Red Sox Minor Lines: Marcus Wilson is heating up

Worcester W 12-5

Jarren Duran, 0-3, 1 BB, 2 HBP, 2 R, 1 K

Marcus Wilson, RF: 2-5, 1 HR, 1 HBP, 3 R, 3 RBI, 2 K

Franchy Cordero, DH: 3-4, 1 2B, 1 BB, 1 R, 3 RBI

Michael Chavis, 1B: 3-4, 1 HR, 1 BB, 1 R, 3 RBI, 1 K

Jeter Downs, SS: 0-3, 1 BB, 1 RBI, 1 K

Johan Mieses, LF: 1-5, 1 HR, 1 R, 1 RBI, 2 K

Jonathan Araúz, 2B: 0-3, 2 BB, 1 R

Raynel Espinal (SP; W): 6 IP, 3 H, 4 R, 2 BB, 3 K (89 pitches)

Kevin McCarthy: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K (12 pitches)

John Schreiber: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K (11 pitches)

Yesterday we gave a little bit of a shoutout to Wilson, but today he gets the full write-up because the man is red-hot. I often call him the forgotten man of the 40-man, but he is making himself known of late. He smashed a solo home run in his first at bat of this game, and added a single into the mix as well to up his batting average to .291. We typically don’t care too much about batting average here, but given his strikeout concerns that number is an encouraging one. More encouraging is the power. His homer was his eighth of the year, second in as many days, and remarkably his fifth homer of June, in which he’s played only seven games. He has the profile of a streaky hitter, but he’s been hot more often than not this year, with his OPS climbing up over 1.000 after this game.

Portland W 5-4

Jeisson Rosario, CF: 1-3, 1 BB, 1 R, 1 K, 1 CS

Pedro Castellanos, DH: 0-2, 1 BB, 1 HBP, 1 R, 1 CS

Triston Casas, 1B: 1-3, 1 BB, 1 R, 1 E

Joey Meneses, LF: 1-4, 1 2B, 1 R, 2 RBI, 2 K

Ryan Fitzgerald, SS: 2-4, 2 RBI, 1 SB

Frank German (SP): 5 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 1 BB, 4 K (74 pitches)

Zack Kelly: 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K (16 pitches)

Durbin Feltman (BS; W): 2 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 0 K (28 pitches)

Dominic LoBrutto (SV): 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K (13 pitches)

It was a really tough first month of the season for German back in May, as he allowed at least four runs in each of his five starts and at least five in four of them. But he bounced back with a great start to begin June, and this time around he was solid. Things kind of unraveled a little bit later in the game, but starting with the final out of the first inning (in which he also gave up a run) he retired 13 straight. He pitched into the sixth, but struggled there. I hate to be a broken record on this point, but I very much do see German as a reliever, and even some of these good starts show those signs. That said, it’s very encouraging to see him turn things around, as dealing with adversity on the field is a big part of prospect development.

Full BreakingT Red Sox Collection

Take a look at the entire shirt collection from our friends over at BreakingT, including the one pictured above.

Greenville L 4-6

Christian Koss, SS: 0-4, 1 BB, 3 K, 2 E

Cameron Cannon, DH: 1-5, 1 2B, 1 RBI

Tyler Esplin, CF: 0-4, 1 BB, 1 K

Tyreque Reed, 1B: 0-3, 2 K

Brandon Howlett, 3B: 0-2, 2 BB, 1 R, 1 K

Devlin Granberg, RF: 2-3, 1 BB, 1 R, 1 K

Jay Groome (SP; L): 4 IP, 8 H, 4 R, 2 ER 1 BB, 4 K (76 pitches)

Alex Scherff: 1.2 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 K (27 pitches)

This was a tough outing for Groome, who had been looking like he was turning things around. To be fair to the lefty and former first round pick, the final two runs he allowed were arguably not his fault. Groome started the inning off by allowing a single and a double, which were on him, but then after getting two outs he looked like he got out of it with a grounder to shortstop, but Koss made one of his two errors on the night and both runs scored. Even with that consideration, though, he still gave up eight hits on the night, with two doubles and six singles. It’s always hard to tell from a box score how much the singles were fluky or just hard-hit line drives, but Groome has been too inconsistent to constantly be giving him the benefit of the doubt. His next start feels like a big one.

Salem L 1-11

Gilberto Jimenez, CF: 0-5, 4 K

Matthew Lugo, SS: 1-2, 2 BB, 1 K

Jaxx Groshans, C: 1-4, 1 HR, 1 R, 1 RBI

Nick Northcut, DH: 0-3, 1 HBP

Nick Yorke, 0-1, 1 K

Ceddanne Rafaela, 3B: 1-3, 1 BB

Jeremy Wu-Yelland (SP; L): 2.1 IP, 3 H, 6 R, 4 BB, 0 K (64 pitches)

Somewhat quietly, 2020 fourth round pick Jeremy Wu-Yelland had been one of the better pitchers in the system to start this season, but this was very much a back-down-to-Earth kind of performance. Control was his big problem coming out of college, and it manifested here. It will be interesting to see how he bounces back from this one. Meanwhile, Jimenez is starting to scuffle some at the plate. He got off to a good start, and he’s still hitting .293, but it’s been an empty batting average. He has just one extra-base hit going back to May 25, and only one walk in that span as well. And finally, we should also mention that Yorke was ejected from the game, presumably arguing balls and strikes.

Player of the Day: Michael Chavis

Player of the Day Chart