Red Sox Minor Lines: No wins, and quiet bats

Worcester L 2-3

Jarren Duran, CF: 1-4, 1 BB, 1 K

Marcus Wilson, RF: 0-4, 1 BB, 1 K

Frachy Cordero, LF: 2-5, 1 R, 1 K, 1 SB

Yairo Muñoz, SS: 2-4

Jeter Downs, 2B: 1-4

Chris Hermann, C: 1-2, 2BB, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 K, 1 PB

Jonathan Araúz, 3B: 1-4, 1 PO

Kyle Hart (SP; L) 6 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 4 BB, 2 K (113 pitches)

Zac Grotz: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K (10 pitches)

Phillips Valdez: 1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K (16 pitches)

This was just about the quietest day I can remember from this Worcester offense, which has been a home run and extra-base hit machine all season. On Friday, they did scrape together nine hits on the night, but they were all singles and they weren’t able to put up too many runs with those hits plus six walks on top of them. On the mound, Hart picked up the loss despite a quality start, but the outing stands out to me for the number of pitches. The Red Sox have generally been cautious with their minor-league pitchers’ pitch counts, and this is the highest I can remember seeing on the farm this season.

Portland L 4-7

Grant Williams, 2B: 2-4, 1 2B, 1 R, 2 RBI

Triston Casas, 1B: 0-4, 1 K

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

Hudson Potts, 3B: 0-4, 1 K

Devlin Granberg, RF: 1-4, 1 2B, 1 RBI

Ryan Fitzgerald, SS: 2-4

Frank German (SP; L): 5 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 1 BB, 5 K (84 pitches)

Joan Martinez: 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K (19 pitches)

This is certainly not something I am panicking about because I very much believe in the talent, but we should acknowledge the slump Triston Casas finds himself in. The top prospect in the organization has been struggling to hit the ball with very much authority of late, and really for the entire month of June. Lately he’s been striking out a bit more, but overall the strikeout and walk numbers aren’t terrible. It’s the quality of contact. In June he is hitting .204/.328/.278. Like I said, there’s too much talent for me to be worried about a few bad weeks, but I am anxious to see how long it takes him to pull himself out of this slump. The hope is that it’s the type of thing where he hits one home run and that’s enough to put him on a monster run. On the mound, German was back starting after a brief trip to the bullpen, the latter of which still seems like a better spot for his skillset in my eyes.

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Greenville L 1-2

Cameron Cannon, 2B: 1-4, 1 HR, 1 R, 1 RBI

Tyreque Reed, 1B: 2-4

Chase Shugart (SP; L): 5.2 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 2 BB, 2 K (87 pitches)

Jacob Wallace: 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K (17 pitches)

This was about as quiet as a game can be in this space, with the offense just totally silent. They did get a home run from Cannon, which was nice to see. The first pick for the team in the 2019 draft, Cannon has been struggling a bit of late after a red-hot start to the season. Power isn’t likely to be his calling card, but there’s a chance for his hit tool to play up enough for him to stick as a utility man. That’s not a guarantee, though, and it would be nice if this homer started a hot streak for the infielder. On the mound, Shugart was solid, though I’m not sure he was dominant enough to call it a real tough-luck loss. Wallace had a great day out of the pen, and he needs a lot more of those after his brutal first couple months.

Salem L 0-1

Gilberto Jimenez, CF: 0-3, 1 BB, 2 K, 1E

Matthew Lugo, SS: 0-4, 1 K, 1 E

Jaxx Groshans, C: 3-4, 1 2B

Brandon Walter (SP): 4 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 9 K (50 pitches)

Robert Kwiatkowski: 3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K (44 pitches)

Shugart wasn’t really a tough-luck loss to a great extent in my mind, but Walter was certainly a tough-luck no-decision. We haven’t really talked much at all about the 2019 26th round pick this year, with this being his first start of the year after largely being in a multi-inning relief role before this. He’s been dominant wherever he’s pitched, though, putting up a 1.33 ERA over 27 innings this season to go with 40 strikeouts and only five walks. The southpaw is known for his ability to miss bats, and while Salem’s rotation is pretty crowded it’s hard to imagine he won’t keep getting chances to start after this kind of performance.

Player of the Day: Brandon Walter

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