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| Friday, January 11 Red Sox minor-league report By John Sickels Special to ESPN.com |
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System overview When Dan Duquette took over as the GM in 1994, he promised to rebuild a farm system devastated by years of neglect. The first few years of his regime were promising, with some interesting drafts and a better focus on foreign talent. But as the sun sets (probably) on his administration, the farm system is in pretty much the same condition in which he found it: lousy. The plan was to spend lots of dough on foreign players, especially guys from Asia, and to pick up system filler and the occasional prospect (often from New England) in the North American draft. But it just hasn't worked. The Sox have little to show yet for their heavy investment in Asian pitching. Deeper scouting in Latin America has helped, and several of the Sox better prospects are pitchers from that region. But large bonuses paid out to players from other countries drained the budget for the draft. The Red Sox also have a hard-line reputation when it comes to negotiating with draft picks, and have a bad habit of not signing premium players. Mark Teixeira, anyone? The system is not completely empty, but if Duquette does get shown the door, whoever takes over has a rebuilding job on their hands. 2001 Minor League W-L Percentage: .468, (ranked 25th) 2001 amateur draft The Sox lost their first-round pick for signing Manny Ramirez. That wasn't a huge loss, since they picked up a supplemental pick for losing Rheal Cormier. They used this to select Baylor catcher Kelly Shoppach, who signed too late to play. He has good power, strong defensive skills, and a solid work ethic, but most teams pegged him as a third or fourth rounder. Second-rounder Matt Chico, a high school lefty from California, didn't sign. Third-round choice Jonathan DeVries, a catcher from high school in California, is solid all-around, but will need development time. Fourth-rounder Stefan Baile, a first baseman from Washington state, has good power, but also appears to be an overdraft. Fifth-round choice Eric West, a high school shortstop from Alabama, has good tools but is not expected to move quickly. A major sleeper is eighth-rounder Kevin Youkilis, a third baseman from the University of Cincinnati who drew 70 walks while hitting .317 in the New York-Penn League. This looks like a mediocre draft class. Not signing Chico, as well as their sixth and 10th round picks hurts depth, and with the exception of Shoppach and Youkilis, none of these guys look to advance through the system quickly. Top prospects Players in the "Will Help Soon" section could see major-league action in 2002. Players in the "Will Help Someday" section shouldn't reach the majors until '03 or later, though of course that can change. Players are listed alphabetically. No 2001 draftees are listed. WILL HELP SOON Casey Fossum, LHP: Doesn't throw hard, but held his own in Boston trial. Shows outstanding curveball. Could be fifth starter or long reliever, or possibly anti-lefty bullpen guy. Juan Diaz, 1B: Slammed 20 homers in injury-plagued half-season at Triple-A Pawtucket. Fat, slow, strikes out too much. Fred Sanchez, SS: Solid contact hitter, will definitely hit for average. Lacks power and may not have the range to remain at shortstop. Seung Song, RHP: Best prospect in the system by far, dominated two levels of A-ball last year. Will start 2002 in Double-A, and could see Boston by August if he continues throwing his 92-94 mph fastball and strong curve for strikes. Rolando Viera, LHP: Cuban defector, drafted in the seventh round last year. Throws strikes with vast array of garbage pitches. Should be a useful reliever. WILL HELP SOMEDAY Tony Blanco, 3B: Hit .265 with 17 homers for Class A Augusta, bothered by sore right shoulder as well as poor strike zone judgment. The latter must improve for him to live up to the hype. Manny Delcarmen, RHP: Dominican, but grew up in Boston area. Throws 94-96 mph, did well in rookie ball but needs a lot of experience. Phil Dumatrait, LHP: 2000 first-rounder, throws 90 mph and has a nasty curve. Also has occasional shoulder soreness, which limited him to 43 innings last year. Mauricio Lara, LHP: Posted 3.02 ERA for Class A Augusta, but his H/IP ratio was weak at 114/107. Throws strikes, has good velocity, but will need to make adjustments at higher levels. Anastacio Martinez, RHP: Groudball pitcher, with good control and above-average velocity. Needs a better curveball or slider to succeed at higher levels. Went 9-12 with 3.35 ERA for Class A Sarasota, with 123/39 K/BB ratio in 145 innings. KEY SLEEPER Franklin Francisco, RHP: Overlooked, but can hit 95 mph and is developing his curve. Fanned 90 in 68 innings for Class A Augusta. Doesn't have a changeup, but doesn't need one in the bullpen. Other names to know Byeong An, LHP; Brad Baker, RHP; Matt Cooper, 1B; Tony Fontana, RHP; Jun-Chung Huang, RHP; Steve Lomasney, C; Edgar Martinez, C; Rene Miniel, RHP; Greg Montalbano, LHP; Luis Perez, LHP; Calvin Pickering, 1B; Justin Sherrod, 3B; Dernell Stenson, 1B; Josh Thigpen, RHP; Mat Thompson, RHP. John Sickels is working on the 2002 STATS Minor League Scouting Notebook. He lives in Lawrence, Kansas, with his wife, son, and two cats. You can send John questions or comments at JASickels@aol.com, or you can visit his homepage at hometown.aol.com/jasickels/page1.html. |
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