Double-A (Portland Sea Dogs)
Dedgar Jimenez ended his streak of scoreless outings when giving up one run in an inning of work on August 20. However, that was in a non-save situation (his first one in a while). The lefty bounced back with a two-strikeout scoreless inning in his next outing – picking up a save. Baby Bartolo is now 8-for-8 in save opportunities and sitting at a 3.62 ERA.
Bryan Mata had his second straight positive start in Double-A this week. He went six innings, giving up just two runs in that time. The 20-year-old is down to a 5.79 ERA and things are starting to look up. It shouldn’t be a surprise that Mata needed some time to get used to Double-A but once he does I guarantee he starts dominating.
Daniel McGrath gave up four runs over six innings. That’s the worst start he’s had in a long time and that’s very telling. The lefty has a 1.61 ERA in Portland – that should tell you how good he’s been this year. McGrath has a .183 BAA and 1.03 WHIP to this point. He’s also struck out 106 batters in 106 innings.
Eduard Bazardo has lowered his Double-A ERA to 3.18 after 2 1/3 shutout innings over two appearances this week. The righty dominated in Advanced-A and is starting to get back to that with Portland.
Jarren Duran is struggling at the moment, with his average dropping to .249. He’s been one of the best hitters at every level he’s been at so let’s not jump to any conclusions. The left-handed hitter has shown he can flip the switch at any moment and don’t be surprised if that average jumps before the end of the year.
Marcus Wilson has a .228 average with Portland and has really impressed for most of his time in the Red Sox organization. The outfielder has 11 doubles, eight home runs and is 5-for-5 in steal attempts with the Sea Dogs. Wilson’s stock continues to rise as he does basically everything at the age of 23.
Charlie Madden returned to Double-A early this month. The 23-year-old catcher was on an 0-for-18 stretch though and needed a big game to turn it around. He did just that on Monday, going 4-for-4 with a home run and two RBI. That raised his average to .254 and he has five home runs in just 20 games.