Red Sox at Orioles Lineups: Hitting the road with some prospects

The Red Sox have won their first two spring games (one of which was against Northeastern), and on Sunday they will venture outside of Fort Myers for the first time in 2020. They head out to Sarasota to take on the Orioles this afternoon, with first pitch coming at 1:05 PM ET. You can catch this one on NESN.

As is normally the case for early-spring games on the road, there aren’t any regulars taking the plate for Boston today. That, however does not mean there’s no excitement here as some of the more intriguing high-minors prospects in the organization are going to be in there. Most notable is Jeter Downs, the new top prospect (or, at least top two in the organization) who was a late addition to the lineup for the Northeastern game. He’ll bat fifth and play shortstop. There’s also Jarren Duran, a consensus top ten prospect in the system and number eight on our list, in center field as well Marcus Wilson out in left. As far as major-league players, Kevin Plawecki is behind the dish as he looks to lock up the backup catcher spot and Marco Hernández leads off and plays second base.

On the mound was originally supposed to be Eduardo Rodriguez, but a minor knee injury has pushed him back. I thought he was going to just pitch on Monday instead, but apparently that is not the case. For today, Chris Mazza will get the start instead. The righty was a waiver claim earlier this winter from the Mets who has split time between the rotation and bullpen through his professional career. He’s part of the large battle for that final rotation spot. Also among those expected to pitch today in some order, according to Chris Cotillo, are Matt Hall, Bobby Poyner, and Yoan Aybar.

The full lineups are below: