Down on the Farm:

While I'm more of a Sports Hub guy than a EEI guy, I do occasionally check out WEEI.com for its random pieces of Red Sox information.

Alex Speier ran an interesting article today and I thought I'd pass along the highlights (or lowlights) of Boston's top 10 prospects and their end of the season numbers:

1) Ryan Westmoreland (age 20 season): missed the year after brain surgery in March

2) Casey Kelly (20): 3-5, 5.31 ERA, 81 strikeouts, 35 walks, 95 innings in Double-A

3) Josh Reddick (23): .266/.301/.466/.767, 18 HR, 65 RBI in Triple-A

4) Lars Anderson (22): .274/.349/.461/.810, 15 HR, 69 RBI in Double-A and Triple-A

5) Ryan Kalish (22): .294/.382/.502/.884, 13 HR, 47 RBI in Double-A and Triple-A

6) Junichi Tazawa (24): missed the year after Tommy John surgery in March

7) Reymond Fuentes (19): .270/.328/.377/.705, 5 HR, 41 RBI in Low-A

8) Anthony Rizzo (20): .263/.334/.480/.814, 25 HR, 100 RBI in Hi-A and Double-A

9) Jose Iglesias (20): .295/.339/.379/.719, 0 HR, 20 RBI in Short-Season and Double-A

10) Derrik Gibson (20): .230/.321/.300/.621, 2 HR, 40 RBI in Low-A

Between injuries and underachieving it's tough to be psyched about the numbers listed above. There are some bright spots (Rizzo in particular), and I'm still in enough man love with Iggy that I won't let anyone speak a bad word about him.

One thing to keep in mind is how young these guys are, not just in general, but when compared to the average age of players in their respective leagues, they'll all under the line.

As the 2010 Red Sox season already has me looking to the future, you need to take the good (young talent) with the bad (growing pains). I'll also continue to remind myself that these are just numbers, and it's tough to value intangibles and the other million and one factors that go into a good baseball prospect.


....now, if we could just figure out a way to get the Big O off the air. Thank god the Sports Hub has at least given an option....