Red Sox All-Star Futures Game Participants
Posted on June 25, 2009
Filed Under 2009 Season, Prospects | Leave a Comment
The Red Sox have had two players selected to the All-Star Futures team. They are Casey Kelly (19 years old) and Junichi Tazawa (23 years old.) Kelly will play for the ‘US’ and Tazawa will represent the ‘World Team.’
Casey Kelly was drafted out of High School in the 1st round of the 2008 draft. He was drafted as a shortstop/starting pitcher. So far he has mainly pitched and done a dominating job (1.12 ERA in 48.1 IP for Single A Greenville, 2.51 ERA in 28.2 IP for Single A Salem.) The Red Sox plan on letting him play SS for the second half of the season so that they can find his strengths/weaknesses as well as save his arm from throwing too many innings.
Junichi Tazawa was signed as a free agent out of Japan. He became an overnight sensation after requesting that Japanese professional teams didn’t draft him so that he could come to the US and play in the MLB. Tazawa has also done an amazing job so far (2.92 ERA in 77 IP for Double A Portland.) This, combined with his domination of Major League hitters during spring training, could lead to his being called up to Boston late this season or the next.
Usually the Red Sox have a pretty good showing at the Futures game, but the fact that only two players will be there might be a good thing. This means that most of the high-quality Sox draft picks are already making an impact at the big league level: Jacoby Ellsbury (‘05), Jed Lowrie (‘05), Justin Masterson (‘06), and Daniel Bard (‘06). With guys like Casey Kelly and Junichi Tazawa waiting in the wings, it’s a good time to be a Sox fan.
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