WORCESTER — The Red Sox made a number of roster moves on Tuesday, including sending second baseman, Enmanuel Valdez, to Worcester as infielder Jamie Westbrook went back up to Boston.
The main focus for Valdez while he is in Worcester will be cleaning up some defensive miscues that have plagued him at second base.
Valdez spent the bulk of the month of May in Triple A after scuffling offensively in his first month in the majors this year, hitting .156, striking out 30 times in 98 plate appearances.
After a month-long stint with the WooSox focused on getting his bat back to where they know it can be, Valdez was called back up to Boston on May 29. The WooSox coaching staff helped him turn it around offensively; he hit .311 with 11 base hits and cut down on strikeouts dramatically, cutting it down from fanning in over 30% of his plate appearances in his first stint to 15% over his last 28 games in the majors.
Now, the work turns back to an area that bench coach Jose Flores has worked with Valdez on before: his defense at second base. Last time he was down in the minors, the goal was the to get Valdez’s bat in the lineup every day, which meant he saw time all over the infield, but expect to see him almost exclusively at second while he’s with the WooSox this time.
“He’s going to work hard with Flo at second base. That’s the biggest thing,” WooSox manager Chad Tracy said. “The big thing when he came down the first time was we have to get the bat going right. The bat wasn’t what it was before and then he went back up and actually swung the bat at a much better clip. And then he had got a little sloppy at times at second base, which is the thing that we talked to Alex [Cora] today about….[Valdez and Flores] work great together and they have really good routines and we’ll spend a lot of time honing in on that, even if he’s not playing there every day.”
The addition of Valdez leads to more positional shakeups, since Nick Yorke and Chase Meidroth have been handling the duties at second base, and both of their bats have been big parts of the Worcester lineup.
Tracy said expect to see Yorke in the outfield more often, mainly in left field. Yorke has played left field eight times in his 26 games in Worcester after playing the outfield for the first time in his professional career 12 times with Portland.
His Triple A manager has been impressed with how Yorke has performed in the outfield so far.
“[He’s looked] pretty damn good. I wondered how it was going to look, because he only played 12 games there in Portland. But he’s made some nice catches. He ran a ball down on left center the other day on a dead run and jumped and caught it. He ran two balls down right in front of the bullpen wall here and tracked it really nicely. So overall my take on it is he’s taking to it pretty darn well.”
Red Wings 5, WooSox 1
The WooSox struck early as a walk from Chase Meidroth and single from Nick Yorke put runners on first and third for Bobby Dalbec, who drove in the game’s first run with a sac fly. But that would be all the offense the WooSox could muster on a steamy Tuesday night.
Starter Jason Alexander went five innings and allowed two runs on four hits and three walks. Joely Rodriguez tossed a scoreless sixth, allowing a walk but striking out two, and Chase Shugart bounced back from a tough showing his last time out to throw two scoreless innings. The Red Wings added insurance runs in the ninth, getting to Lucas Luetge for three runs, although only one was earned.
Notes
– WooSox pitcher Cooper Criswell was named the International League Pitcher of the Week on Monday after turning in a gem on Saturday at Polar Park. Criswell tossed six one-hit innings, racking up eight strikeouts. Criswell has made three starts since he was sent down to Triple A in mid-June, allowing three earned runs and holding opposing hitters to a .220 average.
Red Sox Chief Baseball Officer Craig Breslow joined the Fenway Rundown podcast and discussed the fifth starter spot and Criswell’s role.
“We’re kind of evaluating that spot week to week…we’re thinking about off days and who we’re playing and how those matchups look,” Breslow said.
Breslow also said that when Criswell was optioned to Worcester in June, the club needed to make room for Chris Martin coming off the injured list, and realized that in the 15-day period Criswell would have to stay in Triple A, the Red Sox would only need a fifth starter once thanks to days off. But with Josh Winckowski transitioning to the bullpen, Criswell is the top option to return to the Red Sox rotation if necessary.
– While Westbrook is heading back to the majors, his new pets will be staying in Worcester.
“I was actually gonna text [Westbrook] and say just letting you know the ants stay, you can go, but the ants stay.”
What’s Next
The WooSox will play a Wednesday matinee game as Brad Keller (1-1, 8.44) gets the call for the WooSox against Thaddeus Ward (4-3, 6.12) with first pitch at 12:15 p.m.
