Red Sox Minor Lines: A forgettable day on the farm

Pawtucket W 3-1

Tzu-Wei Lin: 1-5, 1 R, 2 K

Rusney Castillo, CF: 1-4, 1 BB, 1 R, 1 RBI, 2 K

Adam Lind, 1B: 1-4, 1 R, 2 K

Ivan De Jesus, 2B: 2-3, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 1 K

Mike Olt, 3B: 3-3, 1 2B, 1 BB, 1 RBI

William Cuevas: 8 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 6 K (106 pitches)

Bobby Poyner: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K (11 pitches)

For all of the issues the Red Sox have in terms of position player depth in the high-minors, they aren’t lacking for possibly spot starters. Granted, none of them have huge ceilings but in Jalen Beeks, Chandler Shepherd and Justin Haley they have a trio of major-league caliber back-end arms in Pawtucket. Cuevas should probably be added to this list, too, with the season he’s having. After this latest great outing, he’s now the owner of a 3.13 ERA over 69 innings in 12 starts.

Salem G1 L 4-9

Santiago Espinal, SS: 1-2, 1 BB, 3 R

Brett Netzer, 2B: 1-4, 1 2B, 1 R, 2 K

Roldani Baldwin, DH: 0-3, 1 BB, 2 K

Bobby Dalbec, 3B: 0-1, 2 BB, 1 RBI

Tyler Hill, LF: 0-3, 1 BB, 2 K, 1 E

Jake Thompson: 4.1 IP, 8 H, 5 R, 2 BB, 3 K (95 pitches)

Salem G2 L 0-4

Santiago Espinal, SS: 1-3, 1 2B

Brett Netzer, 2B: 0-3, 1 K

Roldani Baldwin, C: 1-3, 1 2B, 1 K

Bobby Dalbec, 3B: 0-2, 1 BB, 1 K, 1 E

Tyler Hill, DH: 0-3, 1 K

Jhonathan Diaz: 4.1 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 2 BB, 4 K (93 pitches)

Salem’s offense was rough on Monday, but it’s the pitching I want to focus on. Thompson is not the most exciting pitcher in the Salem rotation — one could argue he’s the least exciting — but he’d looked good of late before this outing. The ceiling isn’t huge, but his next start is going to an interesting one to keep an eye on. Diaz, meanwhile, made his High-A debut in the second game and it did not go well. Diaz is not a major prospect but he earned this promotion with a strong start to his year in Greenville. This may have been a one-off start, but he’ll be back at some point if he’s not there for good.

Greenville L 2-8

Lorenzo Cedrola, CF: 1-4, 1 2B, 1 R, 1 RBI

Durin O’Linger: 5 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K (76 pitches)

Yeah....I’ve got nothing.

DSL 1 L 4-10

Gilberto Jimenez, CF: 2-4, 1 3B, 2 R, 1 RBI, 1 K

DSL 2 L 3-5

Nelfy Abreu, CF: 0-5, 1 K

Angel Mauta, RF: 2-3, 1 BB, 1 R, 1 CS

Antoni Flores, SS: 0-2, 2 BB, 1 K

Danny Diaz, 3B: 0-3, 1 R, 1 K, 1 E

It’s been a rough start to Diaz’ professional career, and he’s now hitting just .152/.176/.364. Of course, it’s only been eight games and he’s 17 years old, so I’m going to hold off on panicking. Meanwhile, Jimenez has been outstanding at the top of the DSL 1 team’s lineup.

Player of the Day: This was an awful day, but William Cuevas certainly deserves a shoutout for his effort. As I said, he deserves to be in the depth conversation, though I’d be surprised if he got a real look this year given the success from those ahead of him on the depth chart. However, if he keeps this up he’ll get a real look from someone heading into spring training next year.