Red Sox Minor Lines: Another dinger for Bobby Dalbec

Futures Game L 6-10

Bryan Mata: 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K

Mata was the lone Red Sox prospect in Sunday’s Future’s Game in Washington, and he was...fine. He walked the first batter he faced, allowed a one-out single to Blue Jays prospect Bo Bichette, then threw a wild pitch to put both in scoring position. He recovered from there, however, getting Rockies prospect Brendan Rodgers with a strikeout and Rays prospect Nathaniel Lowe to ground out to end the inning without a run.

Pawtucket W 5-3 (F/10)

Aneury Tavarez, LF: 2-4, 1 R, 1 SB

Tony Renda, 2B: 2-5, 1 R, 2 RBI, 2 K

Adam Lind, 1B: 1-4, 1 HR, 1 BB, 1 R, 2 RBI, 1 K

Cole Sturgeon, RF: 2-4, 1 RBI, 1 SB

Pawtucket’s roster is pretty thin right now, but they are still getting victories. Lind has been really inconsistent since joining the organization, but he does now have six homers in 34 games, a 29-homer pace over a full major-league season. Of course, he’s also pairing that with a .289 OBP and a .690 OPS. Renda was a minor-league signee back in May who had a solid run in Portland and has been great in his first week with the PawSox. He’s probably not second base depth or anything, though he does have 32 major-league games to his name from back in 2016.

Portland L 1-3

Jeremy Rivera, SS: 2-4, 1 K, 1 SB

Josh Ockimey, DH: 0-3, 1 BB, 2 K

Deiner Lopez, 3B: 1-3, 1 HR, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 E

Matthew Kent: 8 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 3 K (104 pitches)

It’s been a rough few days for Ockimey, who one has to assume has been brought up in trade talks since he’s one of the relatively few good prospects in the upper minors. It’s been a good year overall, to be fair, but he is 0 for his last 10 with six strikeouts, though he does have four walks to go with it. He will be fine, but it’s probably not the best time for the organization for him to fall into a little slump.

Salem W 7-4

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

C.J. Chatham, SS: 0-3, 1 R, 1 K

Bobby Dalbec, 3B: 2-2, 1 HR, 2 BB, 2 R, 2 RBI

Roldani Baldwin, C: 0-3, 1 RBI, 1 K, 1 E

Michael Osinski, 1B: 2-4, 3 RBI

Another day, another dinger for Dalbec. The slugger has been on fire for a few weeks now, and given that he’s 23 years old the speculation for a possible promotion to Portland is making more and more sense. He now has a .960 OPS over the entire season thanks to a big walk rate and Isolated Power, but the real question is how his hit tool will translate. He’s starting to strike out less in High-A, which is great, but now it’s time to see how long it takes him to adjust to higher-level pitching.

Greenville W 3-1

Ryan Fitzgerald, SS: 2-4

Pedro Castellanos, 1B: 1-4, 1 2B, 1 R

Victor Acosta, RF: 4-4, 3 2B, 1 HR, 1 R, 2 RBI

Denyi Reyes: 7 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 6 K (79 pitches)

I have a feeling I’ll be talking about Acosta a little later, so let’s focus on Reyes right now. The Drive has quietly had a very good rotation this year, and that’s with Alex Scherff being ineffective and/or hurt almost all year. Reyes has been great, however, and he continued that run on Sunday. This was his 16th start and 19th overall appearance on the year, and he now has a 1.79 ERA on the year with 111 strikeouts and only 13 (thirteen!) walks over 110 ²⁄₃ innings this season. It’s been an eye-opening year for the 21-year-old righty, and he’ll be someone to watch moving forward.

Lowell W 6-2

Jarren Duran, 2B: 1-5, 1 R, 2 K

Devlin Granberg, 1B: 3-3, 1 BB, 1 R

Kole Cottam, C: 2-5, 1 2B, 1 R, 2 RBI

Tyler Esplin, LF: 0-4, 1 BB, 1 R

Koby Batesole, 3B: 2-2, 2 BB, 1 R

Grant Williams, SS: 3-4, 1 2B, 1 BB, 2 RBI

Granberg was not the sexiest draft pick as a senior sign in the sixth round of this summer’s draft out of Dallas Baptist University, but he’s having a nice run in Lowell to start his professional career. Now, there isn’t much power here, but he is getting on base at a .371 clip through his first 23 games and has been a big part of Lowell’s lineup on a daily basis. I’m not getting my hopes up for him as he moves up the ladder, but he’s at least someone to periodically check in on.

Player of the Day: This has to go to Victor Acosta, who didn’t record an out on Sunday, went yard and had ten total bases in four at bats. I’ve talked about him a few times this year, but I liked Acosta’s swing when I saw it a couple years ago in Lowell and am happy to see some success for him this season. After this big day, he’s hitting .285/.326/.462 on the year. Nothing great, but it’s largely been a year of hot and cold streaks. Hopefully this is the start of another hot streak.