Experience, Ability and Youth

While some people choose to only follow the Red Sox with a true passion, I follow the Minor Leagues as well. I mean, you have to remember where some of your players are developing, or the players that are going to help you get a slugger such as Adrian Gonzalez. Now, we all know (some of us don’t want to admit it) Red Sox starting pitching is a slight disaster. However, there are some places in Red Sox nation where this is not as true; let’s take a look in to the 2011 Portland Sea Dogs bullpen and find out what most of you are missing.

I attended the Welcome Back dinner and had a chance to speak with Bob Kipper the pitching coach for the Portland Sea Dogs, I asked him a few questions on the development levels of his players. Here it is.

(Bob Kipper – Played for the Angels, Pirates and the Twins in 1985-1992. However in 2000 he began his career as a pitching coach. He started with the Augusta GreenJackets. Then in 2002 he was the bullpen pitching coach for the Red Sox. Since then he has slowly moved up through the Red Sox farm systems as Pitching coach.)

What are the strengths you see on your pitching staff?

Hitting coach Dave Joppie overheard my question and proceeded to answer “The pitching coach is the strength.”

“Well, I find that we have several levels of ability and experience. The main thing that makes up our pitching staff is experience, ability and youth. We have the guys like Alex Wilson, Blake Maxwell, Tommy Hottovy, Santo Luis and Eammon Portice who have been here before, however we have guys like Stolmy Pimentel, Caleb Clay, Brock Huntzinger, Michael Lee and Kyle Fernandes who have not. The players who have not been here before have shown ability and that is also important.”

Is there anyone specifically you are excited about?

When I asked this question there was a certain amount of time and passion given into Stolmy Pimentel. “Stolmy Pimentel makes up the youth part of our bullpen, he has not been here before but we expect great things from him. The thing to remember is he is going to hit rough spots along the way. We know they’ll struggle, it’s not if it’s when.”

So, if you get the chance to attend a minor league game whether it be the Red Sox farm system or another one, go. It can be just as exciting for different reasons. For example, last year I watched Ryan Kalish play for the Portland Sea Dogs, he was one of my favorites then and one of my favorites now. I was sitting in a large crowd of Kalish fans at Hadlock field when Ryan Kalish hit his first home run in a Red Sox uniform. A standing ovation was given, the players turned around and clapped at the flatscreen that hung in right field, while the hitting coach, manager and pitching coach came out of the dugout also clapping.

Don’t you want to be part of this?