Minor Notes: Casas, Wong called up to Boston

The Red Sox have made a couple big moves to bolster their big league club, calling up two of their hottest minor league hitters to help out their catcher and first base situation for the final month of the season. The minor league season is also in the home stretch, with Portland looking to hold on to their two-game lead. 

The much anticipated MLB debut has finally come for the second-ranked prospect at SoxProspects.com, as first baseman Triston Casas (pictured, right) got the call after a hot month of August with Worcester. There was a point in the season where it looked like we may not get to see Casas at all in Boston this season, as his injury halted his season for about two months. However, Casas has since played his way to Boston to fill a position that has been a problem for the Red Sox all season long. Since coming back from his injury on July 12th, including his four-game stint with the FCL Sox, Casas has hit .309/.416/.537 with six home runs and 14 doubles in 40 minor league games. Alex Cora said Casas will be playing nearly daily down the stretch. Casas came into the season ranked number one here at SoxProspects.com, but his injury along with Marcelo Mayer playing very well barely bumped him to the number two spot. This now means that two of the top three prospects (Casas, Brayan Bello) in the system are now at the major league level and it appears that it will stay that way. 

The red-hot Connor Wong makes it three of the top 13 prospects in the system at the MLB level, as he was called up a few days before Casas. Wong, who slugged over .800 in the month of August for Worcester, blasted a home run over the monster seats in his first game for the Red Sox since July 17th. 

There some more movement for the Sox in the past few days, mostly in the right-handed reliever department. Hirokazu Sawamura cleared waivers after being designated for assignment and was outrighted to Worcester. Another spot opened up after left-hander Austin Davis was also designated and claimed by Minnesota, so Boston added Tyler Danish and Eduard Bazardo to the MLB roster. Josh Winckowski also made a start in Boston's win on Sunday but was optioned back down to Worcester after the game, as Zack Kelly returned to the Sox from paternity leave. 

First baseman Bobby Dalbec was sent down to Worcester to make room for Casas. Dalbec returns to Triple-A for the first time since 2019. A strong second half in 2021 for Dalbec set the expectations a little higher for 2022, but the right-handed hitter struggled, hitting just .211 with a .644 OPS and 11 home runs in 111 games for the Sox. He had a .792 OPS with 25 home runs and 78 RBI in 2021. 

Kutter Crawford and Tanner Houck were both placed on the injured list, as Crawford heads to the 15-day IL and Houck heads to the 60-day IL. Crawford appeared in 21 games (12 starts) for the Red Sox and posted a 5.47 ERA in 77 1/3 innings. He did put together a nice run from July 4th through August 2nd, appearing in six games and posting a 2.38 ERA with 32 strikeouts and just five walks. Houck's season is over, as he is going to have surgery on his back. Houck had a nice 2022 season, taking hold of the closer job during the summer. He had a 3.15 ERA in 60 innings and saved eight games. 

The Red Sox completed their trade with the White Sox where they acquired catcher Reese McGuire for a PTBNL and left-hander Jake Diekman. Taylor Broadway has been announced as the player to be named. Broadway is a 26-year-old right-handed reliever who made 40 appearances in the White Sox system this year. A majority of that came in Double-A, where he posted a 4.74 ERA in 49 1/3 innings. His strikeouts numbers were extremely impressive, punching out 74 hitters with just 14 walks. He was taken in the sixth round by Chicago last year out of Mississippi and has reported to the Sea Dogs. 

Check out the newest SoxProspects.com podcast, the 259th edition, as Chris and Ian discuss the Greenville Drive in depth. Ian got to see a few Drive games and reported back on what he saw. The crew also talks about promotions and answers email questions. 

The August Players of the Month were also named here at the site, as Connor Wong and Wikelman Gonzalez received the honors. Wong, as previously mentioned, had a huge month in the power department, while Gonzalez was great for both Salem and Greenville. 

5 G, 20 AB, 8 H, 2 2B, 3 HR, 8 R, 10 RBI, 2 SB, .400/.500/.950

Paulino (pictured, left) extended his hitting streak to 10 games on Sunday and had multiple hits in three of his five games this past week. On Friday, Paulino had the best game of his young career with two home runs and a career-high seven RBI. He also walked twice, stole two bases, and scored four runs in that game. The 20-year who was signed as an international free agent in 2018 is putting together a very good year in his first full season of professional baseball. He is hitting .265 with an .827 OPS and is leading the Carolina League in both doubles (34) and triples (10). He also has 13 home runs, 27 stolen bases, and 94 runs scored. 

1 G, 1-0, 7 IP, 0.00 ERA, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 7 K

Seabold gets the nod here after a dominant performance against Buffalo. He has lasted at least seven innings for the first time since May 4th and was very efficient, throwing 63 of his 90 pitches for strikes. He faced 24 batters and got 21 of them out. Overall on the season, Seabold has been terrific for Worcester, going 7-1 with a 3.18 ERA across 17 starts. He has 79 strikeouts to just 18 walks and opponents are hitting just .234 against him.