Right-hander Matt Barnes has the lowest ERA in the minors after six shutout innings on Thursday (Darrell Snow / Greenville Drive)

Matt Barnes, the minor league leader in strikeouts, had his fewest punchouts of the season, tallying “just” five over six innings in his eighth start of the year (and his third since being promoted to High-A Salem) while relying primarily on his fastball. Yet he enjoyed his best statistical line.

The right-hander permitted just three baserunners — two on singles, one on a walk — in delivering six shutout innings, needing just 74 pitches (47 strikes) to get through the outing. It was the first time he had not given up a run in a High-A start (though in fairness, he gave up just one earned run in each of his first two starts at the level). Three starts into his time at Salem, Barnes now has a 1.00 ERA while averaging 12.5 strikeouts and one walk per nine innings. Opponents are hitting .175 against him.

Barnes, of course, will need a more complete mix in order to continue his dominance. But on Thursday, he kept his swing-and-miss curve and changeup in his pocket for most of the game, since his fastball command and life were good enough to mow through the Carolina lineup.

It wasn’t preplanned, but that emphasis on his fastball has developmental value, since the Sox have wanted Barnes to work on further honing his fastball command — something that can be difficult to do when throwing 94-98 mph in the lower levels of the minors, with the sort of velocity on which young hitters rarely can punish missed locations.

This is the challenge of Barnes’ development to date. His stuff is simply better than the level of competition at which he’s been playing. Even on a day when he leans primarily on one pitch, he can dominate.

At 21, he has been overpowering. His 0.60 ERA is the best in the minors. He continues to lead the minors with 67 punchouts. His 0.65 WHIP is the best in the minors, and opponents’ .148 batting average against him is the fifth lowest in the minors. It is the sort of performance that forces prospects onto a fast track, simply in order to ensure that they are challenged enough to continue their development.

TRIPLE-A PAWTUCKET RED SOX: 5-0 LOSS AT DURHAM (RAYS)

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– Daisuke Matsuzaka recorded the longest outing of his minor league rehab assignment, delivering 6 2/3 innings in Durham for Triple-A Pawtucket, but the right-hander was once again touched for a pair of homers while allowing five runs (four earned) on seven hits. He struck out three and walked none while throwing 64 of 95 pitches (67 percent) for strikes, and he was charged with the loss in Pawtucket’s 5-0 defeat. Read the rest of this entry »

Jose Iglesias had been hitting like crazy since the last day of April, but the 22-year-old shortstop had been spraying line drives around the park. Even during a stretch of 11 games that included seven multi-hit contests, he had totaled just two extra-base hits.

And so, Tuesday represented a notable milestone for Iglesias. The shortstop cleared the left-field fence for his first homer of the year, lining a fastball off of Rays prospect (and UMass alum) Matt Torra just over the left field wall in Durham. It was part of a 3-for-5 night in which Iglesias matched a season high for hits while delivering just his second career homer, the continuation of a stretch in which Iglesias has gotten the best results of his career.

Since April 30, when Iglesias collected a pair of hits to nudge his average up to .200 for the season’s first month, the shortstop has been on a tear. In 12 games, he’s hitting .388 (fifth in the International League in that stretch) with a .423 OBP (10th in the league), .510 slugging mark and .933 OPS (11th). For the first time, he’s showing in a sustained stretch — dating to even before the start of the hot streak — that he has adjusted to the level of competition in an advanced league that features pitchers with legitimate breaking balls and, in many cases, big league experience.

For the season, Iglesias now has a line of .262/.322/.315/.637. It’s not a spectacular performance, but it nearly replicates the league average (.250/.326/.376/.702) at a level that features much older competition. And the more recent performance — which is also noteworthy for the fact that Iglesias has struck out just four times while walking three times over this stretch of 52 plate appearances — lends credence to the notion that the shortstop can be more than a defensive hitter who is a zero in the lineup.

TRIPLE-A PAWTUCKET RED SOX: 8-2 WIN AT DURHAM (RAYS)

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– Like Iglesias, Che-Hsuan Lin started to get hot at the end of an otherwise tough April and has been hitting ever since. He went 2-for-3 with a walk on Tuesday, and in his last 14 games, he’s hitting .372 (seventh in the International League since April 30) with a .491 OBP (third), .488 slugging mark and .979 OPS (10th). The 23-year-old now has a better-than-league-average line of .264/.359/.382/.741, and given his excellent defense in center field, the performance is intriguing.

Lin has struggled with being too passive at times throughout his minor league career, something that has driven high walks totals and solid OBPs despite low batting averages. But hitting coordinator Victor Rodriguez and PawSox hitting coach Gerald Perry have been working with the native of Taiwan to be ready to hone that passiveness into selectivity with a readiness to take some rips at pitches that he can handle, with positive results to date this year.

“He’s really worked on his approach at the plate,” said farm director Ben Crockett. “He’s someone who does such a good job of taking pitches and working the count that sometimes it can work against him. He’s really trying to make the adjustment of being ready to attack, and I think it’s paid off a little bit in the numbers and will continue to be a focus for him.” Read the rest of this entry »

Right-hander Matt Barnes has thrown 16 scoreless innings to start his pro career. (John Corneau / Lowell Spinners)

Matt Barnes, the 2011 top pick (No. 19 overall) of the Red Sox, enjoyed singular dominance in his five starts in Greenville, allowing just one run in 26 2/3 innings while striking out 42 and walking four. He simply overmatched his competition.

There was only one nit to pick. The 21-year-old, one of the top college arms in last year’s draft, had the pedigree that suggested that he was better tested by more advanced competition, rather than in a Single-A South Atlantic League where few opposing hitters have ever seen the combination of a mid-90s fastball and a swing-and-miss curveball along the lines of what Barnes features (along with a promising but still-developing changeup). Barnes would be tested more properly, it seemed safe to assume, at higher levels.

And so, his debut with High-A Salem on Saturday night merited considerable curiosity. Yet the result was, in some respects, more dominant than anything Barnes had done while pitching in Greenville.

Though he allowed one run on four hits and a walk, he struck out 12 batters, nine of them swinging. It was the first time that Barnes had reached double digits in strikeouts as a pro. And so, with that outing, any asterisk was removed. Barnes leads the minors with 54 strikeouts and is second in pro ball with a 0.55 ERA through six starts. If he has more performances like Saturday’s, the question will rapidly shift from the one that hovered over his first five starts — when will he be promoted to Salem? — to the matter of whether he might make another move to Double-A Portland this summer.

The Sox have had pitchers make it up to Portland in their first full pro season. Most recently, it was 2009 second-rounder Alex Wilson who made the jump, though Wilson was 23 and had pitched in the summer he was drafted in Lowell. Justin Masterson likewise went from High-A to Double-A in his first full pro season, but he, too, had pitched for Lowell.

Barnes, who signed on Aug. 15 (too late to pitch in Lowell), had never pitched in a pro game entering this year. But so far, there has been no evidence of his experience deficit. There has only been excellence, something that he has carried — for at least one start — to a new level.

TRIPLE-A PAWTUCKET RED SOX: 9-3 WIN AT SCRANTON WILKES-BARRE (YANKEES)

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– Mark Melancon allowed a couple hits but kept his 0.00 ERA intact in an inning in which he struck out one and got two groundballs. He has now thrown 7 2/3 innings over seven games, and he has recorded all 23 of his outs via either strikeout (12) or groundball (11). Read the rest of this entry »

Jose iglesias hit the ground running in his return to Triple-A. (AP)

Jose Iglesias did not appear in either of the two games for which he was summoned to the majors, and so with Will Middlebrooks now up in place of Kevin Youkilis, the Red Sox moved swiftly to option him back to Pawtucket so that he could return to the lineup on Thursday. The result was one of the better stat lines of Iglesias’ professional career. He went 2-for-3 with a pair of walks, matching a career high (achieved four times in 2010 with Double-A Portland, and never before in Triple-A) by reaching base four times.

It is interesting to note that Iglesias, who endured periods of trying to pull the ball in the past, seems more comfortable than ever going up the middle and to the opposite field. His singles (one a line drive to right, one a grounder to second) both were to the right side of the field, while his out was on a ball hit to center. During the spring, the most notable aspect of his game was that he was driving the ball to center in a way that made center fielders have to go back on the ball.

All of that is consistent with Red Sox farm director Ben Crockett‘s claim that Iglesias is showing an approach that was not properly reflected by his numbers. After Friday, he is hitting .216/.300/.227/.527.

One caveat in Iglesias’ day: Toledo starter Casey Crosby issued seven walks, so there was a bit of a chicken-and-egg question with regards to Iglesias’ patience on Thursday.

TRIPLE-A PAWTUCKET RED SOX: 6-4 LOSS AT TOLEDO (DETROIT)

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– Back in Triple-A, Junichi Tazawa submitted a dominant outing. He retired all seven batters he faced, striking out five and getting two on groundouts. Between Triple-A and the majors, Tazawa now has 10 appearances this year (five with the Red Sox, five with the PawSox) and has yet to allow a run. He’s struck out 18 and walked two in 15 2/3 innings between the two levels. Read the rest of this entry »

Left-hander Andrew Miller tossed 1 2/3 scoreless innings of relief in Pawtucket. (AP)

Andrew Miller continued to impress in his rehab progression, while a number of Red Sox prospects enjoyed big days at the plate in offensive explosions by both Triple-A Pawtucket and High-A Salem.

TRIPLE-A PAWTUCKET RED SOX: WON 10-1 AT ROCHESTER (TWINS)

– Left-hander Andrew Miller, in his first rehab appearance in Triple-A following a pair with Single-A Greenville, built up his pitch count, requiring 39 pitches to log 1 2/3 shutout innings. Miller came on in relief of Brandon Duckworth for the sixth inning and recorded five outs (two strikeouts, three groundballs) while walking two and working around a fielding error by third baseman Will Middlebrooks. According to PawSox broadcaster Steve Hyder, Miller touched 97 mph with his fastball. The left-hander will pitch again on Sunday for the PawSox.

– Jose Iglesias went 3-for-5 (all singles) with a run, an RBI and a steal. It was his first three-hit game of the season (indeed, it was his first multi-hit game of the year); the shortstop had three three-hit games for the PawSox last year.

– Outfielder Che-Hsuan Lin had a homer and a double for the PawSox, just the second time in 90 Triple-A games that he’s had multiple extra-base hits in a contest. Lin also walked. Lin and Iglesias were joined by Nate Spears, Ryan Lavarnway and Lars Anderson in producing multiple hits for the PawSox.

DOUBLE-A PORTLAND SEA DOGS: LOST 5-1 VS. BINGHAMTON (METS) Read the rest of this entry »

FORT MYERS, Fla. — The Red Sox held their first formal workout inside the brand new jetBlue Park Tuesday morning as manager Bobby Valentine threw and batted balls off the left and right field walls to simulate cutoff plays and throwing in the park that has the identical outfield dimensions as the club’s Fenway Park home.

Valentine said he is making a point this year of improving outfield defense and throwing strength, trying to improve the throwing arms of all of his outfielders.

“Part of the program today was cutoffs and positioning with our relays,” Valentine said. “This is our ballpark and we’re going to play at least 81 games in it and it’s great to have it and practice in. So, because there are a couple of nooks and crannies that are particular to ours, I think, obviously, our cutoffs and relays are a little different at times so, it’s good.”

Eight-time Gold Glover Dwight Evans paid a visit to Red Sox camp on Tuesday.

“I’d love to talk to Dwight about that,” Valentine said. “He’s one of the good men. And, I hear [Carl Yastrzemski] comes to camp, too. I hope I can get him over. There hasn’t been an invite out only because I didn’t know he’d be down here.”

While Valentine was poking fun at Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez for fighting the now-retired Jason Varitek, Valentine took a shot at another Yankee, Derek Jeter, and his famous cutoff play near the plate that resulted in a crucial put out of Jeremy Giambi in Game 4 of the 2001 ALDS.

“We’ll never practice that. We’ll never practice that. I think the ball gets him out if he doesn’t touch it, personally. But the Jeter-like simulation today is the idea what the first baseman and third baseman do as the ball is coming in.”

Outfield prospect Che-Hsuan Lin has already impressed with his arm in the outfield in workouts.

“I know we have one outstanding thrower according to [outfield instructor/first base coach]Alex Ochoa, and it’s not Alex and he was an outstanding thrower. Lin is in a different place. From reports, a couple of the arms are a little lower on the rating scale, and we’re going to try to adjust for that.” Read the rest of this entry »

The Red Sox need to create a roster spot for outfielder Cody Ross. (AP)

As first pointed out by Brian MacPherson of the Providence Journal (via twitter), the Red Sox face a bit of a roster crunch at the moment. The team’s 40-man roster is currently fully occupied, meaning that in order to finalize the recent one-year, $3 million deal with outfielder Cody Ross, the Sox will have to create space for the 31-year-old.

According to a team source, the Sox are in the process of “exploring everything” with regards to freeing that spot, though at the moment, there’s no sense that the team will contemplate anything “significant” with regards to its roster. While there are still some available starting pitchers on the market, the most straightforward way in which the Sox might clear space on the 40-man would be either a deal involving one of the team’s many out-of-options pitchers (Matt Albers, Scott Atchison, Michael Bowden, Felix Doubront, Andrew Miller or Franklin Morales), since the Sox will be in a position where — barring a significant string of injuries — they will not be able to carry all of them on the major league roster. Indeed, it was with an eye towards that fact that the Sox spent time early in the offseason gauging trade interest in that group of pitchers, knowing that at some point, one or more would have to be removed from the roster.

The team could also consider a trade of one of its six outfielders who is currently on the 40-man roster. If they did so, Darnell McDonald (who is out-of-options) and Che-Hsuan Lin (who was added to the 40-man roster to protect him from the Rule 5 draft, but who (after hitting .235 with a .325 OBP, .293 slugging mark and .618 OPS in 85 Triple-A games as a 22-year-old last year) represents more of a depth option than a player whose skills (excellent defense, speed, a good command of the strike zone but limited offensive skills and no discernible power to this point in his career) create a clear big league role with the Sox.

And, if the team cannot deal one of those players for a minor league prospect (someone not on the 40-man roster) to clear a spot, it could always designate a player for assignment and hope to sneak him through waivers to the minors.

The 40-man roster bottleneck will ease somewhat late in spring training, when the Sox can put John Lackey and Daisuke Matsuzaka on the 60-day disabled list. But, until then, the Sox will need to create an opening for Ross in order to make his deal official.