Boston Red Sox Granted Minor League Outfielder Jeremy Barfield A Release From Contract

Boston Red Sox minor league slugger Jeremy Barfield has been granted the release that he had asked for according to a report by Alex Speier of the Boston Globe.

Barfield was removed from the Pawtucket Red Sox roster this past Monday and the organization asked him to accept an assignment in Double-A Portland. But Barfield refused the assignment and requested a release from his contract, a demand that was initially met with a no from Boston but was granted just days later.

Part of the reason why Barfield was asked to go back to Portland was the fact that he was batting .132 in 91 at-bats with the PawSox and for a home run hitter he had only hit 2 with a ghastly .231 slugging percentage. Barfield who is now 29-years-old hit 27 home runs for Portland in 2017 with a .288 batting average in 344 at-bats.

Barfield’s success to drive the ball in Portland earned him a call-up at the end of the 2017 season where he batted .488 in Pawtucket in 11 at-bats across the final three games of the season. The fact that Barfield didn’t find success this season in Pawtucket isn’t exactly shocking.

The Texas native has been between Triple-A and Double-A teams going back to the 2013 season when he was called up to the Sacramento River Cats, the Triple-A affiliate of the San Francisco Giants but at the time where the affiliate of the team that drafted Barfield, the Oakland Athletics. The reason for the back-and-forth is rather simple, in 377 at-bats at the Triple-A level he has a .199 batting average.

With any contact he has seemingly being driven well there is still the potential for Barfield to fix his swing and get his career back on track. But after watching him in Pawtucket this season it is clear that he is not ready for the Triple-A level still despite his advanced age for a minor league player.

The video below perfectly describes the mess that was a Jeremy Barfield at-bat in 2018.

This at-bat sums up what’s going on with Jeremy Barfield right now pic.twitter.com/8mAPciLTYc

— Tanner Rebelo (@TannerRebelo) April 23, 2018

Barfield was hitless in 19 of the 26 games he played for Pawtucket this season and struck out 34 strikeouts in just 91 at-bats.

Pawtucket Red Sox To Have Multiple Rehabbing Players This Weekend Including Pedroia And Thornburg

With the Pawtucket Red Sox starting their series with the Rochester Red Wings on Friday there will be plenty of familiar faces in the clubhouse with several rehabbing players joining them on the road.

Boston will be sending several Major Leaguers who are on rehab to join Pawtucket starting on Friday with the list being fairly long.

• Dustin Pedroia
• Tyler Thornburg
• Hector Velazquez
• Austin Maddox

Pedroia was on rehab with Pawtucket this past Monday and Tuesday but was only to get one game in with Tuesday’s game being rained out. The second basemen is continuing to rehab his way back from an offseason knee surgery that has kept him sidelined for the last 6 months.

Thornburg, on the other hand, has been rehabbing with Pawtucket since May 14th after starting his rehab work back on April 30th. In his last rehab outing on Monday a drop off in velocity from his previous outings caused the reliever to be shut down until this Friday when he will give it another go.

With the type of surgery, Thornburg had it is common for arm strength to fluctuate given how long he was out of action.

As for Velazquez the pitcher has been in Boston for the entirety of the 2018 season and was placed on the 10-day dl back on May 14th with a lower back strain. The 29-year-old is in his second season with the Red Sox organization and has a 2.10 ERA in 10 games for Boston with 8 games out of the bullpen and 2 as a starter.

Maddox is the tricky one, his journey back from a right shoulder strain that caused him to land on the 10-day dl back on March 29th. Last season in Boston he had a .52 ERA in 17.1 innings.

Red Sox Pitching Prospect Ty Buttrey Needs To Harness His Pitching, William Cuevas Struggles Out Of The Gate, Fernando Rodriguez Jr. Makes His First Appearance Since Returning From DL, And Defense Needs To Get Better

Red Sox pitching prospect who is with the Pawtucket Red Sox at the moment, had a very strange inning in today’s 5 to 4 defeat for the Paw Sox against the Buffalo Bisons. Buttrey was the first pitcher out of the bullpen for Kevin Boles this afternoon after starting pitcher William Cuevas went six innings. In that seventh inning for Buttrey, he allowed two base runners, and he struck out the side.

The inning began with a strikeout swinging of Jason Leblebijian. Roemon Fields then reached first base on a fielding error by Tzu-Wei Lin. Dalton Pompey then struck out swinging against Buttrey. During Pompey’s at-bat, Fields stole second base and was able to reach third base on a throwing error by Paw Sox catcher Mike Ohlman. Devon Travis, who was batting after Pompey, then reached first base on a four pitch walk. To end the inning, Buttrey then struck out Rowdy Tellez.

“There are sometimes where we see him in the strike zone a little bit more. One thing, and we’ve talked to him about this as far as slowing things down. Now one things that’s good, is that he got out of the jam. There was people on base, and he got out of what could have potentially been a damage inning. So that’s good, and he has the swing and miss capability with the stuff that he has. But we try to stay away from pitching in high stress innings all the time. So hopefully he is able to slow that down. You can see what comes out of his hand. It’s impressive. So it’s just harnessing it at this point” said Paw Sox manager Kevin Boles.

This has continuously been the issue with Ty Buttrey. He has swing and miss stuff which can in turn translate to late inning potential for Buttrey. In seventeen innings pitched this season for Buttrey, he has thirty strikeouts. With a fastball that is in the high 90’s, the stuff he has shown is electric. He has the stuff to be a set-up man at the major league level. He just needs to harness his control and he can’t allow as many base runners. Otherwise, he is an option who could be called up to Boston. Especially since he is already on the 40-man roster, which shows that the team values what he could be.

William Cuevas Struggles Out Of The Gate

William Cuevas struggled in the first inning for the Paw Sox. After allowing a lead off single to Dalton Pompey, the first pitch to the next batter, Devon Travis, was hit over the Paw Sox bullpen in left field. The third batter of the inning, Rowdy Tellez then hit a check-swing double down the left field line, who then would come in to score later in the inning.

“I thought he did a great job after that first inning. But for him to be standing out on the mound in the sixth inning, after that first inning, that could have gotten ugly on him. He shut it down, he gave up another run, but for him to be standing out on there and complete through six innings, very impressive by him. Just have to get a little bit better of a start out of the gate” said Paw Sox manager Kevin Boles after the game.

After he allowed the first three batters to reach in the game, and ultimately score, Cuevas was able to use his change-up to be able to get batters out. To end the inning for Cuevas, was able to strike out Anthony Alford and Reese McGuire swinging by throwing a lot of change-ups. In six innings of work for Cuevas, he gave up four runs on six hits, while walking one batter, and striking out four on 88 pitches (64 strikes).

Fernando Rodriguez Jr. Makes His First Appearance Since Returning From DL

Fernando Rodriguez Jr. made his first appearance for the Paw Sox today since he was reactivated off of the disabled list on Tuesday. He was originally placed on the disabled list on April 10th (retroactive to April 9th) with a right hamstring strain. Before he was placed on the DL, he made one appearance for the Paw Sox. That was on April 8th against the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs. That was the second game of the season for the Paw Sox.

“(Rodriguez was)  little bit shaky. He’s not going to have his command after how long he’s been on the DL. Good to see him out there. He said his arm felt good afterwords. Just very happy he’s healthy now” said Paw Sox manager Kevin Boles.

This was a big outing for Rodriguez. After being away for so long, he needs to be able to pitch for the Paw Sox. It is especially important since the Paw Sox have so much uncertainty with bullpen since guys are coming and going between Pawtucket and Boston. In today’s outing he allowed two base runners on 28 pitches (16 strikes). He definitely was a little bit shaky, but that will get better once he gets a few outings under his belt.

Defense Needs To Get Better

The Paw Sox committed four errors on the day. Two by catcher Mike Ohlman and two by shortstop Tzu-Wei Lin. Both errors by Mike Ohlman were throwing errors on runners trying to steal second base. That includes when Roemon Fields stole second base in the ninth inning, to then advance to third base with no outs. He ended up being the game winning run.

“We were below average today. Defensively we need to get better. We need to take care of the baseball. Again, we’re not looking for perfection, obviously we’d like to play clean baseball every night error free. We gave them plenty of opportunities. We gave them extra bases, extra outs, and we need to play better defense. There is no doubt about it. That’s not what we’re looking for from our defense” said Paw Sox manager Kevin Boles regarding his defense on the afternoon.

Next For The Paw Sox

The Paw Sox will have an off day on Thursday before beginning a three game series in Rochester this weekend. The pitching match-up in Friday night’s game is scheduled to be LHP Stephen Gonsalves (2-1, 3.94 ERA) for Rochester. He will be up against RHP Chandler Shepherd (2-2, 4.75 ERA) for the Paw Sox. It’s not 1000% official yet but it appears that Dustin Pedroia will be continuing his rehab assignment over the weekend in these games for the Paw Sox.