Portland Sea Dogs update: Garin Cecchini, Christian Vazquez, Travis Shaw

Garin Cecchini, 3B

Cecchini has slumped a bit lately, but has still managed to get on base at a .372 clip over his last 10 games. The lengths to which Cecchini's 2013 and Jackie Bradley Jr.'s 2012 parallel each other is getting to be ridiculous: both absolutely destroyed the Carolina League, Bradley with a 1006 OPS, Cecchini at 1016. While they've seen a dip in production after a mid-season promotion to Double-A, they've still managed 809 and 825 OPS there, respectively, continuing to flash the patience and disciplined approach that made them a burden to High-A pitching.

With any luck, the parallels will continue, with Cecchini finishing strong at Double-A in time to earn himself a promotion to Triple-A Pawtucket for his own age-23 season in 2014, putting him just one step from the majors once a hole opens up in one corner spot or another.

*****

Christian Vazquez, C

Vazquez has been crushing it of late once more, hitting .400/.450/.543 over his last 10 games. He now has equal totals of walks and strikeouts, has reached 20 extra-base hits in 77 games, and, of course, is an exceptional defensive player who has thrown out 49 percent of attempted base stealers.

The one major concern with Vazquez was whether or not he was going to be able to make consistently solid contact -- his batting average on balls in play, as of the end of June, was sitting in the .230s for his two partial seasons at Double-A Portland, Now, though, he's brought his seasonal BABIP up to a far more normal .301, and while his overall stat line might not suggest as much, there's a very good argument to be made that he's ready for Triple-A now, given how productive he's been over his last 25 games and with 97 games at Double-A now under his belt.

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Travis Shaw, 1B

It can't all be good news in these updates, you know. Shaw continues to scuffle, and while he's hit three homers in his last 10 games, he's also managed a total slash of just .205/.295/.487 in that stretch. He's shown more power since the All-Star break than he did before it, posting a .268 Isolated Power in that time frame, but has a lower OPS than he did in the first half in spite of all that. It's been a rough season for the 23-year-old, and while he still has plenty of time and things to like about his performance, it's fair if you're a little concerned that he'll be 24 and repeating Double-A in 2014.

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