Red Sox Prospect Watch: Just a couple of games in
By Hunter Noll
Portland Sea Dogs
Trey Ball could be considered a “client” of mine. I’ve mentioned him in articles a few times since the start of Spring Training and wrote about him in the past.
After putting up bad numbers in 2017 following a strong year in 2016, he was converted to a reliever. This has worked out well so far. No need for me to tell you though, as Brandon Carusillo will tell you everything you need to know.
From reliever to starters. First up is Mike Shawaryn, who’s allowed very little damage this year.
Through two starts, the 23-year old has thrown 10 1/3 innings. In that time he’s given up just two runs (1.69 ERA), striking out eight while walking just one. Opponents are hitting .205 against him, and aren’t exactly making much hard contact (three extra-base hits).
Teddy Stankiewicz, on the other hand, has not looked as good this season. Through 8 1/3 innings, he’s allowed 13 runs (14.04 ERA). He has a 2.28 WHIP and opponents are hitting .368 against him.
It’s obviously still extremely early in the year. The right-hander has been known to go on some dominant stretches, so maybe he’ll put one together soon.
Then we go to Esteban Quiroz at second base. The 26-year-old is in his first year with the Red Sox, after spending the last seven in the Mexican League. If Boston was hoping they’d strike lighting again like they did with Velazquez – things are looking good.
Quiroz is slashing .370/.500/.741 through his first eight games with Portland. The left-handed hitter has one double and three home runs while driving in eight runs and scoring six more. To prove he can do everything, he even has a steal.
The Red Sox don’t need infield help and a few names are probably ahead of him even if they did. That being said, if he continues to rake, Boston won’t complain.
Now back to my Heyman-ways though, as we talk about the reigning, defending, undisputed, universal Boston Red Sox minor league batting average leader from 2017.
Mars is off to a decent enough start. He’s hitting just .250 but has three multi-hit games already on the year. There’s no rust in his speed either, as he’s already 2-for-2 on steal attempts.
The switch-hitting outfielder had back-to-back fantastic years in 2016 and 2017. If he can get hot early on, I might be talking about him in the “Triple-A” portion of this pretty soon. With the four outfielders on the Major League roster, the Red Sox aren’t dying for help at the moment. Their depth at the position in the minors isn’t great though, and should something happen – Mars should be near the top of their list.