moonslav59

MLB reports... 26. Boston Red Sox: 1B/3B Triston Casas, American Heritage (Fla.) HS Casas ranks right with Nolan Gorman as one of the best high school power hitters in this Draft. He had a chance to go as high as No. 13 to his hometown club in Miami, and a few other spots in the teens, so getting him at No. 26 is a nice grab for the Red Sox. While he has some athleticism for his size (6-foot-4, 240 pounds), Casas is most likely a first baseman, albeit one with a strong arm who can delivery 94 mph fastballs on the mound. CBS Sports... 3B Triston Casas, American Heritage School (Florida). Casas is a third baseman presently, but it's highly likely he'll be shifted to first as a pro. He's got big power, but he's also got some issues making contact. Scouts are mixed on how well that power will translate, but the potential for big numbers is there. He's committed to Miami. SBNation... The Red Sox are on a quest to rebuild their farm system, and they’ve gotten started with their first pick of the 2018 MLB draft on Monday night. With that selection, they went with high school first baseman Triston Casas with their first round pick at number 26 overall. He is 18 years old and went to American Heritage High School in Florida. He is also committed to the University of Miami next year. This bucks their recent trend of taking pitchers in the first round, something they’ve done in each of the last two years. It also goes against some of the recent mocks, though Casas was mentioned as a possibility by a few publications. We’ll have a lot more on Casas later on tonight, but for now here are the basics. Although he’ll be listed as a 1B/3B, it’s almost certain that he will be a first base only player soon enough, and possibly as soon as this year. The bat has huge potential, though, particularly the power. There are some questions about the hit tool, but the Red Sox clearly believe it is good enough for him to tap into that raw power. Baseball America has him ranked as their number 25 prospect in the draft, while MLB Pipeline has him at 20 and Fangraphs has him at 33.

8 Ks out of his 9 outs between the 2 games.

Wright pitched 72.2 IP in 2015. All but 9 were with Swihart (4.24 ERA). Swihart caught 6.2 innings with Wright in 2016 (1.35 ERA). He caught 0.2 IP this year with 1 ER allowed.

Maybe our starter depth is an illusion, but I'm pretty certain most teams don't have the SP'er depth we have. Steven Wright (our best pitcher for a half season before getting hurt) Velazquez & Johnson (3 GS, 16.2 IP, 4 ER --2.20 ERA) Pom has certainly sucked, but he still could return to near 2017 levels. ERod has looked sharp and is finally living up to expectations after finally getting his knee fixed. Porcello won the freakin' Cy Young just 2 years ago, and has pitched well this year. Price is a wild card due to his injury or pending injury, but he can be an ace as easily as just about anyone else. Sale is again in the Cy Young race. The Yankee rotation has way more question marks than ours. The Astros rotation started out on fire, and probably will end up better than ours, but it's close. Cleveland always has injury issues with their starters. We stack up pretty well with anyone, and our offense is right up there, too.

We must be using smoke and mirrors, since all our starters suck, except Sale.

How often did Swihart catch Wright in the minors? Anyone know?

I love baseball, but my obsession ends with the Sox. 162 games is enough.

It's a dig at Fenway. The seats down the first base line to RF all face CF and not home plate. I got s stiff neck watching a game with my head turned left for 4 hours.

Yes, those crazy angles are funky, and it wouldn't change the charm of the park to take them out, but overall, the park is very very nice.

We have a nice 9 game stretch, but it gets tougher after that: 3 vs DET 3 vs CWS 3 @ BAL 4 @ SEA 3 @ MN 3 vs SEA 3 vs LAA 3 @ NYY 3 @ WSH Then, I nice stretch right before the AS Break: 3 @ KCR 3 vs TEX 4 vs TOR

Yes, Holt and Nunez are better than most teams have as third base depth. just one is probably better!.

I rarely critisize in game managerial moves, but while at the game last night I was surprised Porchello was not yanked when he walked Kemp on 4 pitches. I still am thrilled with Cora so far.

We really don't have a good platoon match for Moreland. They all hit righties better.

well said. I'm hoping these two wins spring board us into another long hot streak.

It was a tough job, but someone had to do it! Hope we have started a nice winning stretch here.

My daughter's high school was named after Texas pioneer William B Travis. Sam Travis is a little Sam Houston and a little William Travis.

We moved down behind the sox dugout for the 7th to 9th inning. Great game. Thunderstorms opened up right after we got to the van.

It's beenover 95 for 15 straight days, and we haven't even hit summer, yet. You have to play indoors in this sauna. The park here is really nice. There's a huge window in LF that gives you a feeling of being outdoors. The grass is green. The seats are comfortable and all facing home plate. I've been to over a dozen MLB parks and this is one of the best.

I take back all the crap I spewed on Holt. I was dead wrong.

You are 100% wrong. This park is beautiful!

I'm at the game. I called for Porcello to be taken out after walking Kemp on 4 pitches. Oh well. Barnes came threw nicely. beni hit another bomb. Moreland, too! Hope the pen can hold the lead. Nunez sucks on D.

Yes indeed. I'm no where near the point of suggesting Devers be benched or sent to AAA. It may be getting close to the point of demoting him in the line-up a little bit, but who is hitting well enough to leap frog him? Maybe, if Pedey returns near form, he can knock Devers down one slot (at least vs lefties).

Look how nice it was having someone with power up in the 1 slot worked for us last night (see #2 point). I do agree on Moreland's likely return to near his career norm. What will we do then? Assume Pedey comes back pretty close to what he was, which means very little power, and Devers settles in around .750 to .775. Our line-up might have some issues... We might go with this... 1) Betts (over .900) 2) Bogey (over .800) 3) Beni (over .800) 4) JD (over .900) 5) Moreland (maybe around .800) 6) Devers (.750-.775) 7) Pedey (.760-.780) 8) JBJ (hopefully ends up over .680) 9) Leon (over .600) This could be enough, but having a great 5 slot hitter sure helps. Plus, it pushed everyone else down a notch, thereby upgrading most of the 6-9 slots.

I'd have gotten stuck between the seats!

I caught a lot of grief for suggesting we sign Moustakas and move Devers to part time 1B, DH and 3B. Asking a 21 year old to learn on the fly during a highly charged championship run was tempting fate. I was more worried about Devers' defense, but now his offense has become an issue. The Moreland signing puzzled me, but it has worked out very well, especially with the release of HRam. We may end up having to live or die with Devers. I could think of worse problems, but it could become a major issue. Holt and Devers offer some help, especially if Pedey can come back strong, but neither looks like a good choice to become a FT 3Bman. I will say, if our weakest position is 3B/2B and we have 4 guys with some positives on their side all looking for playing time, we're not all that bad off.