Minor League Opener Today

The moment you’ve all been waiting for is here! Four Red Sox minor league affiliates will open the year today, with Pawtucket getting the first nod at 3:05 ET. New to the system this year is the Salem Red Sox, who will replace the Lancaster Jet Hawks of last year at the High-A level. The pitching match-ups will be as follows:

AAA- Pawtucket (Enrique Gonzalez) @ Buffalo [NYM] (Jonathon Niese) 3:05 pm 

AA- Portland (Junichi Tazawa) vs. Connecticut [SF] (Daryl Maday) 6:00 pm 

A+ – Salem (Kyle Weiland) vs. Frederick [BAL] (Brian Matusz) 7:05 pm 

A – Greenville (Stolmy Pimentel) @ Greensboro [FLA] (TBA) 7:05 pm 

Some very interesting stories here on opening day. We’ll start from the top with Enrique Gonzalez getting his first start with the Red Sox organization. Small righty who was drafted by Arizona, but spent time in the Padres system last year, struggling in a very small sample size in the big leagues. He’s got some good stuff despite his size, complete with mid-90’s fastball that he has shown good command for in the past. Bowden, Johnson, and Buchholz will rap up the Buffalo series. 

In Portland, Junichi Tazawa will make his United States debut. “Taz” threw very well this spring, giving up only one run and one walk while striking out 10 in 9 innings pitched. The Sox biggest international signee in the off-season, he was sent down to minor league camp, there was nothing but kind words to say about the 22 year old Japanese righty. Terry Francona mentioned he’s very polished and has made a very quick transition into the states. Junichi should be a name to remember for September, as he should be a favorite to earn a bullpen spot for the Sox quest to October. All four pitches rate as average to above-average, with a low 90’s fastball, plus slider, good curveball, and an above-average forkball. To top it all off, he has exceptional command, and has been known to up his fastball into the mid-90’s when need be. Just another guy to add to an already exciting bullpen in the future.

In Salem, we’ll see the best pitching match-up of the day. Lowell’s ace last year, Kyle Weiland, will face the 2008 number four overall pick, Brian Matusz. It’s quite a way to open up a new affiliate. Weiland, a power sinkerballing righty, is currently the cream of the crop in terms of college arms in the 2008 draft. He was a reliever in college, but impressed Sox brass in Lowell. He’s got very good command of his fastball, but it’ll be interesting to see how his off-speed pitches fare as he’ll be skipping Greenville and jumps into High-A in his first full season. 

Last but certainly not least is Stolmy Pimentel (yes, I did spell that right) in Greenville, who is without a doubt the most talented team in the system. Pimentel, Price, and Kelly lead the rotation, with Rizzo, Almanzar, Tejeda, and Hissey as the position players behind them. We’ll see one of the most unique situations in minor league baseball with Casey Kelly, who is going to start the year in the rotation, switch over to shortstop after he eclipses his 100 inning limit. We’ll also see Anthony Rizzo, who was having a fine 2008 season in Greenville last year, come back as he fought a six-month battle with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.