Red Sox Minor Lines: Drew Pomeranz makes another rehab appearance

Pawtucket W 10-2

Rusney Castillo, DH: 3-5, 2 2B, 2 R, 2 RBI, 1 K

Aneury Tavarez, CF: 2-5, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 K

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

Jeremy Barfield, LF: 4-5, 2 2B, 1 HR, 2 R, 3 RBI, 1 K

Dedgar Jimenez: 6 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 4 K (77 pitches)

Robby Scott: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K (10 pitches)

Williams Jerez: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 0 K (24 pitches)

The minor-league outfield depth for the Red Sox is one of the weakest points of the organization, but the Triple-A outfielders had a really strong day on Friday. Barfield in particular had a monster night after struggling mightily for most of these early parts of 2018. The homer was the second of his season, and his doubles were his first two. Castillo and Tavarez also had nice days as they likely represent the next three outfielders on the depth chart in some order. On the mound, Jimenez got the call up to Pawtucket with Drew Pomeranz taking his spot in Portland for the rehab outing. I’m not sure if Jimenez will be sent back down after this, but it seems he handled himself well at Triple-A for this outing.

Portland W 4-2

Cole Sturgeon, RF: 1-3, 1 HR, 1 R, 2 RBI

Danny Mars, LF: 0-4, 1 K

Esteban Quiroz, 2B: 1-4

Tate Matheny, CF: 1-4, 1 R, 1 K, 1 CS

Josh Tobias, 3B: 2-4, 1 R, 1 K

Austin Rei, C: 1-2, 1 BB, 1 K

Drew Pomeranz: 5.1 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 3 BB, 4 K, (86 pitches)

Trey Ball: 2.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K (33 pitches)

Trevor Kelly: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K (12 pitches)

Obviously, Pomeranz is the focus of this entire day on the farm for the Red Sox as they are waiting for him to return and to get their five best starting pitchers in the rotation at the same time for the first time in 2018. This rehab appearance went better than his last one, and by all accounts he was really sharp to start before falling off a bit later on. Still, it’s hard to take too much away from these appearances and it wouldn’t surprise me if he’s deemed ready to return after this one. Also on the mound, I’m starting to buy in on Ball as a reliever, which is scary.

Salem W 4-2

Brett Netzer, 2B: 1-4

Bobby Dalbec, 3B: 0-4, 1 BB, 3 K

Tyler Hill, RF: 1-3, 1 BB, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 SB

Chris Madera, CF: 2-4, 1 HR, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 K

Darwinzon Hernandez: 5.1 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 3 BB, 6 K (83 pitches)

Hernandez made his second start of the year on Friday night, and it looked an awful lot like his first. The difference here is that we got some live reports on this one as J.J. Cooper of Baseball America was in attendance. According to his twitter feed, the Sox lefty looked in charge during this entire outing and was able to maintain his stuff throughout his 5 ¹⁄₃ innings. This is very encouraging for those of us who believe in the breakout potential.

Greenville L 6-10

Kervin Suarez, 2B: 1-3, 2 BB, 1 R, 1 K, 1 SB, 1 CS

Cole Brannen, CF: 0-4, 1 BB

C.J. Chatham, DH: 1-5, 1 R, 1 K

Pedro Castellanos, 1B: 2-5, 2 R

Micahel Osinski, 3B: 1-2, 2 BB, 1 R, 1 RBI

This was a weirdly quiet day for an offense that scored six runs, as the Drive didn’t have a single extra-base hit in the contest. Still, there were a couple standouts but it’s Osinski who continues to stand out to me. The 31st round pick is, by all accounts, not an actual prospect but he just keeps hitting. He’s now up to .370/.393/.519 on the year, and while it probably won’t last it’s fun while it does.

Player of the Day: Jeremy Barfield gets the nod today despite the encouraging reports from Cooper about Hernandez. Barfield is arguably the most fun player in the system when you consider his story of how he got to this point, and I think we’re all rooting for him to get to the highest level. He has the power to play in the majors, but he needs to hone his hit tool to take the next step. On Friday, the hit tool was working.