Lowell Spinners update: Tzu-Wei Lin, Teddy Stankiewicz, Kyle Martin

Tzu-Wei Lin, SS

Lin is hitting .250/.349/.352, which doesn't look all that impressive on the surface. However, he's in the New York-Penn League, where your average prospect is 21 -- many of them with either college experience or years in summer leagues behind them -- and where said average prospect is hitting .245/.318/.345. Lin is all of 19 years old, and came into 2013 with all of 29 games played in the pros: while he doesn't look like he's doing that well, like Deven Marrero last year, a little context can make a huge difference in a line.

Of course, scouting numbers like that is a bad idea, especially at the lower levels, but it's hard not to notice that the teenage shortstop has managed to draw a significant number of walks in a short stretch of time while keeping strikeouts at a reasonable level. You would like to see him maybe sacrifice a few walks by being a bit more aggressive in order to avoid letting the pitcher control the plate appearance -- Lin does not and will not have the power to justify whiffing nearly 20 percent of the time -- but refining and learning is what he's in the minors for.

*****

Teddy Stankiewicz, RHP

Stankiewicz, Boston's second-round pick in the 2013 draft, made his professional debut on Sunday, throwing a scoreless 1-2-3 frame. He's not your standard college draft selection, as he's just 19 and was picked out of a junior college -- that makes him more like a high school arm with a year of extra experience on top.

He's already 6-foot-4 and has filled out to 215 pounds, and while he sits in the lower 90s with his fastball, he can dial it up to the mid-90s, according to Sox Prospects. He uses both a slider and a curveball, and his change-up has made progress since he was initially selected by the Mets in the second round of the 2012 draft. Stankiewicz could end up being a mid-rotation starter, but after one inning and at age 19, we can probably wait a little longer before penciling him into future Boston plans.

*****

Kyle Martin, RHP

Martin continues to have more success in the pros than he did in his senior year, and it's all thanks to two things: he's not handing out free passes, and he's been keeping the ball on the ground at a ridiculous rate. Martin has induced 2.5 times as many outs on the ground as he has in the air, and it's the reason why he's pitching as well as he has even when he isn't missing tons of bats.

That sort of thing likely won't last at these extremes as he moves up the ladder -- more advanced hitters will lay off some of the pitches they've been getting on top of and driving into the ground -- but it's a good sign for Martin that he's attacking the lower portions of the zone so effectively and so early on in his pro career.

Read more Red Sox:

• Red Sox, Dustin Pedroia talking record extension
• Red Sox prospect Q&A with Baseball Prospectus' Jason Parks
• Five Red Sox prospects in Fangraphs mid-season top-50
• Red Sox position prospects, in word cloud form
• Now is not the time for Xander Bogaerts