Red Sox Minor Lines: It’s Brayan Bello’s world

Worcester L 5-12

Michael Chavis, 2B: 0-4, 1 BB, 1 R, 2 K, 1 SB, 1 E

Marcus Wilson, CF: 1-4, 1 R, 1 RBI

Franchy Cordero, LF: 2-4, 2 2B, 2 RBI

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

Connor Wong, C: 1-4, 1 R 1 RBI, 3 K

Jonathan Araúz, 3B: 0-3, 1 BB

Kyle Hart (SP; L): 5.1 IP, 7 H, 9 R, 8 ER, 2 BB, 3 K (86 pitches)

Austin Brice: 0.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K (18 pitches)

Kaleb Ort: 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K (27 pitches)

It has been a tough week for the Worcester pitching staff, who will seemingly always have problems pitching at home given what the run environment looks like at Polar Park early in its life. But I want to talk a bit about Wong today. The Red Sox catching prospect (who came over in the Mookie Betts trade) has missed most of this season with hamstring issues, and he’s also been away from this Worcester team once or twice when serving on the taxi squad for the big-league club. So he hasn’t really played much, but he’s had a tough time when he has. It’s only been eight games, but he’s hitting just .179/.207/.250 on the year, and perhaps most worrisome is that he has 11 strikeouts in eight games with a rate approaching 40 percent. The sample is small, but between Wong and Ronaldo Hernández in Portland, it’s been a tough start to the season for the top catchers in the organization.

Portland W 2-0

Jeisson Rosario, RF: 0-5

Jhonny Pereda, DH: 2-3, 1 2B, 1 BB, 1 R

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

Ronaldo Hernández, C: 0-3, 1 BB, 1 K

Matt Kent (SP; W): 6 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K (61 pitches)

Zack Kelly (H): 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K (10 pitches)

Jose Adames (SV): 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K (13 pitches)

This one was all about the pitching for Portland, and Kent starting the game was surely the focal point among the pitchers. Kent has been in the organization for a long time now, having been drafted back in 2015. He’s 28 years old at Double-A, which tells you all you need to know about his prospect status, but to his credit he’s been outstanding this year. Sunday was his first start for Portland, but he’s tossed a total of 19 innings this season, often pitching multi-inning stints out of the bullpen. In those 19 innings he has a 0.95 ERA to go with 18 strikeouts and only one walk. Kent will almost certainly just be organizational depth, but he’s trying to push a late-career surge into at least a promotion to Triple-A. He’s on the right track, at least.

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Greenville W 15-3

Nick Sogard, 2B: 2-6, 2 R, 1 K

Cameron Cannon, SS: 4-6, 1 R, 2 RBI, 1 SB

Tyler Esplin, CF: 0-5, 1 BB, 1 R, 1 RBI, 2 K

Tyreque Reed, 1B: 3-6, 1 2B, 2 R, 1 RBI

Brandon Howlett, 3B: 2-3, 1 3B, 1 HR, 2 BB, 1 HBP, 4 R, 4 RBI

Tyler Dearden, LF: 2-5, 1 2B, 2 R, 1 RBI, 2 K

Devlin Granberg, RF: 3-4, 1 BB, 1 R, 3 RBI

Brayan Bello (SP; W): 5.1 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 9 K (84 pitches)

Brendan Cellucci: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K (13 pitches)

Jacob Wallace: 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K (18 pitches)

This was just a great game all around for Greenville, so we’ll quickly highlight a couple players we’ve already talked a bunch about this year. We’ll start with Bello, who just continues to shine in this High-A rotation. The length still isn’t quite there as the Red Sox are being cautious with their pitching prospects, but everything else was great. He’s now made six starts this season, and in four of them he’s had at least seven strikeouts with two or fewer walks. On the year, he has 45 strikeouts to seven walks over 31 ²⁄₃ innings. Howlett also had himself a day, and he’s been showing off the power lately. The average isn’t quite there and he’s had 0-fers in three of five games this month, yet he still has a .706 slugging percentage (and .458 on-base percentage) for June.

Salem W 9-2

Gilberto Jimenez, CF: 2-5, 1 R, 1 K, 1 CS

Matthew Lugo, SS: 1-4, 1 BB, 1 R, 2 K

Jaxx Groshans, C: 2-5, 1 HR, 2 R, 2 RBI, 2 K

Joe Davis, 1B: 3-5, 2 HR, 2 R, 4 RBI, 1 K

Nick Northcut, DH: 2-5, 1 2B, 2 K

Nick Yorke, 2B: 1-4, 1 BB, 1 R, 1 K

Ceddanne Rafaela, 3B: 1-4, 1 HR, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 K

Shane Drohan (SP): 4 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 4 K (68 pitches)

Casey Cobb: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K (12 pitches)

This was a big day for Davis, who we briefly mentioned yesterday. A former senior sign, there isn't a huge ceiling for him and he is 24 in Low-A, but you can’t argue with results. And Davis is getting the results. He hasn’t been playing every day for Salem, but he’s hitting well when he’s gotten in with a .357/.417/.583 line on the season. He’s been particularly hot this past week, with a hit in his last five games, at least two hits in his last four, and at least one extra-base hit in each of those four as well. We should also shout out Drohan, who takes his ERA down to 2.70 in his first season in affiliated ball.

Player of the Day: Brayan Bello

Player of the Day Chart