Red Sox Links: Big Maple Is Back Big

It’s been a long road back to the mound for James Paxton, but he’s reaping the rewards. Paxton was named the American League Pitcher of the Month for the month of June yesterday. Big Maple went 3-0 with a 1.74 ERA and 34 strikeouts in 31 innings pitched. So now that he’s re-established his value as a starting pitcher . . . Chaim should probably trade him before his body falls apart again (ducks!). (Greg Dudek, NESN)

Speaking of pitchers who can’t stay healthy, Garrett Whitlock underwent an MRI yesterday, after being lifted from Sunday’s start against the Blue Jays following one inning of work. While elbow tightness is never good, the good news here is that it looks like tightness is all we’re dealing with; the MRI revealed no structural damage. Whitlock will head to the 15-day IL and, because of the All-Star break, may only miss one start. (Sean McAdam, MassLive)

Triston Casas didn’t win any awards for his June, but it was a damn good stretch of play, nonetheless. The rookie slashed .286/.375/.476 over the course of the month. Though according to him, he has absolutely no idea what his stats are. (Christopher Smith, MassLive)

Ever wonder what exactly goes into all the game-planning that pitchers and catchers do to prepare for an opposing lineup? Here’s a great article that goes in-depth on how the Sox go about it (and it’s not just great because it correctly uses the word “myriad” in the first sentence.) (Varun Shankar, Boston Globe)

It’s always fun when the 1950 Red Sox are in the news! (Ed. note: pretty sure this is the first time the 1950 Red Sox have ever been in the news.) The scorching hot Atlanta Braves averaged an astounding seven runs per game in the month of June. They became the first team to do that since the Ted Williams-led Sox of 73 years ago. That Sox team won 94 games and still only finished in third place and (obviously) didn’t make the postseason, which only consisted of the World Series back then. So maybe we should stop complaining about how tough the 2023 AL East is this year. (Gio Rivera, NESN)