Boston Red Sox Prospect Watch: Home runs and injury scares

Red Sox Triple-A (Worcester)

Jay Groome made his Triple-A debut this week. And it went very well. The left-handed pitcher proved immediately that he belonged. Groome tossed six shutout innings for the WooSox, giving up just five hits and three walks while striking out five. His numbers in Double-A were great outside of the command issues he’s had. And the Triple-A debut was far-exceeding encouraging. His fastball looked great and his breaking pitches were as filthy as usual.

Chris Murphy’s first two Triple-A starts were great, but both times he got hit with a rough ending to end the outing. His two starts this week were top-tier from start to finish. The lefty tossed seven shutout innings, allowing just two hits and two walks while striking out three his first time out.

His next game saw him throw five shutout innings, allowing just three hits and one walk while striking out three. Murph is down to a 2.35 ERA, .173 BAA, 0.91 WHIP, and 17 strikeouts in 23 Triple-A innings.

Brayan Bello is back in Triple-A. The right-handed pitcher gave up one run on three hits and a walk (four strikeouts), over three innings of work. It appears a short outing was the plan here. Maybe just to give Bello a start and keep him loose without overworking him following his MLB-stint and the fact that he was supposed to be in the Future’s Game on the same day that this start happened.

Chase Shugart is continuing his strong season even after his promotion to Triple-A. He’s only thrown seven innings at the level so far, but it’s been a great start. The righty has a 2.57 ERA, .231 BAA, 1.29 WHIP, and six strikeouts in that time.

Frank German only made one appearance out of the bullpen this week, but he made it a good one. The right-handed pitcher tossed a perfect inning, striking out a batter in that time. Between Double-A and Triple-A he now has a 3.30 ERA, .168 BAA, 0.97 WHIP, and 42 strikeouts (12 walks) in 30 innings of work.

Pedro Castellanos has slowed down a bit, but he’s still managing to put up monster numbers. In his short run with Triple-A so far, the right-handed hitting first baseman (and outfielder) has had no problems fitting in. He’s slashing .310/.351/.451 with two doubles, one triple, and two home runs in 19 games. Castellanos has 11 runs batted in and nine more runs scored in that time.

Devlin Granberg is heating up in Triple-A and his overall numbers on the season are great. The right-handed hitting outfielder (and first baseman) is now slashing .291/.402/.426 with 16 doubles, five triples, and two home runs between the two levels. He’s driven in 21 runs, scored 39 more, and stolen seven bases.

Ronaldo Hernandez continues to rake. The right-handed hitting catcher has added some more extra-base hits to his totals on the year and this season is really getting impressive. Hernandez is slashing .284/.302/.467 with 20 doubles and nine home runs. He’s driven in 36 runs and scored 31 more. These numbers would be impressive even if he didn’t start off ice-cold. The fact he’s dug himself out of a hole is incredible though.

Johan Mieses has only gotten 90 at-bats so far. But he’s definitely made the most of them. The right-handed hitting outfielder is slashing .267/.380/.578 with seven doubles and seven home runs. He’s driven in 16 runs, scored 17 more, and stolen two bases. Mieses has already drawn 16 walks as well, helping that OBP go up.

Nick Sogard has upped his game in Triple-A. Although it’s just with 40 at-bats, you can’t help but be impressed. The switch-hitting second baseman is slashing .300/.333/.325 with one double in that time. He’s driven in four runs, scored five more, and stolen one base so far.