West going in the right direction
Barely nine months into his pro career, Red Sox farmhand Jeremy West turned some heads this year in spring training when he swung an elbow trying to knock a ball out of Mark Bellhorn's glove during a pickoff and rundown drill. Sox veterans lambasted the kid, repeatedly warning him not to risk injuring anyone by raising his elbow again.
"West, I'm going to remember that name," Pedro Martinez shouted ominously.
As it turns out, West is finding other ways to make a name for himself. A seventh-round pick last year out of Arizona State, West entered yesterday's action with Single A Sarasota ranked among the Florida State League's leaders in batting (.337), home runs (10), hits (64), extra-base hits (27), and slugging percentage (.589). He has split his time between first base and designated hitter, as he did last season when he was named the player of the year for short-season Single A Lowell. He was a catcher in college.
West, 23, has established himself in a lineup that features some of the organization's top prospects, including last year's first-round picks, David Murphy (17th overall) and Matt Murton (32d overall), and Boston's shortstop of the future, Hanley Ramirez. While Murphy has struggled, batting .240 with a .302 on-base percentage and mustering only one home run in his first 167 at-bats, West heads a contingent of six Sarasota players who were named last week to the FSL All-Star team. The others are Murton, Ramirez, righthanders Jon Papelbon and Andrew Shipman, and lefthander Kason Gabbard. (Ramirez is on the disabled list with a sprained wrist.)
West has combined with Stefan Bailie, a fourth-rounder out of Washington State in 2001, to provide a potent 1-2 punch alternating between first base and DH. Bailie, 24, was batting .343 with eight homers, 24 RBIs, and a .427 on-base percentage in 29 games. West had knocked in 29 runs and reached base at a .383 clip over 52 games.
Papelbon ranks among the Sarasota pitchers making the strongest bids for midseason promotions to Double A Portland. A fourth-rounder last year out of Mississippi State, Papelbon, 23, leads the league in strikeouts with 77 in 56 1/3 innings. He has walked only 16 and held opponents to a .192 average while going 5-3 with a 3.04 ERA.
First-rate fill-in
Since Kevin Youkilis moved up to the parent club, Earl Snyder has amply filled his void at third base for Triple A Pawtucket. At 28, the Connecticut native, who played briefly for the Indians in 2002, has done plenty of damage in the International League, sharing the lead in home runs (16) and RBIs (44) with Toledo's Marcus Thames. Barring a sudden collapse, Snyder is all but certain to represent the PawSox in the Triple A All-Star game in Pawtucket July 14 . . . Former Sox infielder Mike Brumley, who manages Anaheim's Triple A affiliate in Salt Lake City, has been selected to manage the Pacific Coast League All-Stars. And Buddy Bailey, last year's International League manager of the year, is a leading candidate to manage the IL squad . . . The All-Star teams will not be announced until June 23-24, but the PawSox have few other strong candidates. Kelly Shoppach, Boston's catcher of the future, has shown flashes of promise at the plate -- Bailey has not seen a homer to match Shoppach's recent 470-foot shot in Louisville since a gargantuan blast by Carlos Delgado for Toronto's affiliate in Syracuse in the 1990s -- but the former Baylor star has yet to achieve much consistency. He is batting .237 with seven homers, 31 RBIs, and a .304 on-base percentage. Officials estimated Shoppach's shot at Slugger Field as the fifth-longest hit there. Louisville general manager Dale Owens said that was conservative. "It might have been the fourth-longest," Owens said, "but we didn't want to move him past Adam Dunn." Added Bailey: "That ball went over 500 feet. That's one of the longest balls I've ever seen hit. Carlos Delgado probably hit the farthest one I've ever seen, when he was in Syracuse, but this was one of the top 4-5 balls I've ever seen. Kelly has power. He just has to be able to put the bat on the ball more consistently." . . . A limited number of standing-room tickets are available for the Triple A All-Star Game. The tickets include admission to a
Honor roll
Single A Augusta outfielder Brandon Moss and righthander Jose Vaquedano were named the organization's minor league player and pitcher of the month for May. Moss, 20, a seventh-rounder in 2002 out of Monroe, Ga., ranks among the South Atlantic League leaders in batting (.363), on-base percentage (.425), RBIs (48), and slugging percentage (.542). Vaquedano, 22, who was selected in the 35th round of the '02 draft out of Vernon Regional Junior College in Texas, is 4-2 with a 1.88 ERA in 11 starts and has posted a 0.88 ERA over his last eight starts. He is trying to become the first player born in Honduras to make the big leagues . . . After a shaky start (0-5 with a 6.08 ERA in his first eight outings), Double A Portland knuckleballer Charlie Zink has submitted three straight quality starts, going 1-0 with a 1.61 ERA. Portland lefthander Abe Alvarez, a second-rounder last year, is 2-1 with a 2.45 ERA over his last three starts, while righthander Chris Smith, a fourth-rounder in 2002 who missed much of last season after a dune buggy accident, ranks second in the Eastern League with 61 strikeouts in 53 2/3 innings.
Gordon Edes of the Globe staff contributed to this report.
