Red Sox Minor Lines: Sam Travis is getting hot

Pawtucket W 3-0

Aneury Tavarez: 1-4, 1 SB

Rusney Castillo: 1-4, 1 R, 1 K, 2 SB

Brock Holt: 0-4

Steve Selsky: 1-4, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 1 K

Sam Travis: 2-4, 1 2B, 1 HR, 1 R, 1 RBI

Jantzen Witte: 0-2, 2 BB, 1 SB

Hector Velazquez: 6.1 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 4 K

Brandon Workman: 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 1 K

Blaine Boyer: 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K

After slumping over most of the first month of the season, Travis is starting to turn it on down in Pawtucket. The first base prospect now has six hits over his last four games including one double in each of his last three. His home run on Monday was also his first since April 15 and his second of the season. Hopefully this is a sign of his power turning on like it has in spring trainings past, because consistent home run swings is the one thing missing from his game.

Portland L 0-2

Danny Mars: 0-4

Josh Tobias: 1-4, 1 2B, 1 K

Rafael Devers: 0-2, 2 BB, 1 CS

Nick Longhi: 1-4, 1 K

Austin Maddox: 1.2 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 BB, 1 K

Ty Buttrey: 0.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K

If there is one part of his offensive game that needs to be more refined, it’s Devers’ ability to draw a walk. Heading into Monday’s game, he had walked in just 5.4 percent of his plate appearances, a rate roughly two percentage points lower than where it was last year. On Monday, even though he didn’t record a hit he was able to reach twice via base on balls. If he can continue getting his rate closer to that league-average eight percent range without losing his hitting skills, he could live up to his growing hype.

Greenville W 4-3

Santiago Espinal: 0-2, 1 BB, 1 K

Bobby Dalbec: 1-2, 3 RBI, 1 BB, 1 K

Tyler Hill: 2-4, 1 3B, 1 R, 1 K, 1 PO

Lorenzo Cedrola: 0-2, 1 R

Darwinzon Hernandez: 5.1 IP, 2 H, 3 R, 2 BB, 6 K

So, I think it’s time we talk about Dalbec. On the one hand, this was a fine enough game for the third baseman. On the other hand, it’s been a weird overall season. He’s still striking out almost 40 percent of the time, and he hasn’t hit for any power. We knew the strikeouts were going to be there, but the utter lack of power (.096 Isolated Power) is jarring. Dalbec has been able to get on base, walking over 10 percent of the time and producing a batting average on balls in play over .430. The latter will regress, but hopefully while it does the power gets closer to where we expect it.