PawSox 2019 Outlook Very Unclear At The Moment But Michael Chavis And Rusney Castillo In The Mix Among Other
The 2019 Pawtucket Red Sox roster is very much an unknown at this point and that is perfectly normal with the Boston Red Sox organization just starting to make decisions for the organizations and are long ways away from being done with moves.
For Triple-A Pawtucket there is the potential for the roster to include on of the organizations top prospect, Michael Chavis. Chavis who was suspended for much of the 2018 season after getting popped for a banned substance remains the organizations top offensive prospect not in Boston.
His position is unclear though at the moment with the below average third basemen still in need of a long-term position. Chavis was called up to Pawtucket on August 24th and batted .273 in 33 at-bats.
As for the other players making up the roster here is the highly likely candidates to be on the PawSox Opening Day roster come April.
- Rusney Castillo
- Castillo is a mortal lock for the PawSox with Boston still unwilling to take on his salary at the Major League level and few teams willing to trade for the Major League Caliber ballplayer.
- Travis Larkins
- Larkins, 24-years-old, joined the PawSox from Portland in July and appeared in 10 games posting a 1.65 ERA.
- Josh Ockimey
- The 23-year-old first basemen was assigned to Pawtucket from the SeaDogs in August and batted .215 in 93 at-bats.
- Cole Sturgeon
- Sturgeon was off and on for Pawtucket in 2018 but the outfielder proved he was capable of playing at the Triple-A level. Sturgeon batted .214 in 238 at-bats for Pawtucket after an electric start to the season in Portland where he batted well over .300.
- Oscar Hernandez
- Hernandez, like Chavis, was suspended for the start of 2018 but is a highly respected defensive catcher around baseball. Hernandez has Major League experience however limited that was and is 25-years of age. Hernandez batted .205 in 151 at-bats in 2018. Former PawSox Manager Kevin Boles always noted how difficult it was at catcher with a number of quality catchers on his roster.
- Trevor Kelley
- The Providence RI native posted a 1.54 ERA in 23.1 innings for Pawtucket in 2018 after being called up from Portland on September 1st
- Matthew Gorst
- The 24-year-old was another late year assignment from Portland and posted a 4.12 ERA in 19.1 innings in Pawtucket
- Mike Shawaryn
- Shawaryn posted a 3.93 ERA in 7 games, 6 of which were starts, after being called up on August 3rd
- Jordan Weems
- Only threw 3.1 innings in 2 appearances for Pawtucket in 2018 and gave up 2 earned runs. Weems raced up the organization though starting the 2018 season in High-A Salem and finished with Triple-A Pawtucket.
- Josh Taylor
- Taylor, 25-years-old, threw two scoreless innings for Pawtucket in 2018 after being called up on September 1st. Taylor was traded to the Red Sox organization on May 15th from the Diamondbacks.
This is what we have for now, you could see names like Trey Ball, Teddy Stankiewicz, Jordan Betts, Jantzen Witte, and Chad De La Guerra in Pawtucket at some point.
By far the biggest question mark for the PawSox organization is who will be the manager of the team with long-time Manager Kevin Boles hitting the road for greener pastures. No decisions yet.
