Will Middlebrooks: a Man of Many, Many Tools.

In a word, third baseman Will Middlebrooks’ career got off to a flying stop.

Because he was asking for seven figures and had committed to playing baseball for Texas A&M, he slid to the fifth round of the 2007 draft and eventually accepted a $925,000 signing bonus from Boston.

Then, because he signed late and developed shoulder tendinitis, he didn’t make his pro debut -- with Lowell -- until late June of 2008.

Middlebrooks showed flashes of five-tool ability last season at Greenville where, in 103 games, he hit .265 with seven home runs, 57 RBI and a .404 slugging percentage. But he also drew only 46 walks while fanning 123 times.

Beckett Impressive in Rehab Start

When it comes to real estate, the key is location.

Without question location was the key Sunday when Josh Beckett made a rehab for the Pawtucket Red Sox who beat the Syracuse, 2-1. Beckett allowed the one run on two hits while pitching for innings. He didn’t issue any walks, struck out four and threw 42 of 68 pitches for strikes. “Maybe he missed a couple of times but for the most part he located all of his pitches very well,” catcher Mark Wagner said. “By that I mean his cutter, curveball, changeups, two-seamers and sinkers. “He made my job really easy.”

Robert Coello: The One Man Battery.

Catcher-turned-pitcher Robert Coello made his Triple-A debut with the Pawtucket Red Sox on April 19, 2009 against Lehigh Valley. Coello blanked the Iron Pigs for 1 1/3 innings and then was sent to Class-A Salem where he was 5-3 with two saves, a 2.05 ERA and 82 strikeouts in 66 innings. Looking back on Coello’s debut with Pawtucket, one thought stuck in the mind of pitching coach Rich Sauveur. “If you had asked me a year ago after he pitched that one inning, I would have said ‘Good luck. I hope you have a good education,’” related Sauveur. “But the strides he’s made in the last year are outstanding. “He very much wants to learn this game of pitching. Ask me now and I’d say the kid has an opportunity because he throws strikes and he’s got velocity on his fastball. He gets a lot of swings and misses with his fastball. “I’m very hopeful this kid will stay here,” added Sauveur, “and help our team win.” During his first three outings (one start and two relief appearances) with the PawSox, the 25-year-old right-hander has given every indication he’ll do exactly that – since he was 1-0 with a 0.73 ERA, replete with only five hits plus 19 strikeouts in 12 1/3 innings. In retrospect, those stats are a microcosm of his performance with Portland, where he began the season.

Could the Red Sox Have the Next David Wright?

Perhaps all you have to know about how high the Red Sox rated David Renfroe is that the $1.4-million signing bonus they gave him (which is going to be spread out over five years) was the second-highest given to a third-round pick in the 2009 draft. “We fell in love with his athleticism,” said Boston general manger Theo Epstein. “Our scouts did a really thorough job with him as a position player (i.e. shortstop, third base and pitcher) and really fell in love with the kid. “There’s a lot to like with this prospect. As of (when he was drafted), his highest upside is as a position player and we see a potential impact bat.”

Red Sox Banking on Some Great Genes.

If blood lines mean anything, the Red Sox may have hit a home run when they made center fielder Reymond Fuentes their first-round pick (28th overall) in the 2009 draft. The 19-year-old Fuentes is a first cousin of New York Mets’ All-Star center fielder Carlos Beltran – who also graduated from the same high school (Fernando Callejo in Manati, Puerto Rico) as Fuentes. Fuentes, a high school sprint champion, was rated as the third-fastest runner among draft-eligible high school players. He’s been clocked in 6.2 seconds for the 60-yard dash. Not surprisingly, Fuentes admits he models his game after his star cousin. “I consider myself very similar to Carlos because when he’s playing, he just plays the game and nothing else,” Fuentes told The Boston Globe. “When I play, I get very focused on what I do. I don’t pay any mind to anything outside the game.”

Sometimes the Biggest Tweaks for a Pitcher Have Nothing to do With the Arm.

During the course of the 2009 season, Pawtucket Red Sox left-hander Kris Johnson plummeted from prospect to suspect. Johnson spent the 2008 season at Portland and ranked ninth in the Eastern League and eighth in the Red Sox’ farm system with a 3.53 ERA. And he set a career high with 108 strikeouts in 136 1/3 innings pitched. How far did Johnson drop last season?

Lars Anderson puts hype, 2009 behind him in resurgence

A pitcher could drill first baseman Lars Anderson in the ribs with a fastball.

A base runner could spike him when he tags the bag.

A clubhouse manager could grind his bats into sawdust.

But nothing aggravates the 22-year-old Anderson more than mentioning all the hype he received heading into and during the 2009 season and his stats at Portland.

Anderson split the 2008 season between Lancaster and Portland, where he combined to hit. .317 and 18 home runs, replete with 80 RBI. That prompted Baseball America to name him Boston’s No. 1 prospect.

The coming of Prince Felix?

At the tender age of 16, pitcher Felix Doubront signed a contract worth $150,000 with the Boston Red Sox -- which wasn’t exactly pocket change. At 21, in November of 2008, the Red Sox placed Doubront on their 40-man roster so they wouldn’t risk losing him in the Rule V Draft.

The latter if not the former should speak volumes about how highly the Red Sox rate this 6-foot-2, 190-pound left-hander -- who may not be the second coming of Jon Lester but who eventually could be in the “ballpark” so to speak. Arguably the best left-hand pitcher in Boston’s farm system, Doubront dominated the Venezuelan Summer League and the Gulf Coast Rookie League as a teenager.

Jacoby Ellsbury goes 1-3 with a walk in first rehab stint

Before Jacoby Ellsbury stepped on McCoy Stadium’s turf yesterday for his first rehab game, Pawtucket Red Sox manager Torey Lovullo posed a question.

“I asked him ‘What are your thoughts on playing the game wide-open?,” Lovullo said after a game against Syracuse. “He said ‘I don’t know any other way."

Oscar Tejeda: Trying to get ahead of the pack.

First the good news about shortstop Oscar Tejeda: he won’t hit the “ripe” age of 21 until December 26. Now the bad news: Boston has a veritable glut of shortstops in its farm system including, in no particular order, David Renfroe, Derrik Gibson, Jose Iglesias and Yamaico Navarro. And just imagine if Boston decided it would be best served by having Casey Kelly play shortstop instead of pitch. In a sense, Tejeda has been running on a treadmill in that last season was his second at low-A Greenville. But the fact he returned to the Drive might have been expected considering he contracted a staph infection in a forearm which hampered him much of the 2008 season. And that was after he had off-season surgery to repair a tiny hole in his heart.