Spinners Notebook

As the Lowell Spinners neared the mid-point of the 2012 season with the worst record in the New York-Penn League, manager Bruce Crabbe said he thought youth and inexperience were the primary reasons for the team’s lack of success.

“I’ve never been around a group that practices as well as they do and then go into games and not play as well as they practice,” he said. “But that’s a sign it is there. It’s a matter of working through nerves or inability to make the routine plays at times. They play a little uptight, and I think that’s youth and not a lot of experience. We do have some collegiate pitchers, but the position players, most of them are pretty young.

“A lot of times the stats aren’t telling,” the manager added. “But they don’t lie either. We’re last in hitting and we’re last in pitching, and usually that results in last in the league.”

Well, the Spinners are still last in hitting with a .233 team average and near the bottom of the league in runs scored. But the pitching staff has suddenly begun to click.

Heading into Tuesday’s off-day in the schedule, the Spinners had won seven of nine games. Lowell’s pitchers forged a 1.54 ERA in that stretch, lowering the staff ERA from 4.79 to 4.15. They threw a club-record three consecutive shutouts – the first time a Lowell minor-league team had done that since the 1915 Lowell Grays of the old Class B New England League – and a record 30 straight scoreless innings. Spinners pitchers even ended a stretch of 136 games in which they had issued at least one walk, a streak that dated back to Aug. 11, 2010.

They shut out Williamsport 7-0, a good-hitting State College club 1-0 and 2-0, and then swept the series from State College with a 2-1 victory on Monday in which the scoreless streak ended on a squeeze bunt.

“The new guys that signed are finally starting to get comfortable here,” pitching coach Paul Abbott said. “The professional routine is starting to show. They’re throwing strikes, and they’re throwing quality strikes, using both sides of the plate instead of just trying to nibble. They’re more aggressive, using their secondary pitches, and the results are showing.”

Congratulations to outfielder Lew Ford, the 1999 Spinner who made it back to the major leagues on Sunday after a five-year absence when the Baltimore Orioles selected his contract from Triple-A Norfolk. Ford hadn’t played in the majors since 2007 when the Minnesota Twins let him go. At the time Ford was having problems with one of his knees and went to play in Japan but lasted only 47 games. The Colorado Rockies brought him to camp in 2009 but released him at the end of spring training. He latched on with the Long Island Ducks of the independent Atlantic League and finished second in the batting race with a .330 average. The Cincinnati Reds purchased his contract in September and put him at Triple-A Louisville, but he wasn’t re-signed after the season.

Ford played 39 games in the Mexican League in 2010 and then re-signed with the Ducks last year, hitting .318 and slugging .531. He was off to a terrific start with the Ducks this season, hitting .333 and slugging .643 when the Orioles purchased his contract and sent him to Class AAA Norfolk in mid-May. He proved to the Orioles he could still play at the age of 35 by hitting .331 with 14 doubles, 3 triples, 11 homers, 40 RBI, eight steals, and 35 runs in 62 games while slugging .550 and posting a .390 on-base percentage. Ford notched his first major-league hit since 2007 with a double in the Orioles’ 11-5 squashing of the New York Yankees on Tuesday night.

 

The Spinners, who were leading the NY-PL in homers with 19 on July 20, have not connected for one in their last 10 games. The club record for consecutive games without a homer is 12, set in 2000 … The Red Sox are fond of saying that player development at this level is more important than winning games, and right now Spinners righthander Braden Kapteyn just might be the newest poster boy for that philosophy. Kapteyn, who played first base and pitched irregularly at the University of Kentucky, did not become a full-time pitcher until the Red Sox drafted him in the 15^th round last year and gave him a $125,000 signing bonus. His 2011 season with the Spinners was nothing short of disastrous as he walked 22 batters and threw 18 wild pitches in 14 innings while compiling a 12.21 ERA, although he did strike out 22 batters. After he walked six batters in four innings in his first two outings this year, things finally began clicking for Kapteyn. In his last 10 outings, Kapteyn has posted a 1.71 ERA in 15 2/3 innings while cutting his walks to eight in that stretch, allowing five hits, and fanning 14 while earning two saves … Catcher Oscar Perez has picked five runners off base so far this season … Red Sox brass had to be holding their breath when Brian Johnson, their $1.575 million investment who was taken in the first round of the June draft, took a line drive off a shin just 16 pitches into his pro debut on Sunday. Johnson was removed from the game as a precaution and is expected to make his next start as scheduled. “It stung a little bit, but I was good to go,” Johnson said afterward. “I was begging them to let me stay in.” But Crabbe wasn’t listening. “There’s no chance of taking any chances with that guy,” the manager said.

 

Meet the Spinners: Zach Good

Until he suddenly couldn’t find the plate with any of his pitches, Texas-born lefthander Zach Good was on track as a Red Sox prospect. The 20-year-old Good was drafted by the Red Sox in the 20^th round last June and received a generous $140,000 signing bonus to keep him from transferring to a Division I college.

After having undergone Tommy John surgery while in high school, Good enrolled at Grayson County Community College in Texas. Although his record for the Vikings was only 5-4 with 60 strikeouts in 64 innings, Good impressed the scouts during the NCAA Division I Junior College World Series last year by hurling eight scoreless innings in the championship game with 10 strikeouts.

After being drafted and signed by the Red Sox, Good pitched for Fort Myers in the rookie Gulf Coast League last summer and was 0-1 with a 1.88 ERA in nine games, eight of them starts. That earned him a promotion to Lowell for the 2012 season.

Although he lost two of them, Good’s first three starts for the Spinners were impressive as he compiled a 1.69 ERA in 16 innings. And then his troubles began. In his next five outings he walked 22 batters and allowed 18 hits and 18 runs in 13 1/3 innings while striking out just five batters and posting a 12.15 ERA. Leading the New York-Penn League in losses (0-6) and in walks (29 in 29 1/3 innings), the Red Sox shut him down this week and put him on the 7-day disabled list. During that time Spinners pitching coach Paul Abbott and Red Sox instructors can work on getting him back on track as a prospect.

Meet the Spinners: Matt Gedman

Spinners third baseman Matt Gedman has major-league bloodlines. His father, Rich, was a two-time All-Star catcher for the Red Sox and played in the 1986 World Series. Rich was also the Spinners hitting coach when Matt first arrived in Lowell late last summer, and he is now the hitting coach at advanced Class A Salem.
Matt Gedman, however, didn’t limit himself to playing baseball while growing up in Framingham. He was also a hockey goalie and spent his freshman year as the backup netminder at UMass Amherst before deciding to focus exclusively on baseball. He played summer ball for the Lowell All-Americans of the New England Collegiate League in 2010, and in 2011, his senior year at UMass Amherst, he led the MAAC in hitting with a .402 average in 45 games while swatting 5 homers and driving in 32 runs.
The Red Sox drafted him in the 45th round, and he began his pro career with Fort Myers in the rookie Gulf Coast League, where he hit .282 with 2 homers and 15 RBI in 117 at-bats. The Red Sox promoted Gedman to Lowell late in the season, and he struggled, hitting .169 with a homer and 2 RBI in 23 games. But he also got to play the final game of the season for the Class AA Portland Sea Dogs.
Back in Lowell for the 2012 season, Gedman has been one of the Spinners’ most consistent and productive hitters. He hit .269 with 3 doubles, 2 homers, and 14 RBI in 25 games during the first half. His 14 RBI ranked him second on the team. He reached base safely with a hit or walk in 20 of his first 23 starts.

Spinners Notebook

Shortstop Deven Marrero, the Red Sox’ first pick in last month’s draft, is closing in on a Lowell Spinners record. Marrero has scored a run in eight consecutive games — no mean feat for one of the weakest offensive teams in the New York-Penn League. The club record is nine, first accomplished by Angel Santos in 1998 and matched by future Red Sox outfielder Ryan Kalish in 2007. Marrero has scored nine times during his streak.
Right fielder Kendrick Perkins, one of the few genuine prospects the Spinners have on the club, hasn’t played since July 17. Perkins, who is hitting .245 with 4 homers, 13 RBI, and 21 runs in 28 games, has been undergoing treatment for an infected boil.
Center fielder Williams Jerez, a second-round pick by the Red Sox last year, is finished for the year after suffering a hand injury on July 14 that will require surgery. Jerez, a raw five-tool player, was hitting .241 with three doubles, five RBI, and three stolen bases in 23 games.
The Red Sox released two members of the Spinners in recent days.  They gave up on oft-injured middle infielder Jason Thompson, who was hitting .231 with no extra-base hits and two RBI in 10 games this season. Thompson, who received a $300,000 signing bonus from the Red Sox as an 11th-round pick in 2009, was never healthy long enough to show what he could do. He never got higher than low Class A Greenville during his four years in the organization, and only played eight games there.
Also jettisoned was righthanded reliever Leandro Marin. Marin looked like a bright prospect when he went 3-2 with a 2.89 ERA in 27 games as a reliever at Greenville in 2009 and fanned 56 batters in 43 2/3 innings. But three games into the 2010 season at advanced Class A Salem Marin blew out his elbow and needed Tommy John surgery. Marin missed the remainder of that season and all of 2011. So it had been more than two years since he threw his last official pitch when he joined the Spinners at the start of the 2012 season. It was expected he would be a key contributor in Lowell’s bullpen, but he failed to retire a batter in his season’s debut on June 19, walking three batters, giving up two hits, uncorking two wild pitches, and being charged with five runs while turning a 2-1 Lowell lead into an 11-4 loss to Connecticut. Things didn’t get much better for Marin after that, and he had a 9.28 ERA with 13 hits and 13 walks allowed in 10 2/3 innings with 14 strikeouts when the Red Sox cut him loose because he wasn’t making progress.
Matt Marquis, the outfielder who plays with hemophilia, rejoined the Spinners this past week. Marquis hit .337 with three homers and 13 RBI in 25 games for the Spinners at the end of last summer. He wasn’t getting much playing time at Greenville. Manager Bruce Crabbe expects to have him play regularly in Lowell’s lineup.

Meet the Spinners: Jake Davies

The newest member of the Spinners, first baseman Jake Davies was promoted from Fort Myers of the rookie Gulf Coast League last weekend and went 1-for-3 in his first Lowell game. Davies, a 21^st-round pick by the Red Sox out of the renowned baseball program at Georgia Tech, hit .279 with 7 doubles, 1 homer, and 9 RBI in 20 games in Fort Myers. Notable Georgia Tech alumni include Jason Varitek, Nomar Garciaparra, and Mark Teixeira.

The 22-year-old Davies is the younger brother of Kyle Davies, who pitched in the majors for the Braves and Royals from 2005-11. While also a pitcher growing up in Georgia, Jake says he always enjoyed hitting more. He was recruited to be a pitcher at Georgia Tech, and in his first two seasons he worked out of the bullpen, posting a 2-0 record and 3.52 ERA in 17 appearances. But when the Yellow Jackets needed a first baseman in 2011, Davies got the first shot at it and hit .347 with 13 doubles, 5 homers, and 35 RBI in 61 games. He went undrafted after his junior year but attracted the attention of scouts this past spring when he hit .326 with 14 homers and 73 RBI in 63 games as a senior and was named the MVP of the ACC Tournament.

Spinners Notebook

The Red Sox have promoted 20-year-old outfielder Jesus Loya from Fort Myers in the rookie Gulf Coast League to the Spinners. Loya was hitting .425 with 3 doubles and 7 RBI through 12 games at Fort Myers with 4 stolen bases. Last year at Fort Myers Loya hit .267 with 2 homers, 8 RBI, and 13 stolen bases in 48 games … Second baseman Jason Thompson, who was in his second season with the Spinners, was released by the Red Sox on Thursday. Thompson, who battled injuries throughout his four-year minor-league career, was signed for a $300,000 bonus as an 11th-round pick in 2009. He was hitting .231 for Lowell with no extra-base hits and 2 RBI in 10 games … Second baseman Dreily Guerrero, who began the season with the Spinners before being promoted to Greenville, has rejoined Lowell, replacing Thompson on the roster. Guerrero had 9 hits in 16 at-bats (.563) for the Spinners when he was promoted. He went 1-for-5 in his return to the Lowell lineup on Friday night, extending his Spinners hitting streak to 6 games … Through Friday night’s game against Mahoning Valley, Spinners pitchers have walked at least one batter in 122 consecutive games dating back to Aug. 11, 2010 …  The Spinners, who set a club record with 55 homers last season, are leading the NY-PL in that department with 15 … Center fielder Williams Jerez has a 5-game hitting streak. He is 6-for-18 in that stretch (.333), raising his average from .230 to .253 … Catcher Oscar Perez was 0-for-19 before breaking that streak with a two-run double in the eighth inning on Friday night … First baseman Nathan Minnich 0-for-13 in the month of July … Outfielder Seth Schwindenhammer has tied the club record for career homers with 12, set by outfielder Carlos Rodriguez in 1999 … When William Cuevas became the fourth reliever in Spinners history to strike out 10 batters in a game on Thursday, it was the first double-digit strikeout game by any Lowell pitcher since reliever Ryan Pressly fanned 10 in 4 innings against Aberdeen on Aug. 10, 2009. Cuevas ranks third in the NY-PL in strikeouts with 27 in 26 innings.

More Surgery for Ryan Westmoreland

It’s looking less and less likely that former Lowell Spinners outfielder and one-time No. 1 Red Sox prospect Ryan Westmoreland will be able to ever resume his baseball career. The Red Sox announced Friday that Westmoreland had undergone another surgery to remove a cavernous malformation in his brain, the same operation he had in 2010. Dr. Robert Spetzler, who performed the first delicate operation, performed this one.  The Red Sox characterized the latest surgery as successful, but successful does not necessarily
mean Westmoreland will regain the necessary motor skills to play baseball at a high level again.
Westmoreland has not played a minor-league game since he broke his collarbone running into the outfield fence making a catch at LeLacheur Park in August of 2009. Westmoreland, a fifth-round pick by the Red Sox in 2008 who received a $2 million bonus to sign, was named as the top prospect in the New York-Penn League and the top prospect in the Red Sox organization after his spectacular debut season with the Spinners in 2009. During spring training the following season the first cavernous malformation, a tangle of blood vessels that had begun to leak, was discovered, leading to surgery that may have saved his life.

Meet the Spinners: Jacob Dahlstrand

Jacob Dahlstrand, a 20-year-old righthander, was born in Houston, Tex. As a senior at Memorial High School in Houston, Dahlstrand was 7-2 with a 3.83 ERA, numbers that weren’t especially impressive for a pro prospect. But the Red Sox loved his 92-mph sinker. They selected him in the 10^th round of the 2010 draft and signed him for a $150,000 bonus, convincing him to forsake his scholarship to the University of Houston.

Dahlstrand signed late and pitched only three innings at Fort Myers of the rookie Gulf Coast League that summer. He spent all of last season at Fort Myers, dividing his time between starting and pitching in relief. Although he was 0-3 with a 7.13 ERA in eight GCL games in 2011, Dahlstrand proved to be much more effective as a starter, posting a 3.00 ERA in three starts.

Now in his third minor-league season, Dahlstrand is still looking for his first pro victory. Through Tuesday Dahlstrand was 0-1 with a 4.80 ERA in three starts for the Spinners.

 

Meet the Spinners: William Cuevas

William Cuevas was born on Oct. 14, 1990, in Caracas, Venezuela. Signed by the Red Sox as an international free agent when he was 17, the 6-0, 160-pound righthander spent his first two professional years pitching in the Dominican Summer League. Cuevas compiled a 4-1 record with three saves and a 3.17 ERA in his first year in 2009 and followed that up with a 2-4 record with one save and a 3.11 ERA the next.

After making three more appearances in the DSL in 2011 without giving up an earned run and issuing just one walk while fanning 12 batters in 10 2/3 innings, the Red Sox promoted Cuevas to Fort Myers in the rookie Gulf Coast League. Cuevas went 2-1 with one save and a 2.79 ERA there.

Promoted to Lowell for 2012, Cuevas got off to a terrific start with 13 scoreless innings, just two-thirds of an inning shy of the club record for scoreless innings at the start of a Spinners career set by Danny Lampley in 1998. He finally gave up a run in his fourth Lowell appearance, and it was the only run he allowed in 5 1/3 innings of relief against the Tri-City ValleyCats. Cuevas has been one of the Spinners’ most effective pitchers so far, compiling a 1.77 ERA in five outings.

 

Spinners Notebook: It’s Still Arctic Winter in Lowell

Spinners fans are girding themselves for another terrible summer … maybe the worst one yet.

The 2012 season is already more than a quarter finished, and the Spinners are 5-16, losers of 10 in a row and 15 of their last 16 games heading into Monday night’s road trip finale at Batavia. The Spinners are on a pace for an 18-58 record, and they are challenging the worst record in the history of the New York-Penn League as a short-season league, Batavia’s 16-59 mark in 1981. That is, if the Connecticut Tigers, who have been every bit as awful as the Spinners, don’t beat them to it. The Spinners are one loss shy of matching their club record of 11 straight defeats in 2010.

Lowell fans might have been getting spoiled after Stedler Division titles in 2008 and 2009 and a run of six winning seasons in seven years. But the last three summers have snapped them back into reality. The Spinners were 24-50 in 2010 and 29-45 last year.

It’s not hard to figure out why. The Red Sox have not been sending many top prospects their way, and when they do they’re either too young for the league or overwhelmed by the caliber of the play. Take outfielder Bryce Brentz, for example, who did lead the Spinners in RBI in 2010 with 39 but batted .198 with just five homers and struck out 76 times in 69 games. Last year Brentz hit .306 with 30 homers and 94 RBI in Class A ball. Asked how he turned himself around, Brentz replied: “Every time I got into a slump I asked myself what I would have done in Lowell and then I did just the opposite.”

The Spinners were dead last in the NY-PL in pitching and fielding in 2010 and 12^th in batting and runs. Last year they were next-to-last in pitching and 10^th among the 14 clubs in batting, runs, and fielding. Their pitchers don’t throw enough strikes. Lowell pitchers led the league in walks last year and are second in that department so far this year. They don’t have enough power arms to intimidate opposing hitters. Their own hitters are befuddled. While they do rank near the top of the league in home runs with 12, it’s a case of all or nothing for Spinners hitters. They have only 22 doubles and one triple in 21 games and have been held to nothing but singles – and darn few of those – five times during the 10-game losing streak.

After getting off to a terrific start, first baseman David Chester is fighting a 2-for-35 slump over his last 10 games and is hitless in his last 16 at-bats. Top Red Sox pick Deven Marrero also got off to a hot start and then went into a 2-for-29 tailspin, including hitless streaks of 13 and 10 at-bats. Nathan Minnich is 0-for-13 after Sunday’s 4-2 loss in Batavia, Oscar Perez 0-for-11, Tim Roberson 0-for-10 and batting .095. Seth Schwindenhammer, in his third year with the Spinners, is batting .103. Zach Kapstein is hitting .122, Minnich .150. On the pitching side, Jadd Schmeltzer is 0-3 with a 13.97 ERA with 21 hits and seven walks allowed in 9 2/3 innings with just four strikeouts. Dylan Chavez is 0-2 in three appearances with a 10.80 ERA. Rehabbing Leandro Marin is 1-2 with a 9.72 ERA and 11 hits and nine walks allowed in 8 1/3 innings.

We’re constantly reminded that the darkest hour is just before dawn. But the Spinners have been trapped in an Arctic winter going on three years now.