Place not out of place

Poor numbers are to be expected

By Amalie Benjamin, Globe Staff  |  August 24, 2007

Sometimes home isn't the easiest place to be. Just ask Jason Place.

Playing 20 minutes from his hometown of Easley, S.C., the 19-year-old hasn't exactly overwhelmed in his first full year of professional baseball. But it's not what he terms the "extra pressure, extra emotions" of playing so close to home with Single A Greenville that have translated to the lack of production. Because if you ask those in the Red Sox organization, it isn't that unexpected.

"If these are the numbers we were staring at coming out of spring training, I don't know that we would be overly disappointed," said director of player development Mike Hazen. "They don't look the same as Lars [Anderson's] or Josh Reddick's or [Ryan] Kalish's, but when you're dealing with 18-, 19-year-old players, some guys are going to get it quicker than others. When we drafted Jason, there were some things we wanted to work on.

"He's got tremendous raw power. He's got tremendous hand speed. The ball just jumps off his bat. He probably has the best raw power in our system. It's been a few little adjustments along the way. We're certainly not there yet."

The Sox' first selection in the 2006 draft, 27th overall, Place is batting .215 with 21 doubles, 11 home runs, and 49 RBIs. He also has 144 strikeouts in 424 at-bats over 119 games. But Place has improved in that area since whiffing 35 times in 84 at-bats in April.

"I got a taste of what it's like playing every day," Place said. "I feel like this season was a success. I'm happy as long as I get better every day, and I felt like I got better every day.

"All year I have been uncomfortable with my mechanics, which is why I've struggled. In high school you can get away with so many flaws and still put up disgusting numbers. As you get to the professional minor leagues, there's less and less room for error."

So, even as the numbers lag, that doesn't mean Place wasn't worth such a high draft pick. Because with some players coming out of high school, Hazen said, "the reward is so high that it's worth every ounce of energy we can extend to try to develop these guys."

After wowing in his first four starts at Double A Portland, righthander Justin Masterson has endured a rough stretch.

Not only did he give up eight and seven earned runs in his last two outings, but he landed on the disabled list last Saturday with a strained right calf. Masterson had been named the Eastern League pitcher of the month for July, going 4-0 with a 1.36 ERA.

"Nothing too extreme, but enough to have me miss my Tuesday start," Masterson wrote in an e-mail. "I wouldn't say that it really had much of an effect on my last two starts. My last start wasn't too bad, just some unfortunate events, and the one before, well, the numbers speak for themselves on that one. Aside from everything, I'm feeling strong and ready to get back on the mound. I don't do very good sitting around and watching."

Masterson said he should make his next start, Sunday at New Hampshire.

Greenville pitchers Brantley New and Chad Povich were victims of armed robberies recently, team media relations director Eric Jarinko said.

New was mugged at around midnight Tuesday while walking back to his car after shopping for groceries, as two assailants approached him with a baseball bat. Povich was getting into his car with his parents Aug. 14 when he was mugged at gunpoint. Because of a string of violence that has affected others in Greenville, the team has moved all 26 players out of their apartment complexes and into an unidentified hotel.

"The biggest thing is making sure these guys are safe," Jarinko said.

Shortstop Oscar Tejeda, 17, has been tearing it up for short-season Single A Lowell since being promoted from the Gulf Coast League a week ago. Tejeda had three hits each in his fourth (3 for 3), fifth (3 for 5), and sixth (3 for 5, three runs) games with the Spinners. Tejeda, who hit .295 in 45 games with the Gulf Coast Red Sox, is batting .367 with Lowell . . . Anderson, a first baseman, was promoted to advanced Single A Lancaster from low A Greenville. He was expected to join the JetHawks yesterday . . . Daniel Bard has continued to struggle at Greenville, with a 3-5 record and a 6.96 ERA over 15 starts. After going 2-1 with a 2.79 ERA in five June starts, those number ballooned to 1-1 with a 7.83 ERA in July (six starts) and 0-3 with a 12.66 ERA in August (four starts) . . . Shortstop Jed Lowrie has reached base safely in 25 of 28 games since being promoted from Portland to Triple A Pawtucket . . . Jacoby Ellsbury's 17-game hitting streak is one short of the PawSox record, held by Dave Berg (2005) and Dave Stapleton (1979) . . . Clay Buchholz went just three innings for Pawtucket (tied for his shortest outing of the season) in his first start since his major league debut. He allowed three runs on four hits and walked two . . . Portland righthander Michael Bowden is 5-0 with a 3.48 ERA over his last eight starts, having allowed 16 earned runs in 41 1/3 innings . . . Part of the reasoning behind the promotions of Anderson and Tejeda is to see how the prospects perform in potential playoff scenarios. The organization did the same with Buchholz, Bowden, and Masterson last season, with Buchholz's performance in Single A standing as a big push toward his promotion to Portland for the start of 2007. "You can't manufacture these environments," Hazen said.

Amalie Benjamin can be reached at abenjamin@globe.com.