Tag: northeastern

Masataka Yoshida records sacrifice fly in spring debut as Red Sox top Northeastern, 5-3

The Red Sox opened their spring schedule with a 5-3 win over Northeastern at JetBlue Park on Friday afternoon.

Meeting for the first time in three years due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021 and the MLB lockout in 2022, Boston moved to 19-0 all-time against the Huskies in exhibition play.

All five of the Red Sox’ runs came in the first inning of this seven-inning contest. Jarren Duran got things started in the bottom of the first with a leadoff double off Northeastern starter James Quinlivan. Rafael Devers followed by plating Duran on an RBI single to right field to give his side an early one-run lead out of the gate.

A pair of wild pitches from Quinlivan allowed Devers to move up to third base. Following an Enrique Hernandez walk, Devers came into score on a sacrifice fly to left field off the bat of Japanese outfielder Masataka Yoshida. Quinlivan then walked three straight batters in Alex Verdugo, Jorge Alfaro, and Triston Casas, who brought in Hernandez from third by taking ball four.

Trailing by three runs now, the Huskies gave Quinlivan the hook in favor of Patrick Harrington out of the bullpen. Enmanuel Valdez promptly greeted the Northeastern reliever by ripping a two-run double to the gap in right-center field. That pushed across both Verdugo and Alfaro to give the Red Sox a commanding 5-0 lead.

On the other side of things, non-roster invitee Oddanier Mosqueda got the start for Boston on the mound. The left-hander worked his way around a leadoff single off the bat of Spenser Smith by picking off the shortstop at second base to end a scoreless first inning. The two relievers who followed Mosqueda, Durbin Feltman and Taylor Broadway, faced the minimum in the second and third as well thanks to a pair of inning-ending plays.

Chase Shugart, another non-roster invitee, got tagged for two runs in the fourth. The right-hander issued a leadoff walk to Smith and immediately gave up an RBI double to Mike Sirota to put the Huskies on the board. Sirota then stole third base and scored from third on an RBI groundout off the bat of Danny Crossen.

Wyatt Olds took over for Shugart in the fifth and walked two of the first three batters he faced. That first batter, Harrison Feinberg, successfully stole third base with one out and then scored on a throwing error by catcher Elih Marrero. Olds avoided any further damage by getting Sean McGee to ground into another inning-ending, 6-4-3 double play.

From there, a pair of lefties wrapped things up out of the Boston bullpen. Rio Gomez, who will soon be pitching for Colombia in the World Baseball Classic, struck out one in a scoreless sixth inning. Brendan Cellucci followed by stranding one runner in the seventh to notch the save and put the finishing touches on a 5-3 victory.

Next up: Grapefruit League play begins

The Red Sox will kick off the Grapefruit League portion of their spring schedule on Saturday afternoon as they travel to North Port, Fla. to take on the Braves at CoolToday Park.

Left-hander Matt Dermody will get the start for Boston opposite fellow southpaw Kolby Allard for Atlanta. Richard Bleier, Kaleb Ort, Wyatt Mills, Ryan Sherriff, Jake Faria, and Norwith Gudino are also scheduled to pitch for the Red Sox.

First pitch on Saturday is scheduled for 1:05 p.m. eastern time on NESN.

(Picture of Masataka Yoshida: Maddie Malhotra/Boston Red Sox/Getty Images)

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Oddanier Mosqueda will get start for Red Sox in spring opener against Northeastern on Friday

Left-hander Oddanier Mosqueda will get the start for the Red Sox in their seven-inning exhibition opener against Northeastern at JetBlue Park on Friday, manager Alex Cora announced earlier Tuesday afternoon.

Mosqueda, 23, received an invite to big-league spring training after re-signing with the Red Sox in November. The southpaw is coming off a 2022 season in which he posted a 4.30 ERA and 4.05 FIP with 76 strikeouts to 20 walks over 45 relief appearances (58 2/3 innings) for Double-A Portland.

Among the 99 Eastern League pitchers who tossed 50 or more innings last year, Mosqueda ranked 13th in strikeouts per nine innings (11.66), 11th in strikeout rate (31.4 percent), 22nd in batting average against (.211), 22nd in WHIP (1.12), 22nd in groundball rate (46 percent), 28th in line-drive rate (17.3 percent), 28th in swinging-strike rate (13.8 percent), and eighth in xFIP (3.40), per FanGraphs.

A native of Venezuela, Mosqueda originally signed with the Red Sox as an international free agent in July 2015. The Caracas product is currently regarded by SoxProspects.com as the No. 48 prospect in Boston’s farm system, which ranks 18th among pitchers in the organization.

At 5-foot-10 and 155 pounds, Mosqueda throws from a low three-quarters arm slot and operates with a three-pitch mix that consists of a 90-92 mph fastball that tops out at 94 mph, a 78-80 mph curveball that features 1-to-7 break, and an 83-84 mph changeup that is on the firm side, according to his SoxProspects.com scouting report.

Earlier this month, Chad Jennings of The Athletic identified Mosqueda as a potential dark-horse to make an impact out of the bullpen in 2023, noting that the lefty “has been singled out by one Red Sox evaluator as a legitimate big league possibility this season.”

As currently constructed, the Red Sox are slated to carry just two left-handed relievers on their Opening Day roster next month in Richard Bleier and Joely Rodriguez. Last year, they carried three, all of whom are no longer with the team in Austin Davis, Jake Diekman, and Matt Strahm. They also traded Josh Taylor (who missed all of 2022 with back issues) to the Royals for infielder Adalberto Mondesi in January.

Given that he has yet to pitch above the Double-A level, it seems likely that the Red Sox would want Mosqueda — who turns 24 in May — to experience the ups-and-downs that Triple-A competition offers before they consider a big-league call-up.

If he is able to find success in Worcester to start the season, though, then perhaps Mosqueda will be on Boston’s radar sooner rather than later.

(Picture of Oddanier Mosqueda: Billie Weiss/Boston Red Sox/Getty Images)

Northeastern’s Sebastian Keane one of Baseball America’s top 100 draft-eligible prospects heading into 2022 season

Baseball America released the first installment of its annual top 100 prospect rankings for the upcoming 2022 MLB Draft on Monday. Of the 100 draft-eligible high school and college players that were selected, North Andover native and Northeastern University right-hander Sebastian Keane made the cut at No. 96.

As you might recall, Keane was selected by the Red Sox in the 11th round of the 2019 amateur draft out of North Andover High School. Rather than go pro and sign with Boston, though, the young righty elected to honor his commitment to Northeastern University.

Now a 21-year-old junior, Keane is coming off an eventful 2021 season in which he pitched for both the Huskies and the Chatham Anglers of the Cape Cod Baseball League.

In 12 starts for Northeastern during the spring, Keane posted a 4.09 ERA and 1.19 WHIP to go along with 73 strikeouts to 20 walks over 70 1/3 innings of work. In seven appearances — three of which were starts — for Chatham, he produced a 3.86 ERA and 1.57 WHIP with 25 strikeouts to seven walks across 21 total innings pitched.

Listed at 6-foot-3 and 187 pounds with room to grow, Keane operates with a four-pitch mix that consists of a fastball that has reached 96 mph, a low-80s slider, a mid-70s curveball, and a low-80s changeup, per his Baseball America scouting report.

“Keane has always been a lean, wiry pitcher who might struggle to add weight in the future,” Baseball America’s Carlos Collazo wrote on Monday. “He had plenty of interest out of high school and has only gotten more since, given his performance and solid package of stuff and average control.”

Considering that he is currently regarded by BA as the 96th-ranked prospect in this year’s draft class, you could make the case that Keane — who turns 22 in November — is a projected third-round pick at the moment.

Of course, plenty will change once the high school and college baseball seasons begin in the spring. Whether Keane will be able to improve his draft stock or sees it take a hit remains to be seen as he prepares for his third season with the Huskies — which begins next month and includes an exhibition against the Red Sox in Fort Myers on February 25.

In a separate piece for Baseball America, Collazo cited that major-league scouting directors feel as though college pitching is the clear wink link heading into the 2022 draft.

“There are few established pitchers with starting track records and first round stuff to match as we enter the 2022 season,” he wrote. “Teams are hoping to look up five months from now and have much different feelings about the college pitching than they do presently.”  

With that being said, Collazo adds that prospects such as Keane do have an opportunity “to come out with better stuff and impress in a starting role all season to cement themselves in the first round because of the lack of marquee names in the group.”

Over the course of last summer’s 20-round draft, the Red Sox took a total of seven college pitchers in Wyatt Olds (seventh round), Hunter Dobbins (eighth round), Matt Litwicki (10th round), Christopher Troye (12th round), Jacob Webb (14th round), Luis Guerrero (17th round), and Tyler Uberstine (19th round).

At this point, it is too early to determine what sort of strategy the Red Sox — whose amateur scouting efforts are led by Paul Toboni — will implement going into this summer’s draft.

If college pitching becomes a priority, though, then perhaps they could target someone who is local and someone they already have a history with in Keane. Only time will tell.

(Picture of Sebastian Keane: Jim Davis/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)

Red Sox Top Northeastern 3-0 in Spring Training Opener

For the first time since September 29th, 2019, the Boston Red Sox have won a baseball game, as they opened up exhibition play on Friday afternoon with a 3-0 victory over the Northeastern Huskies in a seven-inning contest.

The plan for the Sox was to use one pitcher per inning on Friday, and that’s exactly what they stuck to.

25-year-old Australian left-hander Daniel McGrath got things started by walking the first two hitters he faced, but settled down with the help of his catcher Connor Wong in addition to striking out a pair to keep things scoreless.

From there, recently-acquired right-handed reliever Austin Brice fanned two more hitters and got more help from Wong in a scoreless second, righty Robinson Leyer struck out two and stranded two runners in a scoreless third, Trevor Hildenberger scattered one hit in an otherwise clean fourth frame, Denyi Reyes retired three of the four he faced in a shutout fifth, and Adam Lau maneuvered his way around a leadoff walk thanks to Roldani Baldwin in a scoreless top half of the sixth.

After his side finally got on the board in the bottom of the sixth, 24-year-old righty Eduardo Bazardo closed things out for Boston by sitting down the only three hitters he faced in order in the seventh to secure the 3-0 victory over the Huskies.

In total, Sox pitching combined for seven scoreless innings while yielding just four hits and three walks to go along with 11 total strikeouts on the afternoon.

On the other side of things, the Northeastern pitching staff held their own for a while against the Boston bats, albeit without any regulars in the lineup.

It wasn’t until the bottom half of the sixth inning when the Red Sox offense finally woke up.

There, with right-hander Rick Burroni on the mound for Northeastern, Sox prospect Marcus Wilson led things off by drawing a walk in his first and only plate appearance.

The 23-year-old then proceeded to steal second base to put the go-ahead run in scoring position with no outs for Josh Ockimey, who fanned for the first out of the frame.

A Jagger Rusconi groundout back to the pitcher meant that the Red Sox were just an out away from coming away with nothing, but Ryan Fitzgerald made sure that did not happen.

Yes, the 2019 Carolina League All-Star lined an RBI single to right-center field deep enough to plate Wilson from second and put his side on the board first.

Two more walks drawn by Baldwin and Tyler Esplin ended the day for Burroni and filled the bases for longtime PawSox mainstay Jantzen Witte.

Facing off against Huskies right-hander Henry Ennen, the 30-year-old veteran laced a two-run single through the middle of the infield to score both Fitzgerald and Baldwin from second and third.

That clutch two-RBI knock gave the Red Sox a 3-0 advantage, which would go on to be Friday’s final score in the spring training opener.

Some notes from this win:

Top prospect Jeter Downs reached base on an infield single in his first at-bat in a Red Sox uniform. He also committed a fielding error in the top half of the third and grounded into an inning-ending double play in the bottom half.

Downs was not originally slated to start for Boston on Friday, but because infielder C.J. Chatham was scratched from the lineup due to right shoulder soreness, the 21-year-old got the call instead.

Marcus Wilson will presumably begin the 2020 campaign in Double-A Portland alongside fellow outfield prospect Jarren Duran, who went 1-for-2 with a third-inning single on Friday.

The only players with big-league experience who played in this contest were Marco Hernandez, Rusney Castillo, John Andreoli, Juan Centeno, Austin Brice, and Trevor Hildenberger.

—

Next up for the Red Sox, Grapefruit League play begins on Saturday with an afternoon contest against the Tampa Bay Rays at JetBlue Park.

Left-hander Brian Johnson is scheduled to get the start for Boston, while Tampa Bay has yet to name a starter.

It had to have been a tough offseason for Johnson, as the 29-year-old was essentially demoted off the Sox’ 40-man roster back in November.

Still, Johnson snuck through waivers and remains with Boston in a lesser capacity than he had been the previous three or so seasons. He’ll have a chance to prove himself and perhaps open some eyes on Saturday afternoon.

First pitch is scheduled for 1:05 PM EDT on NESN.

Red Sox Select North Andover High School’s Sebastian Keane in 11th Round of 2019 MLB Draft

After making eight selections from rounds three to 10 on Tuesday, the Red Sox kicked off the final day of the 2019 MLB Draft by taking a local right-handed pitcher with their first pick Wednesday.

Sebastian Keane, 19 and a native of North Andover, Mass.was selected by Boston with the 347th overall pick in the 11th round of this year’s amateur draft.

Soon to be graduating from North Andover High School this Friday, Keane was named the Gatorade Massachusetts Baseball Player of the Year last month for his efforts.

Listed at 6’3″ and 165 pounds, Keane was ranked 140th out of the top 200 prospects for this year’s draft, per MLB.com, which is pretty impressive when you consider how high school and preparatory baseball in Massachusetts compares to the sport in other states.

Here are his scouting grades, again using MLB.com:

Fastball: 55 | Curveball: 50 | Changeup: 45 | Control: 45 | Overall: 45

Already committed to play baseball at Northeastern University in Boston, it will be interesting to see if the Red Sox can offer the young hurler enough to forego that commitment and instead go pro.

Coming into Wednesday 9-1 with an 0.35 ERA and 98 strikeouts over 51 2/3 innings pitched for North Andover this spring, Keane will be making the start against Franklin High in the MIAA Super 8 Tournament later on tonight.

 

#RedSox’ Sixth-Ranked Prospect Bobby Dalbec Homers in First at Bat of Spring Training

The Red Sox opened up exhibition play on Friday with a 6-0 win over the Northeastern Huskies baseball team.

Prospect Bobby Dalbec, ranked sixth in the Red Sox’ system by MLB Pipeline, got the scoring started for Boston with a second inning solo blast to dead center off of Northeastern’s David Stiehl.

Jagger Rusconi and Tzu-Wei Lin collected a pair of RBI in the bottom half of the third, while Tate Matheny and Cole Sturgeon combined to do the same in the fourth.

Tyler Dearden, a 29th round selection in 2017, wrapped up the scoring for Boston in the sixth by driving in Joseph Monge on a two out RBI triple.

Blake Swihart caught the first four innings of this contest. He went hitless in two plate appearances.

On the pitching side of things, prospect Mike Shawaryn got the starting nod for the Red Sox. The former University of Maryland product limited Northeastern to just one hit while striking out a pair in two scoreless innings of work.

From there, Darwinzon Hernandez, Domingo Tapia, and Josh Taylor combined for two hits, one walk, and six strikeouts over five shutout frames.

Hernandez, who accounted for three of those strikeouts in two innings, is ranked as the seventh best prospect in the Red Sox’ system.

When asked about Dalbec’s homer, Red Sox manager Alex Cora said, “That was pretty good. Straight center. Yeah. That’s pretty good.”

The 23-year-old Dalbec slashed .257/.361/.558 with 32 home runs and 109 RBI in 129 games between High A Salem and Double A Portland last season.

Dalbec and Red Sox top prospect Michael Chavis, who went 0-for-1 on Friday, should both be interesting to watch over the course of the spring.

Next up for Boston is the Grapefruit League opener against the New York Yankees on Saturday at JetBlue Park.

Per MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo, the Red Sox will start Rafael Devers at designated hitter, Sandy Leon at catcher, Bryce Brentz, Gorkys Hernandez, and Rusney Castillo in the outfield, Tzu-Wei Lin at second base, Josh Ockimey at first base, and CJ Chatham at short stop.

Josh Smith, Marcus Walden, Travis Lakins, and Erasmo Ramirez are all expected to pitch as well, although a starter has yet to be named.

First pitch against New York on Saturday is scheduled for 1:05 PM ET.

 

The #RedSox Play Live Baseball Today.

At long last, Red Sox baseball is back. It’s been approximately 117 days since the club clinched their ninth World Series title over the Los Angeles Dodgers last October, but now it’s timt to defend that trophy and it starts with an exhibition game against the Northeastern Huskies baseball team on Friday.

Ninth-ranked Red Sox prospect RHP Mike Shawaryn, a 2016 fifth round pick, will make the start, while Darwinzon Hernandez, Domingo Tapia, and Josh Taylor are all expected to take the mound Friday as well.

Shawaryn, 24, posted a 3.44 ERA over 26 appearances (25 starts) and 149.1 innings pitched between Double A Portland and Triple A Pawtucket this past season.

This is how the Red Sox will line up behind him, with Blake Swihart behind the plate and Christian Vazquez serving as the designated hitter.

Get ready and strap in. From here on out, we got Red Sox baseball for the next eight-plus months. Time to defend the World Series crown.

Grapefruit League action for Boston opens up Saturday against the New York Yankees at JetBlue Park. First pitch for that contest is scheduled for 1:05 PM ET.

Rest in Peace, Nick Cafardo.