Boston Red Sox Minor League Thread

[Reilly]

Shoppach homers twice in an inning

Power-hitting catchers are in short supply in professional baseball, but between Kelly Shoppach and Jason Varitek, the Boston Red Sox organization is quite stacked in that position.

Shoppach showed off his power Saturday afternoon in the International League, as the Pawtucket backstop homered twice in an eight-run second inning in a 14-5 Red Sox rout in Buffalo.

The 5-foot-11, 210-pound catcher led off the second inning against Bisons starter Jeremy Guthrie with a homer to right-center field. After a Dave Berg two-run double and RBI singles from Tim Hummel and Shawn Wooten, Shoppach came up again and hit his sixth homer of the season, to right-center with two runners on against Guthrie.

From there, the Red Sox cruised to their sixth victory of the season (against nine losses), although Pawtucket starter Tim Kester missed out on an easy win in only pitching four innings. Mark Malaska followed Kester to earn his first win of the season with three scoreless innings.

The Bisons took a 4-0 lead in the first inning on a Ryan Garko RBI single and a three-run homer from Andy Abad. Abad has three homers and 13 RBIs on the season.

Berg and Wooten each had three hits for the Red Sox.

Shoppach hit 22 homers last season for the PawSox. The game was the first of a scheduled doubleheader, however Saturday's finale was postponed because of rain. The teams will try for a doubleheader again Sunday starting at 1:05 p.m. at Dunn Tire Park.

[Reilly]

Miller to pitch for Sea Dogs

Wade Miller will spend the weekend in Portland, Maine, where the Boston Red Sox are hoping the weather holds off long enough to let the right-hander continue his rehabilitation stint.

Miller was slated to make his third rehab start on Saturday as the Eastern League-leading Sea Dogs host the Harrisburg Senators. However, the game was postponed because of rain and was rescheduled as a doubleheader on Sunday.

"If we have to push him back a day, we will," Boston manager Terry Francona said.

And so they will as Miller was set to pitch the first game on Sunday. Game time is 1 p.m. Miller began his way back to the majors on April 13, when he gave up two runs on four hits in 4 2/3 innings with Class A Greenville. On April 18, he went five innings for Class A Wilmington and allowed one run on six hits while striking out six.

Francona and the Red Sox are hoping Miller can throw about 90 pitches for Portland, which opened the season with a 10-game winning streak.

The World Series champion Red Sox took a chance on Miller, who was limited to 15 starts last season due to tendinitis in his pitching shoulder. He went 7-7 with a 3.35 ERA for the Houston Astros, then signed with Boston as a free agent last December 23.

[Reilly]

Power-hitting catchers are in short supply in professional baseball, but between Kelly Shoppach and Jason Varitek, the Boston Red Sox organization is quite stacked in that position.

Shoppach showed off his power Saturday afternoon in the International League, as the Pawtucket backstop homered twice in an eight-run second inning in a 14-5 Red Sox rout in Buffalo.

The 5-foot-11, 210-pound catcher led off the second inning against Bisons starter Jeremy Guthrie with a homer to right-center field. After a Dave Berg two-run double and RBI singles from Tim Hummel and Shawn Wooten, Shoppach came up again and hit his sixth homer of the season, to right-center with two runners on against Guthrie.

From there, the Red Sox cruised to their sixth victory of the season (against nine losses), although Pawtucket starter Tim Kester missed out on an easy win in only pitching four innings. Mark Malaska followed Kester to earn his first win of the season with three scoreless innings.

The Bisons took a 4-0 lead in the first inning on a Ryan Garko RBI single and a three-run homer from Andy Abad. Abad has three homers and 13 RBIs on the season.

Berg and Wooten each had three hits for the Red Sox.

Shoppach hit 22 homers last season for the PawSox.

The game was the first of a scheduled doubleheader, however Saturday's finale was postponed because of rain. The teams will try for a doubleheader again Sunday starting at 1:05 p.m. at Dunn Tire Park.

[seabeachfred]

Hey Reilly, if you're still around get back on board; you now have an ally to chat with. Shoppach didn't look good at all when he was with the Red Sox and I can only hope that was a mirage because we are going to need him this near with Mirabelli gone. The good news is that we got Mark Loretta in exchange and he will be a very good player next year. The guy can flat out hit and picket and is a very intelligent ballplayer.

[PapiTek06]

My guess is they will trade Shoppach and sign or trade for some cheap MLB-experienced backup catcher. I don't think the team is as high on him as they once was.