Minor Lines 9/7/10: Farewell, Regular Season

Pawtucket W 4-3

Box Score

Josh Reddick: 2-3, 2B, HR
-An up-and-down season for Reddick, but he finishes on a very high note. We'll see if his no walks, no strikeout approach can transfer to the majors.
Jason Varitek: 1-3, K
Aaron Bates: 1-2, 2 BB
-Not a good year for Mr. Bates. A relatively low BABIP explains some of it, but a K-rate over 25% explains more.
Mark Wagner: 0-4
-A lost year for Wagner, who really needed this season as an opportunity to show his high notes were for real and his low notes were adjustment periods. But he broke his hand early, and never really recovered.
Jorge Jimenez: 1-3, 3B, BB, K
-After nearly making a major league roster thanks to the Rule-5 draft, Jimenez ended up OPSing under .600 in Triple-A.

Tony ends the year strong after the jump.

Portland W 7-4

Box Score

Nate Spears: 1-3, HR, 2 BB
-Not a bad minor league pickup for the Sox. Spears may never make headlines, but combining some of the best walk numbers with surprisingly good pop out of a MI, and Spears may have made a name for himself this season. He's struggled to bring his game to the Triple-A level before, though, so we'll see.
Jose Iglesias: 0-3
-What started out as a promising season was derailed some by a hand injury. The AFL will be a nice proving ground, though.
Anthony Rizzo: 2-3, HR, BB, K
-Nobody needs to be told how Rizzo has been doing recently. 20 homers in Portland alone, discipline numbers on the rise, same ol' top notch defense.
Ryan Lavarnway: 1-4, K
-After being made to languish in Greenville last year despite big numbers, Lavarnway went and killed High-A Salem early on, and then did even better in Portland. Defense is still a question mark, but he has effectively lest FedEx in his dust.
Luis Exposito: 1-3, 2B, 2 K
-Expo saved his year with a nice finish to the year, putting up lines of .288/.364/.452 and .256/.354/.477 in July and August respectively. He'll probably find himself in Triple-A next year.

Alex Wilson: 5 IP, 9 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 2 BB, 1 K
-The beginning of the year proved that Alex Wilson can pitch. The end of the season proved that Alex Wilson was a reliever as expected.

Salem L 5-10

Box Score

Ryan Dent: 2-5, 2B, K
-Probably about time to close the book on this first rounder. Decent in Greenville, and not since.
Adalberto Ibarra: 1-3, BB, K
-Haven't seen much from Ibarra, but what we have seen shows us he's very much willing to take a walk or a strikeout. Hasn't shown any power so far, but might not be getting much to hit.

Cesar Cabral: 2 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 2 K
-As I've been saying, this has been an impressively difficult promotion for Cesar. He absolutely dominated the Sally, but the Carolina league has dominated him. Still, groundball pitcher with big sstrikeout numbers and a BB/9 under three. Worth watching.

Greenville L 3-5

Ah, the only team to make the postseason.

Jeremy Hazelbaker: 1-5, K
-He's too old for the league, strikes out a lot, and has mixed reviews on his defense. But I'm kind of sold on Hazelbaker for some reason. He can take a walk (59 in about 500 plate appearances), he's got decent pop (50 XBH), and he has some serious wheels (9 triples, 63 SB). Give me more, by all means.
Kolbrin Vitek: 1-2, 3B, 2 BB
-Not a bad start for the Red Sox' first rounder. He struck out quite a bit, and had some defensive issues at third, but he did well enough to earn an early promotion to Greenville, and didn't suffer from that big drop-off a lot of guys tend to experience after leaving short-season ball.
Reymond Fuentes: 1-4
-I remain unimpressed with Fuentes. A little bit of pop and wheels cannot save a .328 OBP.
Ken Roque: 0-3
-Completely unable to capitalize on his 2009 success.

Yeiper Castillo: 3 IP, 3 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, 2 HR
-A good year around a lot of missed time. Still not exactly a marquee name, though.
Manny Rivera: 3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 3 K
-His 4.10 ERA might not suggest it, but this was something of a breakout year for Manny, who leaped past his struggling counterpart in Roman Mendez. A K:BB of over 5 should be producing better results, and hopefully will next year.