Ordinarily, the Red Sox would be getting ready to hold their annual Rookie Program in Boston, just weeks ahead of the start of spring training. But thanks to both the ongoing pandemic and the nearly two-month-old lockout, that's not feasible this year.
The camp usually features 10 or so players, most of whom with a chance to make their big league debuts before the end of the upcoming season. The players are housed in Boston, go through indoor workouts with Red Sox coaches and minor league personnel, and get exposed to the Boston market. The players undergo media training and are enlisted for charitable endeavors, like visits to local hospitals and schools.
But with many of the organization's top prospects --including Jarren Duran, Connor Seabold, and Jeter Downs -- also already on the 40-man roster, they're ineligible to take part. Under terms of the lockout, organizations can't so much as have contact with players on the 40-man roster, much less host them for a week's worth of activities.
So this year, the camp has taken on a vastly different look, and is being held at a different location. Instead of a focus on prospects closest to the big leagues, the invitees will come from all levels. And instead of being held in frigid Boston, the camp will be held in Fort Myers, Fla., at the team's spring training home and base for minor league activities.***premium**. In essence, rather than a final preparatory course, this is more akin to a football mini-camp, held annually before the start of training camp.
As much as anything, this program will be an extension of the team's Instructional League program, held every fall at the conclusion of the minor league seasons. Coaching and instruction will be the primary emphasis, and it will be a chance for the Sox to work with some newcomers to the organization, including middle infielder David Hamilton and third baseman Alex Binelas, both acquired in December's trade with Milwaukee.
Others invited to attend include Triston Casas, Blaze Jordan, Gilberto Jimenez, Nick Yorke, Chris Murphy and Thaddeus Ward.
The idea, as one Red Sox official noted, is to provide a platform from which some minor leaguers can prepare for spring training "and kind of hit the ground running.''
Beyond more individualized instruction, hitters will start their first work in the batting cage and pitchers will commence side sessions. However, there will be no intrasquad games at this point.
Even if the lockout persists well into February, as seems almost certain now, those players not part of the 40-man roster will be able to partake in minor league spring training and get ready for the start of minor league seasons in early April. Those seasons -- from Single A up through Triple A -- will proceed as scheduled, but without the participation of players on the 40-man roster.
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This week, two different lists continued to reveal the progress being made by the Red Sox minor league system.
Baseball America released its Top 100 prospects in the game, and the list featured four Sox prospects, the most on the list since 2016, when they placed five players.
Ranked by Baseball America were: Marcelo Mayer (No. 15), Triston Casas (No. 19), Nick Yorke (No. 31) and Jarren Duran (No. 91).er
Mayer was the team's first-round pick -- and No. 4 overall -- in last July's draft. Yorke was their first-round selection in 2020. Casas, who played for the U.S. Olympic team last summer and made it as high as Triple A Worcester, was a first-round pick in 2018 while Duran was selected in the seventh round in 2018 and took part in 33 games for Boston last season.
The last time Baseball America had as many as four prospects in their list, they were: Yoan Moncada, Andrew Benintendi, Rafael Devers, Anderson Espinoza and Michael Kopech. Moncada and Kopech were dealt for Chris Sale in December of 2016, while Espinoza was traded for Drew Pomeranz in July of 2016. Benintendi was shipped to Kansas City as part of a three-team deal last February. Only Devers remains with the Sox.
On Thursday, Baseball Prospectus released its own Top 101 prospect list, featuring the same four players -- albeit in a different order. Baseball Prospectus had Mayer at No. 17, Yorke at No. 40, Casas at No. 44 and Duran at No. 81
