PawSox Season Preview: Critical Balance Between Prospects And Big League Depth Ahead Of Season Opener

The Pawtucket Red Sox season kicks off this Thursday on the road at the Syracuse Mets. 

PawSox Roster, Despite Major League Experience There Still Is Top Prospects At McCoy 

The PawSox have had their fair share of talent over the years come through the clubhouse doors at McCoy. While 2019 doesn’t project to be one of the top prospect seasons for the Triple-A affiliate, it does have its fair share of Major League talent and a few young prospects who have a bright future ahead of them

Starting Pitchers

The PawSox are entering the season with a few questions at the starting pitcher position. Currently you can pencil in Chandler Shepherd, Mike Shawaryn, Erasmo Ramirez, and Josh A. Smith as starters. 

Outside of that it is anyone’s best guess. 

To start the year the PawSox could elect to have Ryan Weber in the rotation or Marcus Walden who has starting experience as well. 

It is going to come down to which players Boston would like to see stretched out. 2018 was a balancing act year for the rotation and 2019 should be no different. 

Mike Shawaryn A Player To Watch

Shawaryn, 24-years-old, was promoted to Pawtucket from Portland in early August starting in 6 games for the PawSox in 2018. 

Collectively between Double and Triple-A the New Jersey native appeared in 26 games, 25 starts, with 2 complete games in a total of 149.1 innings pitched posting a 3.44 ERA and holding opposing batters to a .233 batting average. 

Shawaryn is a ground-ball pitcher with a sinking fastball that sits in the low to mid 90s.

The 2016 fifth round pick projects to be a back end of the rotation starter at the Major League level with the potential to be a middle inning reliever and or swing man. 

After Chandler Shepherd, Shawaryn in theory could be a spot starter up in Boston at some point in 2019, but in order for that to happen Boston would have to clear a spot on the 40-man since Shawaryn is entering the season off of the 40-man roster. 

Relief Pitchers

Travis Lakins Atop The PawSox Bullpen Prospect Rankings

The 24-year-old from Ohio came into the Red Sox organization as a starter with plenty of potential for a 6th round draft pick. 

But after a few seasons of rough starts the organization moved Lakins into the bullpen in the early stages of the 2018 season and it turned out to be a career igniter for the righty.

Lakins immediately saw a tick up on his velocity and posted a solid 2018 campaign between Portland and Pawtucket with a 2.32 ERA in 54.1 innings across 36 appearances, 6 of which were starts. 

After his promotion to Pawtucket in August he posted a 1.65 ERA across 10 appearances and held hitters to a .186 batting average. 

To give more perspective into how good he became in the bullpen in 2018 you have to look at his starting/reliever splits. 

As a starter in 6 games for Portland Lakins had a 4.86 ERA in 17 innings pitched. In the bullpen for Portland? Just a .86 ERA in 21 innings across 20 appearances out of the bullpen. 

Lakins is apart of Boston’s 40-man roster and will likely be a call-up by the mid-season point if all things go according to plan. 

Catchers

Veteran Catching Group In Pawtucket Led By Leon

One thing the PawSox catching group has going for it is Major League innings. 

All three catchers have MLB experience and Sandy Leon was apart of the 2018 World Series team for Boston before being out-righted to Pawtucket after clearing through waivers. 

Leon in Pawtucket was the best case scenario for Boston who likely tried to move him in a trade before the move to Pawtucket. Leon provides the Major League club with depth if for some reason they run into in issue with either Blake Swihart or Christian Vasquez.

Infielders

Mike Miller who re-signed with Boston in February was not on the official roster as of post. 

Chavis Leads The Infield

Red Sox prospect Michael Chavis had a rough 2018, the 2014 first round pick started the year on the DL and was then he was popped for violating the leagues drug policy. 

Chavis was able to bounce back though getting 171 at-bats between Portland and Pawtucket batting .298 and 9 home runs. 

The slugging third baseman in 2017  hit 31 home-runs between Salem and Portland and at the time was racing up the prospect charts alongside fellow third basemen Rafael Devers. 

Chavis’s step back year of 2018 puts him just one level ahead of fellow top prospect Bobbly Dalbec whose bat has turned heads and starts the year in Portland. 

2019 will be a critical year for Chavis and one in which Boston needs to likely decide the future of with Devers allegedly locking into the Major League spot. 

Outfielders

Mostly A Veteran Outfield Led By Brentz And Castillo

Pawtucket’s outfield is led by a trio of three players with big league experience, Castillo, Brentz, and Hernandez. 

Castillo who has developed into a true 5-tool ballplayer will likely be kept under lock and key in Pawtucket due to the Major League luxury tax that has essentially kept him in Triple-A for the last three seasons. 

Brentz and Hernandez on the other hand are more movable into a call-up and Hernandez actually has 374 Big League games being an everyday ballplayer for the Giants the last two seasons. 

All eyes though will be on the big slugger Brentz. 

Brentz left the organization in 2018 and returned home to start the 2019 season in a ballpark in which he hit 18 home runs in 2017 en route to a 31 long-balls for the PawSox en-route to an International League home run derby title.  

Brentz in in 87 big league at-bats has a .287 batting average with 1 home run and 9 RBIs. The 2010 compensation pick only had 198 at-bats in 2018 with a .263 batting average and 16 home runs. 

Funny enough Brentz posted a better at-bat to home run ratio in 2017 than 2018. 

In 2017 Brentz hit a home run every 14.5 at-bats on average, in 2018? Just 12.3 at-bats in-between blasts. 

Update On Move To Worcester

This offseason there was several major announcements surrounding the PawSox move to Worcester. The ballpark is set to have its groundbreaking in June of 2019 with completion ahead of the 2021 International league season. 

Here are the highlights:

• D’Agostino Izzo Quirk Architects and Sasaki Associates selected as the architecture firms selected to work on the ballpark and surrounding area
• Gilbane-Hunt selected as construction management firms 
• October date set for Kelley Square transportation project start
• Southern parcel sold to private group to build hotels/restaurants/offices/residents/retail with two sides coming to terms on August 29th
• Organization announced several initiatives to remain committed to the State of Rhode Island long-term 

For the full update read our feature piece on the move to the City of Worcester. 

Dates To Keep An Eye On And Things To Look Forward Too

The PawSox ahead of the 2019 season have announced a number of promotions at the ballpark that should make for some fun times throughout the entire season. 

Gourmet Caterers has been brought in to step up the barbecue tent and luxury box food with a clear directive to improve the overall fan experience at the aging McCoy Stadium. 

Here are some of the top promotions and dates announced to date:

• Legendary Fridays: First one on April 12th with the club celebrating the engagement of Alex Rodriguez and J-Lo. 
• PawSox to host Tim Tebow and the Mets to kick off the home campaign from April 11th-through April 14th.
• Vladimir Guerero Jr. and the Bisons come in on April 15th through the 17th