Place coming on

CINCINNATI - The Red Sox can certainly boast of outstanding top picks the last few years in the amateur draft. One player who had been struggling, however, was 2006 first-round pick (27th overall) Jason Place, a center-fielder from Wren High School in Piedmont, S.C.

An outstanding arm for a center-fielder, Place, 20, had been struggling in the low .200s both at the end of last season and the start of this season. But over the last 10 games he's hitting .317 to raise his average to .239 with 10 homers and 35 RBI for the Lancaster JetHawks.

"Jason has progressed nicely this year with his fundamental approach to hit. As we have spoken about in the past, as a high school player, Jason faced some adversity early in an advanced level for his age, but we have seen a lot more consistency with his mechanics day to
day which is very encouraging," said Sox farm director Mike Hazen.