Tales from Exit 138: Day Four of Minor League Spring Training Games

On Friday, the Red Sox minor league affiliates played the Twins minor league affiliates again. During minor league spring training, the Red Sox only play the Twins, Rays, and Orioles affiliates because they are the closest proximity wise (in Fort Myers, Port Charlotte, and Sarasota, respectively).

I caught up with Brandon Jacobs on his way into workouts. He sliced his lip open in a collision at home plate on Thursday in the Low-A game against the Rays. He said he was going to take it easy, just do some cage work, and make sure that he doesn’t have a concussion.

Jeremy Hazelbaker has been particularly impressive to watch during batting practice. He has been consistently hitting balls to the warning track. Pete Hissey also looks impressive. They were both taking batting practice for Double-A Portland.

Madison Younginer has been working out with the rehabbing players. Jonathan Singer reports that he strained a side muscle. You can check out Singer’s injury report here.

Derrik Gibson says that he has been feeling good at the plate.

Here are how the lineups looked for the Single-A teams.

Salem
LeBlanc
Gibson
Vitek
Rodriguez
Wilkerson
Vazquez
Roque
Kang
Monaroa

Ranaudo P

Greenville
Ramos
De La Cruz
Brentz
Head
Renfroe
Blair
Holmes
Thompson
Garcia

Celestino P

Lowell
Vinicio
Bogaerts
Cecchini
Perkins
Perez
Danforth
Colorado
Guerrero
Johnson

Parthemore P

In his first inning, Ranaudo, the 39th overall pick, threw first pitch strikes to every batter he faced. His fastball was hitting 93 mph, his curveball 83 mph, and his changeup 84 mph (via Chris Mellen’s radar gun). He threw this one changeup (for a second pitch strike, I believe) that was particularly impressive.

In his second inning, he struggled a bit with his command, and he kept missing high. Chris Hatfield speculated that the organization may have changed his mechanics because he was using his legs more.

David Renfroe and Jason Thompson both connected for doubles.

Renny Parthemore threw hard in his innings for Lowell. This was good to see because he missed the 2010 season with a frayed labrum (via Jonathan Singer).

I caught up with Kris Johnson during the games. He has been battling some weakness in his shoulder, so he has spent the last three weeks rehabbing it, and he is still throwing bullpens. He pitched in the Dominican Winter League, which he described as a completely different atmosphere because every time someone got a hit, it was like winning the world series.

I also did an interview with 13th round pick, Keith Couch, which I will post later today.

I’m sad that my week of “march madness” is over, but I’m not done with spring training yet. I plan on going back at least on next Saturday. If you have anything in particular that you would like me to keep an eye out for, drop me a comment, an e-mail, or a tweet.

I’m also very excited to announce that I’m going to start working for the Sox Prospects website. I will probably be doing some Q&As and feature stories along with Jon Meoli, and I’ll definitely cover the Gulf Coast League.

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