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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Sept 17, 2020 13:36:13 GMT -5
Bill Koch @billkoch25 · 4m Per release, Polar Park capacity next season is set at 9,508. The @woosox settled on that number as a nod to the 508 area code. #RedSox
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Sept 18, 2020 10:23:11 GMT -5
Pete Abraham @peteabe · 17m #RedSox VP of player development Ben Crockett said the team is planning a fall camp for prospects next month in Ft. Myers. Invites have not yet gone out.
They've had discussions with teams in the area about having games, but nothing scheduled yet.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Sept 18, 2020 16:34:36 GMT -5
Alex Speier @alexspeier · 54m RHP Bryan Mata, who’d been sidelined since August 30 in Pawtucket due to a hamstring cramp, is scheduled for two innings tomorrow at McCoy Stadium in a simulated game.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Sept 19, 2020 7:24:13 GMT -5
Peter Gammons @pgammo · 36m Jacob Wallace, PTBNL for Pillar:"One of best makeups I've ever scouted in New England, says scout." Summer '18 Bourne Braves:13.2 IP, 0 R, 5 BB 25 K. '19 UConn:42 20 6 3 10 68. Tewksbury's Scott Oberg recruited him to UConn. Wallace from Steve Bedrosian's Methuen.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Sept 19, 2020 12:14:47 GMT -5
Bill Koch @billkoch25 · 13m #RedSox simulated game action expected to start in about 30 minutes at the alternate site. Bryan Mata is among those scheduled to pitch. Read more about him here and follow the broadcast links @pawsox .
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Sept 19, 2020 13:37:45 GMT -5
Red Sox Stats @redsoxstats · 17m Caleb Simpson looks incredible at McCoy, has for a while now. Mata looked electric in his return as well. Eddie Romero is on the field watching today. Nick Yorke singled off Mata, took a walk off Leyer in his debut.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Sept 19, 2020 14:08:02 GMT -5
Jim Cain @_JimCain · 8m Notes from today’s #RedSox taxi squad sim game:
• Bryan Mata pitched for the first time since his injury scare on 8/31. Threw 2 IP, struck out 2, sat 96-98 with his FB
• Nick Yorke made his debut. Lined an opposite-field single off Mata and drew a walk against Robinson Leyer
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Sept 20, 2020 3:45:11 GMT -5
Red Sox land coveted pitching prospect in Methuen’s Jacob Wallace By Alex Speier Globe Staff,Updated September 19, 2020, 5:09 p.m.
On Friday, the Red Sox landed righthander Jacob Wallace — a Methuen High School and UConn product — as the player to be named from the Rockies in the deal that shipped outfielder Kevin Pillar to Colorado at the end of last month. When Ray Fagnant received a text from Red Sox GM Brian O’Halloran that the Sox had indeed landed Wallace, the team’s Northeast regional scouting supervisor was elated at how quickly a notion had come to fruition.
“I remember vividly telling him [before the draft], ‘I hope you pitch in the big leagues, and I hope it’s for us,’ ” Fagnant recalled by phone. “'If not, I hope you pitch in the big leagues, and you never know — we might get you one day.'”
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Just 15 months after the Rockies made Wallace a third-round selection, that possibility became a reality, much to Fagnant’s delight.
As a junior at UConn, righthanded reliever Jacob Wallace was very much on the radar of the Red Sox entering the 2019 draft. Fagnant, who lives in Connecticut, had made the Methuen High School product a priority follow, an early-round consideration for the Sox entering the draft, and with good reason. Get 108 Stitches in your inboxEverything baseball every Monday-Friday during baseball season, and weekly in the offseason.
Wallace had shown an explosive fastball in the mid- to upper-90s at UConn as a sophomore, when he forged a 3.95 ERA in 43⅓ innings while striking out 13.1 batters per nine innings. His performance then reached a new level in the summer of 2018 on the Cape, where he logged 13⅔ scoreless innings while striking out 25 and walking five.
In December of Wallace’s junior year, Fagnant met with the righthander and was blown away by his demeanor and maturity — his vision of his strengths and weaknesses on the mound, the pitcher’s view of what it would take to reach and thrive in the big leagues, his priorities off the field.
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The Red Sox have their scouts assign a quantitative grade to the overall makeup and background of players. Fagnant conferred one of his highest scores ever to Wallace.
“He’s just an exceptional human being,” Fagnant said by phone. “He’s the kind of pitcher you want at the back end of your bullpen, just the kind of person you want to compete given his character. He makes people around him better . . . Most importantly, there’s big stuff and when he is on the mound, he’s a competitor. That’s what stood out.”
UConn coach Jim Penders kept using Wallace in the highest-leverage situations imaginable — a bases-loaded entry with two outs in the eighth against a very strong Louisville team early in the 2019 season, in which Wallace entered, struck out the first hitter on three pitches, then cruised through a scoreless ninth for the save; inheriting and then stranding the tying run on third with a strikeout to kick off a four-out save against the University of South Florida in April that was followed one day later by another scoreless appearance.
As he watched the righthander — listed at 6- feet 1 inch and 190 pounds — firing 94-98-mile-per-hour comets that seemed to explode at the top of the strike zone while also employing a hard mid-80s slide with sharp downward break (Wallace also made infrequent use of a changeup that worked as an effective weapon in college), Fagnant conjured thoughts of another recent Red Sox reliever.
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“He’s got that Craig Kimbrel, that low release point almost like he throws it uphill,” said Fagnant. “He got swings and misses with all his pitches in the strike zone, which I think has huge value.”
Wallace punctuated his year with a pair of exceptional performances in the NCAA regionals against Oklahoma State. With UConn facing elimination and the tying run on second with two outs in the seventh, Wallace entered and struck out all seven batters he faced. One day later, he went back out for 2⅔ innings and retired all eight batters he faced, striking out five.
“That was kind of the cherry on top, scouting him as much as I did and seeing him in the regionals. That was quite a final outing,” said Fagnant. “[But] it signaled that we might not get him.”
That’s the nature of scouting: A scout can track a player and turn in a glowing recommendation about him, but there’s no guarantee that his team will select him before someone else does so. Fagnant viewed Wallace as an excellent college closer, the type who might be considered by teams around the third round (the spot where the Sox took closer Durbin Feltman out of TCU one year earlier). And so, as the draft neared, Fagnant shared the thought with Wallace that even if the Sox didn’t end up drafting the righthander, there was always a chance of a reunion down the road.
Wallace made his pro debut in the short-season Northwest League last summer, forging a 1.29 ERA with 29 strikeouts in 21 innings. As the Red Sox discussed a trade with the Rockies for Pillar late last month, front-office members reached out to Fagnant a couple weeks ago to follow up on his glowing evaluations of the potential late-innings reliever.
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“He’s got a chance to move really quickly,” Fagnant concluded.
And now, Wallace will have that chance as a member of the Red Sox organization.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Sept 20, 2020 12:17:34 GMT -5
Bill Koch @billkoch25 · 38m Nick Yorke was an 18-year-old on his couch a week ago. Matt Hall was in the big leagues.
Yorke just lined a double to left-center off Hall at the #RedSox alternate site. Hanging curveball.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Sept 22, 2020 3:52:14 GMT -5
Arizona Fall League Cancels Season
By Connor Byrne | September 21, 2020 at 6:21pm CDT
As recently as June, the concept of an expanded Arizona Fall League was under consideration by Major League Baseball. But MLB has now decided to cancel the AFL’s 2020 season, Josh Norris of Baseball America reports.
The AFL is the latest baseball league to fall victim to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has cut this year’s major league season of 162 games to 60 and has canceled the minor league campaign.
Because there’s no minor league ball, teams have placed many of their best young players in their 60-man pool and allowed them to train at their alternate sites. Some of those players will enter their teams’ playoff bubbles or join the fall instructional league. That’s among the reasons there will not be an AFL season this year, per Norris, who adds that MLB had concerns over whether the AFL’s usual sites would have been equipped to handle all of the players, coaches and staff members on each team during a pandemic.
For now, the hope is that the coronavirus will not prevent the 2021 AFL season from occurring. The league’s planning on a normal year then with six teams of 35 players apiece, according to Norris.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Sept 22, 2020 12:43:08 GMT -5
Bill Koch @billkoch25 · 44m We're about an hour away from the start of today's simulated game at the #RedSox alternate site. Expecting to hear from OF Jeisson Rosario and Boston vice president of player development Ben Crockett at the conclusion.
Check @pawsox for streaming links. Likely going two innings.
Updating this -- Ben Crockett and Nick Yorke will be available following today's sim game. Yorke was the #RedSox 2020 first-round pick and reported to the alternate site last week.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Sept 22, 2020 14:10:11 GMT -5
Alex Speier @alexspeier · 3m Red Sox farm director Ben Crockett says Sox will have a fall instructional camp for roughly 60 minor leaguers of about 6 weeks in Fort Myers.
Crockett says Nick Yorke has been ‘really impressive’ as an 18-year-old at the alt site. Yorke doubled today, and has reached in 5 of 6 PAs in Pawtucket.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Sept 22, 2020 14:29:28 GMT -5
Jen McCaffrey @jcmccaffrey · 2m Nick Yorke said Triston Casas has been good working with him and helping him break in a bit, taking BP together, etc.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Sept 23, 2020 4:05:29 GMT -5
Nick Yorke, Boston Red Sox 2020 first-round draft pick, introduced to pros at 18: ‘I didn’t know a ball could move like that’ Updated Sep 22, 2020; Posted Sep 22, 2020 Nick Yorke
Red Sox first-round draft pick Nick Yorke at the alternate training site in Pawtucket. (Courtesy of Pawtucket Red Sox/Kelly O'Connor). By Christopher Smith | csmith@masslive.com
Red Sox top pitching prospect Bryan Mata was the first pitcher who 2020 first-round draft pick Nick Yorke faced at Boston’s alternate training site in Pawtucket.
“That first pitch he threw to me, he threw for a ball, but I was like, ‘I didn’t know a ball could move like that,'” Yorke said during a Zoom call Tuesday.
Yorke — who the Red Sox selected 17th overall in June — has gone 3-for-4 with two doubles and two walks since Boston added him to its 60-player pool and assigned him to the alternate training site Sept. 17.
“(Jose Peraza) was just joking around with me. He was shocked that I was 18," Yorke said.
Yes, the 6-foot, 200-pound second baseman turned 18 in May, but he has fared well against much more experienced pitchers. He singled against Mata. He also doubled against Matt Hall, who has appeared in four games for Boston this year.
“Ten mile per hour difference (in velocity) is a lot,” Yorke said about the difference between pro ball and high school. “So just trying to control the controllables. Do what I can do to be on time. And I’ve been fortunate to get a couple pitches that I could put barrel on.”
He said he has tried to be a sponge, absorbing as much knowledge as possible from players and coaches at McCoy Stadium.
He has worked with top prospect Triston Casas on handing velocity off the pitching machine.
“Triston Casas has been really good with me," he said.
Red Sox vice president of player development Ben Crockett said Yorke’s offensive upside and profile have stood out to the coaches in Pawtucket.
“He’s been really mature and handled himself with a quiet confidence coming up here against some older players," Crockett said.
Yorke worked out at home this summer after signing because of no minor league season due to the coronavirus pandemic.
“I’ve got a nice little setup in the backyard with a batting cage and all," he said.
He also trained with former Blue Jays minor leaguer Joey Wolfe, the owner of Paradigm Sport in Santa Cruz, Calif. Wolfe is a performance specialist and baseball instructor.
Yorke — who has taken nutrition much more seriously since signing — has a simple mindset.
“If you’re going to make a mistake, go 100%," he said. "And if you look like a fool, you look like a fool. Get back up and do it again.”
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Sept 23, 2020 4:08:43 GMT -5
Boston Red Sox excited to trade for Methuen product Jacob Wallace: ‘To have somebody local, it’s obviously a cherry on top' Updated Sep 22, 2020; Posted Sep 22, 2020
By Chris Cotillo | ccotillo@MassLive.com
BOSTON -- When the Red Sox saw the opportunity to acquire Rockies minor-league pitching prospect Jacob Wallace, they jumped at the opportunity to add a talented arm to the organization. The fact that Wallace -- a Methuen native and UConn alum -- was a local product made the acquisition even sweeter.
“He’s somebody that was an attractive get for us,” said Red Sox director of player development Ben Crockett. “To have somebody local, both high school and collegiately, playing locally, it’s obviously a cherry on top. Great opportunity for him and we’re just excited to have a talented pitcher in our system.”
Wallace, 22, starred at Methuen High School before taking his talents to Storrs, where he posted a 3.88 ERA and saved 19 games for the Huskies from 2017 to 2019. Last summer, the Rockies took him in the third round of the MLB draft (100th overall) and signed him to a $581,600 bonus.
Wallace was strong in his first professional season, posting a 1.29 ERA and 12.4 K/9 in 21 innings at Low-A Boise. On Friday, he was announced as the player to be named later heading to the Red Sox to complete the trade that sent outfielder Kevin Pillar to the Rockies at last month’s trade deadline.
“We’re excited to get him,” Crockett said. “I spoke to him the other day and he’s obviously a lifelong Red Sox fan and somebody we’ve liked for quite a while. Our scouts liked him a lot as an amateur and continued to follow him. He has some really interesting qualities and somebody that’s got some really good stuff who we think could make an impact.”
Wallace wasn’t a member of Colorado’s 60-man player pool, so he didn’t get any competitive action in 2020. Because there’s only a few days left in the season, he won’t report to Boston’s alternate site in Pawtucket and will instead get his first taste of the organization during the club’s fall training camp for prospects in Fort Myers.
At the time of the trade, MLB.com had Wallace ranked as the No. 20 overall prospect in Colorado’s system.
Crockett said the Red Sox view Wallace as a reliever and that the club loves his fastball (which sits 96-97 mph) and advanced slider.
“Power stuff,” Crockett said. “Power two-pitch mix. Really good performance and somebody we had good reports on going back to his amateur days both in college and in summer ball.”
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