Anderson making the grade

The depth of the Red Sox draft last June is one of the reasons Baseball America rated it No. 1 in baseball, and the Sox willingness to pay first-round money to a player who wasn't drafted until the 18th round is already paying dividends. The Sox, who spent between $8 million and $9 million to sign players they drafted last season, spent $825,000 on slugging first baseman Lars Anderson, a California high schooler who signed a tender to attend Cal and scared off prospective suitors by letting it be known it would take $1 million to change his mind.

The Sox grabbed him in the 18th round, and Anderson, who led the state in home runs last season with 15, gave the Red Sox a taste of what he could do when he took batting practice when the Sox were in Oakland to play the Athletics last July, facing David Wells, among others. They haven't been disappointed by what they've seen this spring.

The lefthanded hitting Anderson, who is listed at 6 feet 4 inches and 215 pounds, doesn't turn 20 until September. But playing for manager Gabe Kapler and the Single A Greenville Drive, Anderson already has hit his first two professional home runs, both at home. He's cooled off of late -- going 1 for 20 -- but is hitting .287 overall, including a .389 average at home. With Greenville teammate Jason Place (.176, 3, 11), the 18-year-old high school outfielder taken in the first round, the Sox hope Anderson will fill a power vacuum in the organization.

While Daniel Bard, Boston's other top pick, has struggled in wind-blown Single A Lancaster with the JetHawks (10.13 ERA, an astonishing 21 hits and 22 walks in just 13 1/3 innings) and this week landed on the disabled list with a sore triceps tendon, 2005 top pick Michael Bowden has been terrific in the Single A California League. Bowden, in his best start of the season, threw six scoreless innings and gave up only five hits Tuesday night. He also struck out nine for the second consecutive start and lowered his ERA to 1.91. The strikeout-to-walk ratio suggests it may not be long before Bowden climbs the ladder: 37 K's, 7 walks.

In Portland, Clay Buchholz, a 22-year-old out of Angelina Junior College (Texas), was one of five Red Sox players selected in either the first round or supplemental first round of the 2005 draft (along with Bowden, Jacoby Ellsbury, Jed Lowrie, and Craig Hansen). Buchholz has been perhaps the most impressive of the bunch. After he impressed in Greenville in the early stages of last year, his performances after a promotion were most indicative of the righthander's talents. In three starts for Wilmington, Buchholz went 2-0 with a 1.13 ERA and had 23 strikeouts, earning him a spot at Double A Portland for the start of the 2007 season. Buchholz has done nothing but continue to impress on his fast track to the big leagues; through four starts, he has a sub-2.00 ERA (1.61) as well as a sub-.200 opponent batting average (.158). In his first 22 1/3 innings at Double A, Buchholz has only three walks and 27 strikeouts. Nine of those punchouts came Tuesday night against Bowie, where Buchholz was perfect through six innings and ended a seven-inning start with only one hit allowed, walking none.

Ellsbury returned to action Wednesday after getting a day off, then missed a game with a viral infection, and extended his hitting streak to 14 games with an RBI single. Last night, in the Sea Dogs' 7-3 loss to Bowie, the streak went to 15 games as Ellsbury went 2 for 4, scored twice, and stole his eighth base of the season. Ellsbury's .452 average is the highest in the minor leagues. And while he has yet to hit a home run, he had still managed to post a .653 slugging percentage to go along with a .512 on-base percentage . . . George Kottaras, the lefthanded-hitting catcher the Sox acquired from San Diego Aug. 31 for Wells, is off to a slow start with Triple A Pawtucket, his average at .200 entering the weekend. Kottaras, whom the Sox hope will one day succeed Jason Varitek, didn't even play baseball in his native Ontario until he was 15. He played fast-pitch softball. Kottaras is not the only hitter scuffling for the PawSox, who have lost six straight. Four hitters are under .200: Alex Ochoa, the outfielder who came back from Japan, is batting just .137. First basemen Jeff Bailey (.172) and Luis Jimenez (.169), and third baseman Chad Spann (.185) are all below the Mendoza Line. And neither of the top Sox relief prospects, Craig Hansen and Manny Delcarmen, have pitched well. Delcarmen lost yesterday's game by throwing two wild pitches in the 10th, both allowing runs to score, his ERA climbing to 7.43. Hansen, meanwhile, has allowed 12 hits and eight walks in just 10 innings. The best news out of Pawtucket is the play of outfielder Brandon Moss, who impressed the Sox in big league camp and yesterday hit his sixth home run, raising his average to .314.

Gordon Edes can be reached at edes@globe.com.