he was left for scraps.

Boston is not an easy place to play baseball.

Red Sox fans may not remember every single minor league-affiliate, but they are well-aware of who the real prospects are in the system. They knew who Nick Hagadone was when he was traded to Cleveland with Justin Masterson, but since it was for Victor Martinez, no one seemed to mind.

The know about Lars Anderson, Casey Kelly, and Michael Bowden. Guys like Reymond Fuentes and Jose Iglesias aren’t exactly household names, but Sox fans know that those names aren’t being dealt without a big-time major leaguer in return.

At the beginning of 2009, guys like Daniel Bard and Clay Buchholz topped the list of Red Sox prospects that everybody knew and expected to become legitimate performers in Boston. Now that both are establishing themselves as dominant major league players, the next level of top minor leaguers in the system are in flux.

Amalie Benjamin of the Boston Globe talked with Red Sox director of player development Mike Hazen about this.

“That’s where the biggest gap is right now, at Triple A,’’ he said. “Hopefully over the course of next year that’s going to change, but right now there aren’t enough ready players, and that’s obviously our big challenge and our problem right now, that there’s not enough major league-ready-now players sitting [there] to take positions at the major league level.’’

One of the reasons that Boston appears to have a ‘major league ready’ player gap is a change in the dynamics of the draft. Hazen acknowledged that many high school players are often selected in later rounds of the draft. High school players used to pass on the baseball contract and head to college to play ball, but in today’s game, more and more good players are taking the money from teams right out of high school and never actually going to school. This shifts the draftable player pool and since the Red Sox are successful each season, they find themselves drafting late in Round 1. This steers the organization towards drafting young, high-ceiling talent each year instead of older and more established college graduates. While players like Casey Kelly have stratospheric upside, they will most likely not be contributing at the major league level for three years.

Red Sox Prospects (2009)

Lars Anderson -Anderson’s expected time of arrival (ETA) in Boston is 2011, but his tantalizing power potential has raised expectations of him to a very high level. Arguably, the Boston Red Sox have not had a legitimate power hitting prospect since Mo Vaughn in 1991. The expectations for Anderson are to be the heir apparent at first base in Boston. In Single -A minors, Anderson was a force for both Greenville and Lancaster in 2008. He was promoted and continue to succeed in Portland for the AA- Sea Dogs.

It was his 2008 success in AA that lead to the major-league media coverage and it may have affected him this past season. Anderson struggled to generate the power expected of him, hitting just nine home runs with a slugging percentage of .345. 2009 season was a step-back and has raised doubts about whether Anderson possesses the mental edge required to play in Boston.

He will begin 2010 as the starting first baseman for the Sea Dogs and everyone will be anxious to see if he can snap out of his subpar ‘09.

Junichi Tazawa -Tazawa is a lot like his Japanese hero and Red Sox teammate, Daisuke Matsuzaka. He throws with a unique style, attacking hitters’ weak spots and staying away from the middle of the plate. As is the case with Dice-K, Tazawa relies heavily on secondary pitches displaying an arsenal of weapons including three different fastballs and three different breaking balls. He has a 70 MPH curve ball he throws as an out-pitch.

Tazawa saw four starts in Boston in 2009, posting an ERA over 7.00. He is not ready for the big leagues, but the Red Sox wanted him to experience the big stage early as he is already 23 years old. With his maturity and Dice-K’s presence, the team felt he would adjust naturally to the big stage. Tazawa will return to AA-Portland in 2010, but will could resurface in Boston again by early June.

Casey Kelly -Kelly is another Red Sox draft pick where legend and folklore already exists. A 1st-round pick in 2008, Kelly made waves when fans discovered he was projected by the organization as both a pitcher and a shortstop. The team wanted Kelly to split the 2009 season by pitching the first half and then finishing the season as a shortstop.

The experiment had mixed results. Kelly faired much better as a pitcher as he dominated Single-A Lancaster and continued with more success in Greenville. In Lancaster, Kelly went 6-1 with an ERA of 1.12 and 39 strikeouts in 48 innings.

As a hitter, Kelly hit just .223 with a slugging percentage of .305. He is expected to start 2010 in Greenville and could end up in Portland with a longer eye on Boston in late September.

Ryan Westmoreland- Westmoreland’s name began to surface when the Red Sox were rumored to be attempting deals for Adrian Gonzalez or Hanley Ramirez earlier in 2009. The obvious prospects like Bowden, Bard and Buchholz were being thrown around until speculators started digging a little deeper within the system and pulled out Westmoreland’s name .

Westmorelad is a 5th round 2008 draft pick from Portsmouth High School in Rhode Island. He was born in 1990 and is very raw. Westmoreland is so young that SoxProspects.com still have his numbers from when he was 15 years old. Although not nearly ready for the big leagues, Westmoreland has already drawn comparisons to Grady Sizemore. He jumped from high school baseball directly to A-ball, skipping the Rookie league. Playing for Lowell, Westmoreland hit .296 with an OPS of .900 for the Spinners in 2009. He was supposed to attend Vanderbilt on a full scholarship, but elected to sign with Boston instead, re-emphasizing the point made previously by Red Sox director of player development Mike Hazen.

Westmoreland will probably start 2010 in Lowell again and will have an eye on moving up to Portland after logging 200 at-bats.

Honorable Mentions:

Josh Reddick -Already the shine is off this blue chip as Red Sox fans have seen Reddick first hand at Fenway. In his debut weekend, he hit the ball hard and played aggressively legging out a couple doubles and sporting some Chris Sabo-like goggles. Reddick quickly hit the skids and was returned to the minors. In his second stint in Boston he never really got the bat going cementing a reputation as a light-hitting outfielder. He did decide to lose the goggles, but still left Red Sox fans searching for some real power from within the system.

Michael Bowden -Bowden’s name often appeared in the same grouping as Buchholz and Bard in 2008 and 2009, but he has lacked the same success at the major league level as the other two. Bowden struggled for the Red Sox in 2009 allowing 17 runs in 16 innings. He projects as back of the rotation pitcher but may find himself back in Pawtucket for some additional seasoning. Bowden is 23 years old.

2010

2010 might also spring to the forefront players like Cuban defector Jose Iglesias and Puerto Rican phenom, Reymond Fuentes. For now the top level of the system appears a little scarce, but the landscape will shift by the time the baseball season starts again.

Darryl Johnston is the Red Sox correspondent for Fanball.com. He has many years of sports writing under his championship belts. Email him – redsoxdj@gmail.com

Tags: Boston Red Sox, Casey Kelly, Craig Hansen, Darryl Johnston, Dustin Pedroia, Fanball, Greenville Drive, Jacoby Ellsbury, Jed Lowrie, Jonathan Papelbon, Josh Reddick, Junichi Tazawa, Justin Masterson, Lars Anderson, Lowell Spinners, Nick Hagadone, Pawtucket Red Sox, Portland Sea Dogs, Reymond Fuentes, Ryan Westmoreland, Salem Red Sox, Sox Tea Party