Red Sox Minor Lines: Ronaldo Hernández is liking Triple-A

Worcester W 2-1

Jarren Duran, CF: 0-3, 2 BB, 1 R

Danny Santana, DH: 1-4, 1 2B

Triston Casas, 1B: 0-2, 1 BB, 1 RBI, 1 K

Franchy Cordero, LF: 0-4, 1 K

Yairo Muñoz, 3B: 0-2, 1 BB, 1 K

Ronaldo Hernández, C: 2-4

Jonathan Araúz, 2B: 1-4, 1 K

Jeter Downs, SS: 1-3, 1 BB, 2 K, 1 SB

Raynel Espinal (SP): 6 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 4 K (90 pitches)

Phillips Valdez: 0.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 1 K (18 pitches)

Wednesday was the start of the final series of the inaugural season for Worcester as the Triple-A affiliate. You get all that? They started off the series positively thanks to good pitching, though deceivingly so. They were able to keep the IronPigs off the board for the most part, which is of course the goal, but they did allow 12 baserunners on six hits and six walks. But all in all, it was a good day, and it was a good final start of 2021 for Espinal. The righty had a brief stint in the majors this year during the COVID outbreak, and he’s got some interesting stuff. This season with Worcester he pitched to a 3.55 ERA over 111 ²⁄₃ innings, striking out 111 and walking 41.

Over on the other side, the offense didn’t really have too many standout performances. That said, Hernández had another good day, and he’s done well in a small sample size these last few games after being promoted to Triple-A. The catcher is now 8-18 with Worcester with a couple of doubles. The catching situation is going to be really interesting to monitor this winter and into next spring. A lot of that is around Christian Vázquez’ team option, but how they handle the depth will be fascinating as well. Connor Wong is presumably ahead of Hernández on the depth chart, but I’m not so sure that’ll be set in stone. Also, Downs has 18 stolen bases this year, a stat of which I was not aware, and something that’s fairly impressive given his .268 OBP.

Player of the Day: Raynel Espinal

Player of the Day Chart